Upgrade Question

[little wing]

Hi folks,
If anybody has some advise I would appreciate it. I have a HK amp. The PA5800, from about 10 years ago. The Pre-amp is the Yamaha 2500. (To me the 10 year old HK amp sounds better than the ones in the Yamaha) Due to budget and space limitations my upgrade choices are limited. I was thinking of purchasing an Anthem PVA series, either the PVA5 or PVA7. My question is: Is this an upgrade that is worth it? The specs for the HK are 80 wpc, and for the Anthem 105 wpc, all channels driven. I haven't heard the Anthem. Thanks for ANY feedback.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi folks,
If anybody has some advise I would appreciate it. I have a HK amp. The PA5800, from about 10 years ago. The Pre-amp is the Yamaha 2500. (To me the 10 year old HK amp sounds better than the ones in the Yamaha) Due to budget and space limitations my upgrade choices are limited. I was thinking of purchasing an Anthem PVA series, either the PVA5 or PVA7. My question is: Is this an upgrade that is worth it? The specs for the HK are 80 wpc, and for the Anthem 105 wpc, all channels driven. I haven't heard the Anthem. Thanks for ANY feedback.

The real question is what are your speakers? You usually make the biggest improvements upgrading speakers rather than amps.

 

[little wing]

TLS Guy,
Thanks, My speakers are Infinity Cresendo 3006. Older speakers, pretty revealing, power hungry. Nice sound to me. Some say the have a tendency to be little bright. But they do need power.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi folks,
If anybody has some advise I would appreciate it. I have a HK amp. The PA5800, from about 10 years ago. The Pre-amp is the Yamaha 2500. (To me the 10 year old HK amp sounds better than the ones in the Yamaha) Due to budget and space limitations my upgrade choices are limited. I was thinking of purchasing an Anthem PVA series, either the PVA5 or PVA7. My question is: Is this an upgrade that is worth it? The specs for the HK are 80 wpc, and for the Anthem 105 wpc, all channels driven. I haven't heard the Anthem. Thanks for ANY feedback.

I don't think an amp upgrade is worth it. I would explore a speaker upgrade.

 

[bandphan]

ditto the speaker upgrade

 

[little wing]

Thanks. You guys are probably right. I have lsitened to some speakers though, and from what I have heard so far, I will need to spend well over a $1000 to really make it worth it.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks. You guys are probably right. I have lsitened to some speakers though, and from what I have heard so far, I will need to spend well over a $1000 to really make it worth it.

Yes you will. However you are still happy with your current rig, which gives you the chance to save for something classy.

 

[cfrizz]

If you are happy with the sound of your speakers, then I would upgrade the electronics to bring it up to date.

My main speakers are 18 yrs old & I have no intention of changing them until they quit. In the meantime I upgraded from a 2 channel set up to a 5.1 channel setup with updated electronics, first from 2 channel pre, to a receiver, then 2 different 200wpc amps finally to a Sunfire Prepro & 5 channel amp.

My speakers went to full operating potential with the additional power & the prepro brought even greater clarity & dynamics to bear.

I won't be going back to a receiver again or ever go less in power either.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

 

[Seth=L]

Sunfire Pre/pros have been shakey in the past. I realize you own one, but I would be leary of them. They typically don't stack up spec wise with competitors in their pre/pros. Their amplifiers are different, probably the best suited for driving low efficiency huge fluctuating impedance speakers for the money (at least in multichannel amplifiers). The Behringer EP2500 is an outstanding amplifier for the money, and is stable into 2 ohm loads.

 

[cfrizz]

I'm not suggesting that anyone buy Sunfire, I was simply stating what I have now as opposed to 18yrs ago.

The past is the past Seth, & my system has been extremely stable. Quite a few prepros have been put out by Sunfire since the company got started.

This is an ever changing industry & I would hope that if a company realizes that there is a problem with something they put out they would correct with newer versions of said gear. Otherwise their reputation & sales would falter.

I also put more weight in what my ears hear rather than any specs listed by some company that may or may not be true. (ie the power ratings listed by receiver companies which are generally a lie.)

I'm not interested in owning a piece of gear meant to be operated in a professional capacity rather than a home setting.

Most are cooled by noisy fans & the connectors are different from easy plug & play rca connectors.

I'm not willing to forgo the aesthetics of my system just to have a lot of power for less money.

That's why I bought my gear used from another forum & Audiogon.

 

[little wing]

Audiogon is great place to buy gear. I certainly took the budget route using the Yamaha RXV2500 as a pre-amp. It's not bad as a pre-pro, again, I don't think too much of the amps in it. A 10 year old amp sounds better IMO. The speakers I have are power hungrey. I know a more powerful amp will make a difference. Eventually I'd like to invest in an Anthem Pre-pro. Never owned Sunfire gear. I have heard different things about it.

 

[brendy]

The 25 WPC difference is meaningless in the real world.I would keep the HK PA 5800,a classic,and upgrade the speakers.

 

[TLS Guy]

I'm not suggesting that anyone buy Sunfire, I was simply stating what I have now as opposed to 18yrs ago.

The past is the past Seth, & my system has been extremely stable. Quite a few prepros have been put out by Sunfire since the company got started.

This is an ever changing industry & I would hope that if a company realizes that there is a problem with something they put out they would correct with newer versions of said gear. Otherwise their reputation & sales would falter.

I also put more weight in what my ears hear rather than any specs listed by some company that may or may not be true. (ie the power ratings listed by receiver companies which are generally a lie.)

I'm not interested in owning a piece of gear meant to be operated in a professional capacity rather than a home setting.

Most are cooled by noisy fans & the connectors are different from easy plug & play rca connectors.

I'm not willing to forgo the aesthetics of my system just to have a lot of power for less money.

That's why I bought my gear used from another forum & Audiogon.

The basic issue remains though. Speakers have made much larger strides than amps.

 

[little wing]

BRENDY, it's funny you say that. I bought the PA5800 ten years ago for $350and I could get at least that for it today. That rarely happens with audio gear. I probably will just hang on to it. I get that upgrade bug from time to time. Kind of like getting a cold. If you don't have cash in bunches this can be an expensive hobby.

CFRIZZ, I know where your coming from: Power makes all the difference. Sounds like you got a nice rig!

 

[PENG]

Audiogon is great place to buy gear. I certainly took the budget route using the Yamaha RXV2500 as a pre-amp. It's not bad as a pre-pro, again, I don't think too much of the amps in it. A 10 year old amp sounds better IMO. The speakers I have are power hungrey. I know a more powerful amp will make a difference. Eventually I'd like to invest in an Anthem Pre-pro. Never owned Sunfire gear. I have heard different things about it.

More power is a always a good thing to have, but your speaker's impedance is 8 ohm compatible, with sensitivity of 90 dB/W at 1 meter and recommended power of 30 to 150W. That kind of spec does not indicate that it is a hard to drive or power hungry speaker by today's standard. Unless you listen really loud, it is unlikely that a more powerful amp will get you much improved SQ. A speaker upgrade in this case may in fact get you more value for the money. The PA5800 is rated for 5X80 WPC into 8 ohm and 5X110 WPC into 4 ohms, +-73 amp instantaneous, that's is not bad at all for your 90 dB sensitivity Crescendos. That being said, I have visited enough forums to know that there are no shortage of people who will tell you how power hungry their speakers are and how they "open up" with big power amps rated higher than the speaker manufacturer's suggested maximum power. I don't know if people just think power hungry speakers give them bragging rights.

Anyway, regardless of what other people said, you probably should try out a more powerful amp before giving up on those old but nice Infinity speakers.

 

[little wing]

Thanks for braking it down Peng, I didn't think about it like that. I am curious about how a more powerful amp will make these speakers sound.