what is a good amp to power cerwin vega's?

G

grovers7200

Enthusiast
louder better

I have a set of at-15's same deal 4 ohm 400 watt!! A couple months I finally purchaced a carver amp 250 a channel and they sound incredible!!! Problem is they can be louder and I am looking for more power!! Get a power amp!! They rock!! Of course the wife can't quite understand?? :confused:
 
D

detroit-rock

Audiophyte
what is a good amp to power these speakers? VS 150; they have a 15inch driver in them...
what is the best way of running them? 2 channel or a mono?? how many watts would they require?
If they're similar to the D-9, which I'm sure they are, then they're extremely efficient and can handle up to 450wpc.
I use the Carver M1.0t at 400wpc/4ohm and it REALLY does the job. Then I tried going mono with 2 M1.0t's (1000wpc to each speaker) and THAT did the job too. When I get a big enough room to run all 4 D-9's (and safely away from neighbors) I plan to power them with the same 2 M1.0t amps.I don't know what your system consists of, but if it doesn't have an ADC SS-525X equalizer in it, find one and try that. Talk about a MAJOR difference.
 
D

detroit-rock

Audiophyte
I have a set of at-15's same deal 4 ohm 400 watt!! A couple months I finally purchaced a carver amp 250 a channel and they sound incredible!!! Problem is they can be louder and I am looking for more power!! Get a power amp!! They rock!! Of course the wife can't quite understand?? :confused:
My thoughts exactly. I've ran a pair of
D-9's with 2 Carver M1.0t's mono at 1000watts each to them and that made 'em "come alive". Be sure your fuses and your woofer foams are NEW before trying this. :)
 
M

marcin

Audiophyte
You didn't do anything wrong. The amount of power the amp can produce is one thing. What your speakers demand for power is another.

Your CV's can only use about 10W continuous, and 100W for brief fractions of a second during the time they are using 10W all the time. If that much ... it's probably less, actually. But, in my experience, any amplifier that can produce 100Wpc into 4 ohms is all you need for those particular speakers. The speakers will never demand more than that from the amplifier, so that's all the amp has to deliver.

You could hook it up to an amp that produces a million watts ... still going to only be able to use 100. No getting around that. They go so loud with so much power, and adding power doesn't change that. It's simply unused power.

On the Bryston 4BSST there are two green lights on the front panel. Those lights turn red when you clip the amplifier (ie run out of power). That means if you can't get them to turn red in stereo, going to mono isn't going to solve anything.

If you just see them briefly flash red but stay mostly green, that means you are just barely getting them to use all the available power in transients ... those brief periods I talked about. The continuous demand is typically about 10x less.

With 4 ohm speakers, like your CV's, the 4BSST will produce at least 500W RMS. Bridged into Mono it will produce more than 1000W.

So, with your speakers, a brief flash of the red in stereo means you are using about 500W for brief fractions of a second, and about 50W all the time (continuously). Obviously, you were nowhere near using 50W continuously.

Therefore, since your speakers can't even handle all 500W, there's no point in trying a thousand. That's what I was getting at.

By the way, if you do try to run them harder than they normally demand, they will just blow up. Don't bother trying. You've experienced as loud as they will go, because you used an amp that has more than enough power. They won't go louder no matter what you do.
In my case, I have CV DX9 rated 400W 4ohm. I am powering them with an old Pioneer receiver from 1993 at 250wpc 4ohms. Looking to upgrade to a dedicated amplifier. I would like to go with something around 500wpc 4ohms, any recommendations? I am willing to spend up to $1000 if it will make the 15" woofer shake at lower volumes. Not looking to blast the neighbors.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
In my case, I have CV DX9 rated 400W 4ohm. I am powering them with an old Pioneer receiver from 1993 at 250wpc 4ohms. Looking to upgrade to a dedicated amplifier. I would like to go with something around 500wpc 4ohms, any recommendations? I am willing to spend up to $1000 if it will make the 15" woofer shake at lower volumes. Not looking to blast the neighbors.
Why would you need more amp for low volumes? I doubt you would gain a thing with such a change in any case.

ps Holy thread revival, batman!
 
M

marcin

Audiophyte
Why would you need more amp for low volumes? I doubt you would gain a thing with such a change in any case.

ps Holy thread revival, batman!
well, my portable BT HK speaker has deeper base at lower volumes than CV DX9, but Vegas outperform as soon it gets louder. I'm new to all of this but want to make these speakers my primary source for music at home. The Pioneer VSX-D901S I'm using works only in Direct mode as any other mode has issues. Added separate EQ to play with the tones since nothing can be done on the receiver. So I need something new no matter what.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
A BT speaker with deeper bass at low volumes? Is that some sort of eq at work or a loudness contour.....I'd want to see measurements in any case. Is it one of the Onyx models? I've heard the large one and it was better than I expected....

While CVs may have had large woofers, that doesn't mean they were capable particularly of deep bass either. A good sub might be a better solution than a different amp....but if your Pioneer is failing then perhaps a new avr plus sub might get you where you want to go....
 
M

marcin

Audiophyte
I have HK Onyx, but that's not it. The killer BT speaker is HK Go+Play. Incredible sound for a small, portable speaker.
 
Last edited:
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I have HK Onyx, but that's not it. The killer BT speaker is HK Go+Play. Incredible sound.
Only spec'd 50hz-20khz (-6dB). Pretty limited as to what two 3.5" "woofers" can do....
 
M

marcin

Audiophyte
but if your Pioneer is failing then perhaps a new avr plus sub might get you where you want to go....
So I got a new setup. Yamaha R-N803D with JBL sub 550P connected to CV DX9 speakers. Sound is crisp and thumping. Thanks for the guidance! I am contemplating now on adding Monolith 2x300w amp at 4ohms, but unsure if I will feel much difference for $1200 more. Maybe should invest that into Polk Lsi15 set?
 
F

fmw

Audioholic Ninja
Here is some science for you. The 102db speaker efficiency rating indicates that 1 watt of power will provide 102db sound pressure level at a 6' listening distance. 102 db is about the same loudness a an gasoline lawn mower produces when you are standing close to it. That was 1 watt.

So the likelyhood is that you will use them with less than 1 watt of amplifier power at least if you listen at the levels I use.

Each 3 db of additional sound pressure level requires a doubling of the amplifier power. 105 db requires 2 watts. 108db requires 4 watts
In my case, I have CV DX9 rated 400W 4ohm. I am powering them with an old Pioneer receiver from 1993 at 250wpc 4ohms. Looking to upgrade to a dedicated amplifier. I would like to go with something around 500wpc 4ohms, any recommendations? I am willing to spend up to $1000 if it will make the 15" woofer shake at lower volumes. Not looking to blast the neighbors.
My recommendation is to save your money. You won't use the power you have now. Buying a bigger amp will simply have you using a smaller percentage of available power. Your speakers are very efficient. Go back and read my post again. 1 watt of power from your amp should blow you out of the room. If not 4 watts certainly will.

The speaker watt rating has nothing to do with loudness. It simply provides a speciirication indicating how much power is needed to damage it. You aren't likely to damage them.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
what is a good amp to power these speakers? VS 150; they have a 15inch driver in them...
what is the best way of running them? 2 channel or a mono?? how many watts would they require?
Pick one- it will be fine.

How loud do you want it? That determines the needed power.
 

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