Whats the better way to go Amp or Reciever?

[Cheapshot]

I just bought some second hand paradigm reference studio 60 v.2's and i need to replace my old reciever (blown all to hell) i am using these speakers solely for music not home theater and was wondering if someone who knows more about amps/recievers could give me some advice on the best unit to get.

If it matters i plan on eventually adding to more speakers and already have a 10' sub. I also plan on hooking up turntables w/ crossfader and the music I will be playing will be almost all hiphop (if it matters).

My question is amp or reciever? and recommendations on brands and models would be great to just to point me in the right direction. Im not really looking to spend any more than $1000 can. either but quality is the most important thing right now not price...

 

[Takeereasy]

If I understand what you're saying then I'd suggest you go receiver as opposed to amp. You are running into a bit of a problem though. While those Paradigms are in my opinion excellent speakers, congrats on such a nice start to a set up by the way, they are also more power hungry than the specs imply. Most receivers in your price range simply can't give them the juice they deserve. I think your ideal solution is to get a receiver with a strong output and great pre sectioon and a two channel amp that can put out around 150 watts. There are some pretty good options in your price range though.

If you ever plan to use these speakers in a home theatre environment I'd suggest the following:

I'm not sure what part of Canada you're in but Bay Bloor Radio in Toronto is clearing out Yamaha 2500s for $850 after a $50 coupon and it is a great receiver with a very strong pre out section for adding that amp if you choose to. They also have the Denon 3805 for $1150 after the same coupon, and it would suit you nicely.

Are you planning to play all 4 speakers at the same time, and are they going to be in the same room? If you're Only going to run Stereo signals to all 4 speakers then you can easily get away with less. Just write a bit more about the intended use and you'll get a ton of suggestions from the guys here, and there are a ton of Canucks on here as well. As a side note if you bought these speakers to DJ with at parties you may have made a misstep. They are great speakers, and can do an amazing job reproducing music but they aren't "party speakers". Cerwin Vegas or something similar are prefered club speakers.

 

[Cheapshot]

Thanks for the info man...I actually wasnt sure if they were any good cause i only paid $650 for the pair practically brand new.

As for your questions I dont plan on DJ'ing, only personal use. Its goin to be set up in my room (11'x13') and i would like to run 4 speakers and one sub together (does that mean i need 4 channels?).

I'd like to have it set up with a CD player and turntables and fader but also would like to be able to play music directly from my lab top because I also make beats.

Im not anywhere near Toronto (Fort Mac AB) but if you could recommend any models or specs I should be looking for in amps/recievers it would be a big help.

Again thanks for the response man.....

 

[Takeereasy]

Well, you have a few options. You can get the biggest beefiest integrated stereo amp you can find with the A + B speaker option, that way you can run power to all 4 speakers at once. You'd need a hell of a beefy power supply to run 4 studio 60's at once though, and it would have to be stable at a load of 4 ohms or lower and put out at least 200 watts per channel clean power @ that 4 ohms. I'm thinking something along the lines of this http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=processors&product=21.1 just to give you an idea. I'm not familiar enough with integrateds to let you know when you're getting a good deal though, and I'm not familiar enough with the connections a lot of the equipment you are planning to use need. There are a few guys on this site that I'd suggest you PM for ideas. They are all pretty good guys and much more knowledgable, even the one that is enrolled at Michigan is a good source of info despite that institution being more of a clown college than any type of learning facility. I believe next year they're offering a masters in Applied Big Foot Theory. . Ok the guys I'd ask, and these are their screen names, if I were you would be: Buckeyefan1, jaxvon, MacManNM, Clint, Tom Andry, Gene, Ray, (last 4 are admins of site, might be too busy), Bmxtrix, Wmax. Those are just some of the names that you'll often see . There are many other really knowledgable guys

You can also go the receiver route and try out some of the surround sound formats that are available, but I'd suggest that this is even better with 5 speakers so you can enjoy SACD and DVD Audio as well as 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS music tracks. I've still never heard anything as well recorded as a Dave Mathews/Blue Man group track on a DTS DVD, and while I'm not a fan of either group I've listened to that track dozens of times because it just sounds so darn good. I wish I could be of more help. I'll list some Brands that that have a high quality to price ratio: Yamaha, Denon, Marantz, Rotel, NAD, Arcam. You'll have to shop around to get the most possible for your $$ but These companies make high quality Integrated amps as well so that's something to consider. You'll really have to shop around to get a lot of these products for under a grand Canadian, but it can be done, and I find shopping and price comparing to be fun.

Also here's another couple of ideas: I'm not sure what kind of sub you have but if it isn't very powerful start saving for a sub by HSU. They are selling in Canada and an STF-2 or 3 will shake down the house compared to other similarly priced subs. You're room isn't very big so you might not need all the amplification in the world to get great sound, especially with the speakers you have, which you got at a heck of a price. Ask that in the PM's you send. If you do decide to give 5.1 a whirl some studio 20's and a cc470 would round you out nicely. Good luck with it all.

 

[buckyg4]

What model is your turntable / x-fader?

 

[edwelly]

Here is another thought - get yourself a nice $300 - $400 receiver and buy 2 of these - http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/2200.html - one for each speaker. This si assuming you are not moving into HT anytime soon...

 

[gcmarshall]

and assuming the $300-$400 receiver you buy has pre-outs for the amplifier. is there such a thing as an entry-level 2-channel receiver that also has pre-outs?

 

[jcPanny]

Receiver option

The Yamaha HTR-5860 is in the $3-400 range and has pre-amp outs. I think that you can get the Pioneer 1015 for about $400 and it also has the connections.

 

[Cheapshot]

Best Amp/Pre-Amp combo for my set up.....

First off thanks to eveyone who replied to this post I've learned more from following up on your notes and suggestions in the last couple days than i would have in a week on my own.

I've decided that I'm goin to go w/ a seperate amp/pre-amp set up instead of the reciever and plan on adding two smaller bookshelf speakers (something like studio 20 or 40's) to the set up. Like before I still plan on having the same hardware attached (laptop/tables/cd's).

I was looking through some pre-amp reviews on the site and noticed that some reviewers say that curtain pre-amps sound better with curtain types of music. One example, the ADCOM GFP-750 a reviewer said "That's the sound of no distortion and may not appeal to a lot of people", and that well recorded tracks sound better while already poorly recorded tracks sound even worse.

This got me thinking, because w/ the type of music i listen to (hiphop mostly underground) the recording quality of most tracks are fairly high quality (in my opinon for what its worth) there are others that are just flat out bad....but still good tracks.

So I guess what I'm trying to ask is if there is pre-amps that are designed to make poorly recorded tracks sound better or at least not amplify the crappiness of the recording. Or if there is anyone out there who also loves real hiphop (not "fiddy" cent club bangers) knows of pre-amps that are better suited for a genre like hiphop (crazy amounts of bass w/o drownding out the lyrics) it would help me out a lot.

Edwelly i checked out the outlaw amps you reccomended and the look sweet but there specs say they have a 200W o/p. My studio 60's are rated for 15-200W but they have a max i/p rating of 150 so is it safe to run power to them from that amp?

buckyg4 I havent bought the tables yet but I'm pretty much dead set on 1200's. The fader i have no idea about but if there is any models i should stay away from it would be good to know.

If i didnt give enough info or this is altogether just a stupid question dont resitate to ask/let me know cause I dont want to waste your guys time.

 

[Takeereasy]

I don't want to answer for Edwelly, but you would have no problems mating those amps and those speakers. The power put out by those amps is clean, and having a little extra umph won't hurt at all, and will most likely help with dynamics. That 200wpc isn't always on, in fact even at loud volumes I doubt you'll be using more thatn 60-100wpc, the 200 watts is only going to be seen on very dynamic parts of the tracks. Also speakers are conservatively rated as to how much juice they can handle. The biggest concern speaker manufacturers have is that people will feed the products power from clipping receivers. That power is dirty and can damage the speakers. I have to make note however that the Paradigm 60s are very accurate speakers. They will really reveal poorly recorded tracks. That doesn't mean that those songs will necessarily sound bad, just that you will notice the difference in recording quality between songs. If you have on an entire CD of songs that are of the same quality they will still sound good, but if the quality jumps from song to song you will really notice it. The good recordings will sound good, the poor ones will sound poor.

As for preamp/amp combos for hip hop as long as you have an Amp that can handle the load you're asking for easily and a Preamp with good quality components, there most likely won't be too huge of a difference. The two biggest factors affecting the sound will be the speakers and the room the setup is in. For tons of Bass that still doesn't impede on the rest of the song you'll need a powerful sub, decent speakers, and a decent Pre-pro setup. You've already got the speakers, your sub might be up to the task, and you're doing fine researching your seperates. Room treatment is also very important to overall sound quality, there's a whole forum on this site devoted to that.

 

[rolyasm]

Here is another thought on an amp. http://www.earthquakesound.com/pa600.htm
It posts 120 x 2, but if you compare just the mono mode it is 380 watts. The street price is about the same as the outlaw, but you can try the single amp stereo, if you don't like it, get another. Maybe save yourself the extra amp price. As for a receiver, here is another great option:
http://sherwoodusa.com/prod_r756.html
Street price is around $400.00, it has 6 pre-amp outs,
or this one for around $550.00
http://sherwoodusa.com/prod_r863t.html
Of course, you are approaching the price where you could get a good mid-receiver (Denon 3805, Yammy 2500) and still have a few hundred left for a block amp like the outlaw or a two channel like the Earthquake. All would be good options.
Roly

 

[indcrimdefense]

if your only looking for a stereo system, you may want to look around for a used quality stereo pre-amp & amplifier. make sure you review the specs, as some were not designed to support a sub and or more than 1 set of speakers. i recently demoed a used nakamichi ca-5II pre-amp & pa-5II amp and a b&k ref 5 pre-amp & ref 125.2 amp. the b&k combo is over your budget, but may want to see if you can find used, or a demo or floor model. out of the 2, i prefered the b&k combo, as the nakamichi combo was a little bright for my klipsch speakers, but with speakers w/o horn tweeters would have been a nice set up.