Amplifier for Spendor SA1s

[wtaylorbasil]

May be I have no replies because it was not posted for all to see.

So here is my request.

Most of you know a lot about amps! Please give me some advice here. I have a pair of IMF TLS80 MkII transmission line speakers (20Hz to above audibility but power hungry 85 dB sensitivity of the 70s) and like the sound from them a lot. At the moment I use a Yamaha 5.1 DSP to service my HT needs as well as my more serious 2-channel listening. If I were to have an amp just for the 2-channel use, what amp/s would be ideal?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Most decent hi-fi amps will be better than an AV receiver, so take your pick!! I would generally stick to amplifiers around 100wpc or at an 8ohm rating - many manufacturers will quote into a lower impedance to sound more impressive, and a lot of amps wouldn't be able to drive 4ohms sufficiently anyway.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

wtaylorbasil:
May be I have no replies because it was not posted for all to see.

So here is my request.

Most of you know a lot about amps! Please give me some advice here. I have a pair of IMF TLS80 MkII transmission line speakers (20Hz to above audibility but power hungry 85 dB sensitivity of the 70s) and like the sound from them a lot. At the moment I use a Yamaha 5.1 DSP to service my HT needs as well as my more serious 2-channel listening. If I were to have an amp just for the 2-channel use, what amp/s would be ideal?

Hi wtaylorbasil

What is the model of the Yamaha av amp, what do you generally listen to and what sort of budget would you have in mind please?

All the best

Rick @ musicraft

 

[wtaylorbasil]

Hi Rick,

It is Yamaha RX-V363-95W/ch. I use the direct mode for 2-ch listening. Ah! well I listen to heavy rock, folk, pipe organ music and classical mainly with large choirs like Verdi's choruses. But for long listening I put on the high res cds, where I listen for the lows and highs. I am coming back to vinyls as well. Mostly I like 2-ch but do enjoy the multi-ch SACDs and DVD-A for which I will rely on the Yamaha.

I would like to see if I can get an amp for £300.00-£350.00 but £500.00 would be max. room 15ftX14ft.

Regards

 

[Frank Harvey]

I'll stand by my recommendation.

 

[wtaylorbasil]

Thanks FrankHarveyHiFi David @ Frank Harvey Hi-Fi and HiFix for your recommendation.

I hooked up some vintage gear, Pioneer SA9100 amp, Pioneer PL 71 TT, DBX 222 Decoder and connected to my IMF TLS80MKII speakers. Played Joan Baez Diamond and Rust (DBX) LP then Kingston Trio Aspen Gold (DBX) LP and followed it with Beatles Abbey Road (normal) LP.

It made me realise what I was missing. Yes my AV receiver is not up to the job for 2-ch stereo.

Now my plea to all of you all and MUSICRAFT Rick @ Musicraft and Andrew Everard Consulting Editor, What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision / whathifi.com Audio Editor, Gramophone, (1) My HT has to stay-it is a family set-up (2) I need to replace the AV receiver with another AV receiver that will be equal or better than what the Pioneer SA 9100 demonstrated to me.

In reply to Rick I said my budget was £500.00 max, but I will need to listen to your advice/recommendation and look into it more seriously. The AV must have input for vinly playback.

I look forward to your response.

William

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi William

I am sorry for my late reply as this thread simply slipped my mind.

I am looking at some options at the moment so i'll get back to you later on today.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi William

Thanks for your patience. If you are happy to buy used equipment than the following components are worth considering (budget depending)

Firstly replace your av amplifier with an amp such as Yamaha's DSP-AX763 - it includes a phono stage, HD audio decoding, pre outputs and multi channel inputs

If you are happy with the results of your Pioneer SA9100 driving the IMF speakers than use the DSP-AX763 in conjunction with a line level input on the Pioneer. The Pioneer powers the main fronts leaving the Yamaha to drive the centre + rears. The phono stage of either the Pioneer or Yamaha can be used for your turntable

Alternatively a NAD C370 amplifier + DSP-AX763. Use the C370's main power amp input to drive main front speakers with DSP-AX763 driving the centre + rears. The phono stage of the DSP-AX763 would have to be used for vinyl playback or a NAD PP2/PP3 for use with the C370.

Another option is a Rotel RMB1075 5ch power amp + DSP-AX763. All source components into the DSP-AX763 leaving the RMB1075 to drive all five spreakers

Btw, if something is not clear or if i have left something out than please inform me.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[wtaylorbasil]

Hi Rick,

Thank you for a well laid out plan. I will need time to mull it over as space is the restriction and I was hoping a straight swap of the AV receiver would do it. But I will take hard look at your suggestions.

Kind Regards

William

 

[Ben E.]

Thank you Igglebert for your posts, they are very informative for me. I was thinking of getting a Plinius 9200, which is rated at 200 watts RMS, and match them with the SA1s. Would this be ok considering the SA1s have a rated power handling of 125 watts? Would the synergy be good as well? Many thanks. (I wanted to get the 120 watt Plinius 9100, but they are no longer in production.)

 

[Anonymous]

Ben E.:Thank you Igglebert for your posts, they are very informative for me. I was thinking of getting a Plinius 9200, which is rated at 200 watts RMS, and match them with the SA1s. Would this be ok considering the SA1s have a rated power handling of 125 watts? Would the synergy be good as well? Many thanks. (I wanted to get the 120 watt Plinius 9100, but they are no longer in production.)
Ben, i wouldn,t pay too much attention to watts. I,ve got the A6s and have been driving them with a Sugden amp that is rated at only 36 watts, and it is more than enough.

 

[Anonymous]

johnnyjazz:Ben E.:Thank you Igglebert for your posts, they are very informative for me. I was thinking of getting a Plinius 9200, which is rated at 200 watts RMS, and match them with the SA1s. Would this be ok considering the SA1s have a rated power handling of 125 watts? Would the synergy be good as well? Many thanks. (I wanted to get the 120 watt Plinius 9100, but they are no longer in production.)
Ben, i wouldn,t pay too much attention to watts. I,ve got the A6s and have been driving them with a Sugden amp that is rated at only 36 watts, and it is more than enough.
Well, you don't need many Watts if you're happy with lower volumes and clipping. It's advisable to ensure enough Watts to provide dynamic headroom else you will get clipping and adverse effect on the sound.

 

[SteveR750]

chebby:

Smooth melodic music is smooth and melodic on my Naim.

Vocals that are deep and rich sound deep & rich.

Loud, rasping, brass is... err ...loud and rasping.

If you play the sort of music that... "grabs you by the throat" then the Naim will oblige rather than file off all the sharp edges to make things artificially cosy for you.

If you want to play some laid-back, warm, smooth sounds then it'll do that too. It really will. (So long as the music was recorded with that intention.)

However, it will do it without sounding 'cloying' or exaggerating the warmth. It doesn't do a 'harsh caricature' nor a 'soft focus/rose-tinted' portrait, just an honest one.

To be fair, most of us would make that claim about our systems, after all it's (the) reason why we bought the stuff in the first place because it sounded "real"

However, I'd agree with your general comments about the Naim sound, there wasn't much to choose between the 5i and the K2 when I listened to them, I made my decision ultmately on the looks and the extra power. Both are a much more natural system sound than say Cyrus to my ears.

FWIW, the Kandy K2 is a very different beast to the LIII and works very well with my S6es

 

[Anonymous]

Ben,

I am driving my spendor sp2/3r with plinius 8200mk2, which is the older 9200, i like it very much because it has a lot of power yet its presentation is laid back(tube like smooth) and plinius is such an all rounder(AC/DC doesn't sound so aggressive like some ss amp, but it's fast and the timing is so good that u end up liking its presentation in the end,classical is great, jazz and acoustic recording are just amazing), the timbre is so truth to the real instrument, i'm sure u can get the same sound quality(naturalness) from amps like sugden, class A, or low-watt tube amp, but plinius for me is superior in terms of drivibility, spendor doesn't need big wattage, but they love lots of power, yes they do, more power the amp, more u get out of your spendor, i like spendor for the flexibility, as they simply reflect the rest of your system without emphasising a specific area in music reproduction.

andy

 

[Anonymous]

igglebert:johnnyjazz:Ben E.:Thank you Igglebert for your posts, they are very informative for me. I was thinking of getting a Plinius 9200, which is rated at 200 watts RMS, and match them with the SA1s. Would this be ok considering the SA1s have a rated power handling of 125 watts? Would the synergy be good as well? Many thanks. (I wanted to get the 120 watt Plinius 9100, but they are no longer in production.)
Ben, i wouldn,t pay too much attention to watts. I,ve got the A6s and have been driving them with a Sugden amp that is rated at only 36 watts, and it is more than enough.
Well, you don't need many Watts if you're happy with lower volumes and clipping. It's advisable to ensure enough Watts to provide dynamic headroom else you will get clipping and adverse effect on the sound. Hmm, i stay in a detached iggle and the wife likes to crank up the volume very loud sometimes, no problems regarding clipping. Audio Note Ongaku is rated about 13 watts and can blow your speakers off their stands, really don,t think you should pay too much attention to watts. I have heard some crazy, clean, uncoloured volume coming out of low powered amps, i suppose at the end of the day it all comes down to component matching.

 

[SteveR750]

re the power thing - it doesnt appear to be logical, but there is a similar situation with guitar amps. I owned a cheapish Marshall 100W tansistoir amp, and a 30W valve amp (switchable 15w / 30W) and the latter at all volumes sonded louder - fuller, more intense, and more piercing. I don't think it was a faulty tranny amp either, as anyone who plays guitar will probably have noticed the same thing - valve watts are not the "same" as transistor watts.....

 

[Anonymous]

The concept of clipping when there isn't enough dynamic headroom isn't new nor my technical deduction.

If you're happy with the sound an amp and speaker pairing gives then job done. Be wary that clipping is likely if very low powered amps are used. It will impact the sound but clearly many don't mind.

 

[Anonymous]

SteveR750:re the power thing - it doesnt appear to be logical, but there is a similar situation with guitar amps. I owned a cheapish Marshall 100W tansistoir amp, and a 30W valve amp (switchable 15w / 30W) and the latter at all volumes sonded louder - fuller, more intense, and more piercing. I don't think it was a faulty tranny amp either, as anyone who plays guitar will probably have noticed the same thing - valve watts are not the "same" as transistor watts.....
Yea, agree with you on that steve, i had a Laney 30 watt valve amp and it had far too much power for me to play an archtop through at a loudish volume when i played with horn players, far too much feedback, got to the stage i could feel every note through my belly resonating from the guitar. I changed it to an AER Acoustic amp and the volume is much more realistic.

 

[Anonymous]

igglebert:The concept of clipping when there isn't enough dynamic headroom isn't new nor my technical deduction.

If you're happy with the sound an amp and speaker pairing gives then job done. Be wary that clipping is likely if very low powered amps are used. It will impact the sound but clearly many don't mind. But my amp has never clipped, at any volume.

 

[Anonymous]

Have you been actively measuring it then?

 

[Anonymous]

igglebert:Have you been actively measuring it then? Wouldn,t know how to do that Iggle. It has a clipping setting that activates if the amp gets into trouble, it,s never happened, YET

 

[Anonymous]

I think we're both out of our depth on the subject.

Either way, for the OP, listen to some amps and see how it sounds!

 

[Ben E.]

Thank you all for your advice; they are very helpful to me. I actually bought my Plinius 9200 first, and I have yet to get the SA1. Then maybe a DAC later, perhaps the Naim DAC. Cheers.