Recomend me a power amp
Discussion
angusfaldo said:
Or a Quad 909? up to a grand new but they ebay less than half that. One there right now with bidding at 300. It's 140w but I'd seriously not want to be your close neighbour if you plan to go much over this 
I've seen the ads on ebay, have you tried one? I don't have any close neighboursForget the quoted wattage it bear little relevance to real world output power and true depth. Look for Class A amps 
I have heard 1.5 Watt SE Triode amps (through very efficient horns) that are more than loud enough. Would recommend the Pass Aleph 3 on e-bay but not over keen as it is 120V with a step up rather than a UK 240V one. Only 30 watts per channel but true class A. As a guide with moderately efficient speakers (85-90 dB per watt) you will rarely use more than a few watts per channel. Class A is however a great way of making sure that power is always available for the music peaks and that it will drive something other than a pure 8 ohm load.
I always found Meridian and Chord a little harsh but nicely detailed. Quad 909 expensive to buy new and not special but may make a great second hand bargain. Warm sound with depth , presence etc. Fancy a talking point b? Go valve class A.
If it were my money I would be buying the EAR 859 at £750, almost tempted myself but I have a valve amp as well as a Pass Aleph 3. 13 watt per channel but more than adequate to blow your socks off.
I have heard 1.5 Watt SE Triode amps (through very efficient horns) that are more than loud enough. Would recommend the Pass Aleph 3 on e-bay but not over keen as it is 120V with a step up rather than a UK 240V one. Only 30 watts per channel but true class A. As a guide with moderately efficient speakers (85-90 dB per watt) you will rarely use more than a few watts per channel. Class A is however a great way of making sure that power is always available for the music peaks and that it will drive something other than a pure 8 ohm load.I always found Meridian and Chord a little harsh but nicely detailed. Quad 909 expensive to buy new and not special but may make a great second hand bargain. Warm sound with depth , presence etc. Fancy a talking point b? Go valve class A.
If it were my money I would be buying the EAR 859 at £750, almost tempted myself but I have a valve amp as well as a Pass Aleph 3. 13 watt per channel but more than adequate to blow your socks off.
I don't think that you can lump Meridian and Chord in together, the Meridian is much much smoother. For AV use you want something with decent power reserves for AV use.
I agree Class A can sound brilliant, but personally I think it's overkill in an AV system, great in a music only system. I have had a Pass Labs X250 in my system and for music it was the best Amp I've had, but since my system is 95% AV, I went back to Meridian Amps.
I agree Class A can sound brilliant, but personally I think it's overkill in an AV system, great in a music only system. I have had a Pass Labs X250 in my system and for music it was the best Amp I've had, but since my system is 95% AV, I went back to Meridian Amps.
Thanks for the responses, the Old speakers were Naim SBL's, the new ones are Neat Ultimatum MFS's
The neats are in a different league. but! even though they are both 88db the Neats seem to need more driving, Its a bit like a car with a lairy cam, nt a lot then everything.
Im assuming my AV amp is a bit light in the current department or has very little reserves, It is an Onkyo TX-SR876, I have been offered an Alchemist Forseti APD20A, it's NOS but still £550 has anyone tried one? http://www.alchemisthifi.info/ranges/forseti/alche...
The neats are in a different league. but! even though they are both 88db the Neats seem to need more driving, Its a bit like a car with a lairy cam, nt a lot then everything.
Im assuming my AV amp is a bit light in the current department or has very little reserves, It is an Onkyo TX-SR876, I have been offered an Alchemist Forseti APD20A, it's NOS but still £550 has anyone tried one? http://www.alchemisthifi.info/ranges/forseti/alche...
Adrian
AV amps are very light on current driving capability unless you are playing with the likes of Anthem. Their driving performance also drops off markedly when driving several speakers. It is the impedance response of the speaker that shows whether it needs large current to drive it, the Neat MFS's are nominal 6 ohm and have a min impedance of 4 ohms (according to the Neat website), so you should look for an amplifier that doubles it's rated output between driving 8 Ohms and 4 Ohms, this will then have good current driving capability, eg 150W into 8 ohms and 300W into 4 ohms (ie the current output remains constant). My speakers have a sub 2 ohm dip in their impedance and are known to be difficult to drive, but my amplifier will still drive over 150A into a 1ohm load!
This current driving capability will give good slam and is ideal if A) you're a drummer! or b) use the system for AV.
Don't be tempted with something like an older pair of Naim NAP135s, although Naim has good synergy with Neat, the 135s will shut down if high current driving capabilities are placed on them (and AV is likely to do this - think big explosions and the like)
Personally I would go for a named amplifier (no pun intended) and buy secondhand, and then if it doesn't suit you'll be able to move it on easily.
Meridian 557, Quad 909, Linn Klout, one of the big 2 channel Rotel or NAD amps, all of these should be able to give you a decent amp between £500-£1000. Though your Neat MFS's are very good and really demand a whole lot better AV system, than something with an Onkyo in it!!!
AV amps are very light on current driving capability unless you are playing with the likes of Anthem. Their driving performance also drops off markedly when driving several speakers. It is the impedance response of the speaker that shows whether it needs large current to drive it, the Neat MFS's are nominal 6 ohm and have a min impedance of 4 ohms (according to the Neat website), so you should look for an amplifier that doubles it's rated output between driving 8 Ohms and 4 Ohms, this will then have good current driving capability, eg 150W into 8 ohms and 300W into 4 ohms (ie the current output remains constant). My speakers have a sub 2 ohm dip in their impedance and are known to be difficult to drive, but my amplifier will still drive over 150A into a 1ohm load!
This current driving capability will give good slam and is ideal if A) you're a drummer! or b) use the system for AV.
Don't be tempted with something like an older pair of Naim NAP135s, although Naim has good synergy with Neat, the 135s will shut down if high current driving capabilities are placed on them (and AV is likely to do this - think big explosions and the like)
Personally I would go for a named amplifier (no pun intended) and buy secondhand, and then if it doesn't suit you'll be able to move it on easily.
Meridian 557, Quad 909, Linn Klout, one of the big 2 channel Rotel or NAD amps, all of these should be able to give you a decent amp between £500-£1000. Though your Neat MFS's are very good and really demand a whole lot better AV system, than something with an Onkyo in it!!!
Thanks David, the Onkyo replaced a Lexicon and Audiolab amps, I had a tidy up, now Two years down the road I've started playing again, is there another way of doing it without getting to untidy? I use a naim CDX for CD's and a media pc for everything else.
I'm using a Rourke Dialogue1 and Definitive Technologies dipoles,
I'm using a Rourke Dialogue1 and Definitive Technologies dipoles,
DavidY said:
one of the big 2 channel Rotel or NAD amps
A Rotel RB-981 would be ideal imho ~ I've used a pair of these to drive Impulse H2s and Duntech Princesses, their sound is leagues ahead of their price. 30+ amps of peak current, 189W into 8 ohms and close to doubling that into 4 ohms again into 2; they should grip the NEATS really well.
Plenty of compliments here too http://www.audioreview.com/cat/amplification/ampli...
Adrian
Ha Ha, the tidy up trap, fell for that one in the past, not going to do it again!!! My wife is now used to big ugly black boxes!
The simple rule is decent speakers need decent amplifiers (and vice versa), and then a decent source is required!!!
If you want a simple solution and must have the latest HD codecs, I would go for an Acram AVR400 and then a power amp of your choice for the Neats (don't go for the AVR500 as they have a reputation of being unreliable and the AVR600 is big bucks), but having had an AVR400 for a week and comparing it to my 'legacy' Meridian Processor, in regular DD and DTS the Meridian wipes the floor with the Arcam, and with DTS-MA in the Arcam v Max Bit Rate DTS in the Meridian, they are mighty close, given that most of my movie viewing is with Shy HD movies, regular DD is just fine, so I'm sticking with the Meridian.
Which way you want to go all depends on what you use it for.
davidy
Ha Ha, the tidy up trap, fell for that one in the past, not going to do it again!!! My wife is now used to big ugly black boxes!
The simple rule is decent speakers need decent amplifiers (and vice versa), and then a decent source is required!!!
If you want a simple solution and must have the latest HD codecs, I would go for an Acram AVR400 and then a power amp of your choice for the Neats (don't go for the AVR500 as they have a reputation of being unreliable and the AVR600 is big bucks), but having had an AVR400 for a week and comparing it to my 'legacy' Meridian Processor, in regular DD and DTS the Meridian wipes the floor with the Arcam, and with DTS-MA in the Arcam v Max Bit Rate DTS in the Meridian, they are mighty close, given that most of my movie viewing is with Shy HD movies, regular DD is just fine, so I'm sticking with the Meridian.
Which way you want to go all depends on what you use it for.
davidy
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