derrickdj1 Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 I have a Icon V series HT (VF 35, VC 25, VS 14, VS 15 and a RW 15 sub) and a Pioneer SC 35 Elite receiver for my HT setup. The receiver has a class D amp at 140 watts x 7 continuous and the speaker are rated 100-400 watts VF 35 and 50-200 watts VS 14. My questions are the following: 1) Can I benefit from a power amp 2) If I can, what type and how much power 3) I do not want to damage the receiver or speaker My setup is a 9.1 with the VS 14's as front height and surrounds, and the VB 15's as surround back. I see lot of people on this forum with power amps but they have larger speaker that have more headroom for power. I was told that the reciever has a peak around 280 watts/channel. Comments and suggestions are appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nezff Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 you have a pretty darn good avr with what you got. Only your ears will tell you if you benefit. IMHO, you should take a look at the Emotiva amps. Great bang for the buck. I got my XPA5 for $700shipped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twistedcrankcammer Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 I have a Icon V series HT (VF 35, VC 25, VS 14, VS 15 and a RW 15 sub) and a Pioneer SC 35 Elite receiver for my HT setup. The receiver has a class D amp at 140 watts x 7 continuous and the speaker are rated 100-400 watts VF 35 and 50-200 watts VS 14. My questions are the following: 1) Can I benefit from a power amp 2) If I can, what type and how much power 3) I do not want to damage the receiver or speaker My setup is a 9.1 with the VS 14's as front height and surrounds, and the VB 15's as surround back. I see lot of people on this forum with power amps but they have larger speaker that have more headroom for power. I was told that the reciever has a peak around 280 watts/channel. Comments and suggestions are appreciated. Welcome to the forum Derrick Pioneer Elite goes well with Klipsch 1) Can I benifit from a power amp? Similar to asking "will sex be better with a woman in the room"? The answer is yes, of course, but you would see alot more bang for your buck by upgrading your speakers, wich you say you don't want to do. 2) If I can, what type and how much power? Budget for said amp? 3) I do not want to damage the receiver or speaker. An amp will not damage a receiver, and distortion blows speakers, not wattage. Having said all this, I recomend you upgrade your speakers and sub before you worry about it, your receiver should fill your needs, and speakers are the best bang for the buck upgrade there is. Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 You have an $1000 receiver powering $350/pair mains. The balance is already too far on the side of amplification in my opinion. If you feel the need to spend, I would also suggest the speakers. There's no RW15 sub. Did you mean RW12? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 You have an $1000 receiver powering $350/pair mains. The balance is already too far on the side of amplification in my opinion. If you feel the need to spend, I would also suggest the speakers. There's no RW15 sub. Did you mean RW12? That makes sence. The Reference series would be a huge improvement, especially if you go RF-7 II system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 If it were my system, I would also upgrade my speakers prior to buying an amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nezff Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Yes, I agree, you should upgrade your speakers. [] this will help with your quest: http://community.klipsch.com/forums/t/146580.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 1) Can I benifit from a power amp? Similar to asking "will sex be better with a woman in the room"? The answer is yes, of course, but you would see alot more bang for your buck by upgrading your speakers, wich you say you don't want to do. I'm still not sure that I, or even Roger though I can't speak for him, wouldn't still recommending updating speakers if $1,000 per pair mains with $350 receiver. My smart arse remark is you won't hear very much sound without an amplifier.... but of course receivers have amplifiers built in. 3) I do not want to damage the receiver or speaker. An amp will not damage a receiver, and distortion blows speakers, not wattage. I was going to disagree with Roger on that but not quite sure I can. Our oldest daughter's friends totally fried a pair of smallish Advent Marbl speakers at her 16th birthday party with a 125x5, 180x2 high current power amplifier in two channel mode. Sounded great but much louder than the Marbl's should be capable of I thought playing Aretha Franklin. Next up some Sum41 (EMO genre). Smoked the little 5-1/4" bass/mid drivers before I could take 2 steps and then the tweeters. I couldn't tell if the Sum41 was distorting or not but was probably clipping the amplifier hard. I think Aretha was clipping the amplifier a bit bot it sounded very good - far better sounding and louder than I thought the Marbls were capable of. I'm sure nice clean signals at those levels would've eventually smoked the Marlbs? But maybe not. Sum41 to me sounds like most everything is turned to 11. Generally, too much power is far better than not enough. Too little and clipping is more likely and tweeters go up in smoke (maybe not literally but get burned out). Way more than enough power also allows greater dynamics I think even if you never come close to using anywhere close to the continuous power rating level. But some common sense is required. If it starts sounding bad turn it down. Don't over boost the bass. Etc. Keep teenagers, young twenty-somethings that don't know any better away from controls. Having said all this, I recomend you upgrade your speakers and sub before you worry about it, your receiver should fill your needs, and speakers are the best bang for the buck upgrade there is I'd say by far. A better more powerful amplifier can help but a lower powered amplifier can be better if it can handle complex speaker loads better than one that can really only handle simple loads of a relatively constant 8 ohms. I would always recommend amplifiers that can deliver more power into lesser ohms than ones that can only deliver the same power into lower ohms or even less. In that regards if an amplifier is rated at 50/100/200 watts per channel into 8/4/2 ohms it will probably sound better than one reated 100/100/don't even think about it into 8/4/2 ohms. At lwast that's been my experience. Will adding external higher power higher current amplifcation make your current system sound better? Sure. Will it make it sound as much better as upgrading to better speakers? Not even close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twistedcrankcammer Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 Derrick, I remember reading a book on hi-fidelity when I was a kid, the book recomended spending 70% of your total investment on your speakers. This was in the days of stereo with only two speakers, so 30% on your receiver, casette tape player, and turn table combined!! A good example of this is when I was in high school, I had the most expensive Alpine Cassette deck made for a car at the time and the best Pioneer 4-way 6 by 9" speakers at the time. My girlfriends X-boyfriend had bought her a Sparkomatic cassette deck and Kraco 3-way 6 by 9" speakers. I ended many an argument over whether speakers or the receiver were more important as that Alpine was by far the best piece of equipement out of all of the stuff, yet hooking the sparkomatic cassette to the Pioneer speakers sounded far better then hooking the Alpine to the Kraco speakers. Was the sparkomatic competition for the Alpine when both were hooked to the Pioneer speakers? Not a chance, that Sparkomatic was junk, but the speakers made the most difference, and those Pioneers cost half of what that Alpine did. I believe this to be even more true in todays multi-channel surround systems, and feel 80 to 90% on your speakers for a surround system is not totally out of line when you are talking about 5 or 7 speakers plus an additional 1 or 2 subs. If you are set on an amp, how much can you spend, but I highly recomend saving your money for a speaker upgrade. Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derrickdj1 Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. The verdicit is in, upgrade speakers for the best bang for your bucks. Since I like these speakers, they will end up downstairs where I have a lonely 51 in Plasma 3D TV. I will consider RB 81 across the front paired with 2 subs. That would make a nice front stage. My wife will not go for larger towers. I will stay with a 9.1 or 9.2 setup. This setup is great for blue-rays, dvd and tv. I know the avr is a bit on the high end but BB had it on closeout for $729, so I could not pass that deal up, lol. I am learning a lot from this forum. Time to start looking for deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornfedksboy Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 There's absolutely nothing wrong with your speakers and I know they sound great! If, as you suggest, you want to improve sound, adding another amp isn't going to be cost effective. For improved performance...speakers make the biggest difference. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twistedcrankcammer Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 My wife will not go for larger towers.. Derrick Good luck with that [:^)][:$] Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 The verdicit is in, upgrade speakers for the best bang for your bucks That was good advise and you are wise to give it consideration, this will bring you much better results than an amp in your case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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