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Please help me pick an amp/receiver for KLF-20


scott_home

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Hi all,

I just bought a pair of KLF-20 from a forum member. I have an old Harman AV receiver (AVR-45), which has pre-out, but it is not powerful enough to power them. So I am shopping for either an amp or a receiver.

For the receiver, I am thinking about Harman HK-3490 (120W/ch). It costs about $280.

For the amp, I am thinking NAD 2200 or others. Jeff Tubbs has been very kind on giving me some advice. What other amps would be a good match?

My budget is under $400. Do you think that an external amp will be much better than HK-3490? Thanks.

Scott

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Yes I think an external amp will be the most rewarding. However I currently have my KLF 20's on a Marantz SR5005 and they sound well BOOOOOM! It's usually better to have separates but at your price point that is gonna be hard to do given these 20's LOVE power.

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If you're not opposed to vintage stuff you can really do well on both ebay and Craiglist if you're willing to wait a bit.

I picked up a mint Sansui B3000 for 60 bucks and a mint PL400 for 175. I prefer CL because I can audition it and skip the hassle and expense of shipping. But a few years ago I helped a bud steal a very nice amp on ebay. There have been some smoking deals in the Grage Sale section of this site recently as well. Good luck and have fun.

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I have been going through the same thing with a pair of KLF-30s. It all started when I bought the KLF-30s about three weeks ago. I have been using a Toshiba SA-850 receiver for about twenty years and I loved it. The problem was the KLF-30s are so efficient I couldn't turn the amp down enough at night while my wife slept. The SA-850 has one of those ALPS stepped resistor volume controls with the first and second steps being too quiet and the third step too loud. I dug out my old Luxman L-5 and hooked it up, not too bad, yet I just can't leave anything alone, I have to make it better, so I ordered the titanium mid and tweeter drivers from Klipsch. This is where the whole thing came crashing down. The sound was now very congested in the upper midrange and lower treble, there was little midrange, the speakers were very strident, the only thing that sounded OK was the bass. I couldn't get decent sound and almost went back to the phenolic midrange drivers. I was so disapointed I had thoughts of selling the KLF-30s. Fate took a hand when I was offered a second chance deal on eBay on a Harman Kardon PM665 integrated amp. I bought it and it arrived yesterday. After a trip to my work bench for a once over I installed it. The clouds parted and the stereo gods smiled on my system. The PM665 was the answer to everything. The sound is smooth, seperation is great (huge improvement in the soundstage), the mids are back, the highs are balanced and articulate and bass is tighter. The volume control works as I need it to and if needed there is a -20dB muting switch. A few other things I really like about the PM665 are: 1) Turnover controls for the bass and treble, you can select 200 or 400 Hz for bass and 2K or 6K for treble. 2) The amp is truly twin powered, two seperate power transformers and power supplies, like having two mono block amps. 3) It is powerful, 150 watts/channel into 8 or 4 ohms with good headroom. 4) It has pre-out & main-in jacks. 5) The loudness control is not your typical boomy bass, screachy highs affair, it boosts only bass at 50 Hz by changing the negative feedback of the amp, very cool and very effective, but I don't think I even need it. 6) It comes in silver or black to fit your tastes (I am a silver face guy). The KLF-30s can play quiet, moderate and rip your head off with this amp and do it while making me smile. I think you would love it with your KLF-20s. I paid $155 delivered so it is well within your budget. I also have a Carver TX-11a tuner on the way, it is supposed to be one of the best tuners ever, I hope it is what was promised by the seller and that it gets to me undamaged, if so, HOME RUN! [:D]

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No surprise to me on the PM665. Those H/Ks are awesome. Great looks, great performance, and great price on the used market. I picked up a sweet PM645 Vxi on local CL for $20. It's amazing. Granted it's doing light duty in my office with the KG1s, but it is so effortless compared to the more expensive vintage Yamaha it replaced and sounds 10x better.

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