What Solid State Amps don't sound good with Klipsch Speakers?

[catman0122]

I once auditioned a used Onkyo Grand Integra M-508 in the mid 90s with my La Scalas. It was absolutely harsh. Mated very well however with Denon's POA-4400 mono-blocks.

[Harleywood]

On 8/21/2015 at 2:11 PM, Don Richard said:

Those that have parts beginning to break down but have not reached the failure point yet.

 

Active components, power supply caps, and coupling caps are some of the usual suspects.

 

Those sound horrible especially after they fail and take out both sets of Xovers and a horn that's not in production any longer. A big shout out to Bob Crites for the new XOs,  a fellow forum member who's name is evading me right now for the flawless replacement horn, and to Rotel and Audiogone for the brand new amp at half price. Lol

[JohnKuthe]

On 1/12/2018 at 6:44 PM, thebes said:

What Solid State Amps don't sound good with Klipsch Speakers?

 

Answer: All of them!

Tubes rule!!!!

 

The Tube Collective (raised fist with red flag waving in the background)

Dunno, while I "failed to grow up" listening to a McIntosh 20W Mono amp into a 15" Altec Lansing speaker, I love the sound today of my McIntosh MC2105 Solid State Stereo Amplifier into my Klipsch La Scalas! Crystal clear and very nice sound! :-)

John Kuthe...

[thebes]

I'm sure your current rig is a very pleasant listening experience. So do you ever cry while listening to SS?  Do you get up and spin around the room in a whirling dervish frenzy?  Crawl on the floor looking for lint? Feel the warm grip of an  absent friend's hand on your shoulder?

[HDBRbuilder]

On 1/29/2019 at 3:49 PM, diamonddelts said:

I would never use low watt receivers to power any of my speaker setups. 

That's just because you haven't tried the right ones, yet!  NEVER SAY NEVER!  It can come back to haunt ya!

[JohnKuthe]

4 hours ago, thebes said:

I'm sure your current rig is a very pleasant listening experience. So do you ever cry while listening to SS?  Do you get up and spin around the room in a whirling dervish frenzy?  Crawl on the floor looking for lint? Feel the warm grip of an  absent friend's hand on your shoulder?

Get up and spin around? No! I sit with my Djembe between my knees and beat out familiar old songs like:
 

And WE ROCK! :-)

Or slower numbers like:
 

Shall I go on? 😉

John Kuthe...

[mr clean]

On 5/31/2019 at 6:23 PM, thebes said:

I'm sure your current rig is a very pleasant listening experience. So do you ever cry while listening to SS?  Do you get up and spin around the room in a whirling dervish frenzy?  Crawl on the floor looking for lint? Feel the warm grip of an  absent friend's hand on your shoulder?

Not without dropping some LSD first🤷‍♂️!

[Buddy Shagmore]

I ran my Forte I's with a circa 1988 Yamaha RX 900U receiver for many years. It was always a bit harsh and brittle sounding. I finally replaced it with a Marantz 2245, and heavens to mergatroid, what a difference! Night and day! Edit - July 11th - I pulled the trigger on a new Yamaha A S2200 integrated a few weeks ago. It sounds fabulous with my Chorus II's. I think Yamaha has come a long way in the 30+ years since my old RX900U. I'm glad I gave them another try. Still hanging on to my '71 Marantz 2245 though. 

[OO1]

On 6/8/2020 at 9:17 PM, Buddy Shagmore said:

I ran my Forte I's with a circa 1988 Yamaha RX 900U receiver for many years. It was always a bit harsh and brittle sounding. I finally replaced it with a Marantz 2245, and heavens to mergatroid, what a difference! Night and day! 

It's discrete technology , old school , to make these today in any brand is very expensive

[JoeJoeThe3rd]

How do you guys think a parasound a31 would pair up with a pair of rf7 iii. Will run it in stereo mode and also run it with the rc64iii. Also thinking about the an anthem receiver, how is anthem?

[willland]

15 hours ago, David y said:

How do you guys think a parasound a31 would pair up with a pair of rf7 iii. Will run it in stereo mode and also run it with the rc64iii. Also thinking about the an anthem receiver, how is anthem?

Great.

 

Bill

[OO1]

23 hours ago, David y said:

How do you guys think a parasound a31 would pair up with a pair of rf7 iii. Will run it in stereo mode and also run it with the rc64iii. Also thinking about the an anthem receiver, how is anthem?

good

[Bobby2xs]

On 9/8/2015 at 4:19 PM, Khorn4 said:

I have been using a Marantz PM8004 integrated amp with my K-Horns and Heresy speakers as well as a pair of JBL L880 towers. These speakers are all on the bright side as you all know. This amp sounds very warm and seems to tame the brightness. I have a Teac DAC attached to it and running my iPod classic and even iPhone. I'm so surprised how good this sounds. Recently I decided to use my PM8004 as a Pre-amp and hook it up to a Marantz MM7025 power amp. The difference in sound was so amazing in a bad way. The sound was so clear and detailed and stereo separation was incredible. It was like listening to a completely different system. But now only very good recording sounded good everything else was harsh, bright and fatiguing on all speakers. 

IPod/IPhone was unlistenable. I bought the amp used but in very good condition (looks new). I ended up switching back to just PM8004. Right away sounded warm and so good. I'll try the amp in another system may be needs time to break in?  

I pair my pm8004 with a Will Vincent st-70 and the sound is sublime, just enough euphonics to make it sound multiples better than the individual pieces. I’d imagine a more detailed amp would take some of the “magic” away. Anywho....great gear, thought I’d share my victory, this combination is crushing on Cornwall 1!!!!

[Jon B]

Answer to the original question: Well built and designed amps (control, integrated, receiver, or power) should cleanly and accurately reproduce the content they are given as the musicians/performers intended it to sound. And the design and build quality is the determining factor when it comes to what sounds good or bad. I doubt any manufacturer sets out to build anything that would offer sub-standard performance with any speaker or they would be shrinking the market for their product. And due to the efficiency of Klipsch speakers it does not take a great deal of power to reach reasonable sound levels, although the more powerful amps can cope with dynamic demand better than amps with less headroom.

 

[DirtyErnie]

I can say, without a doubt, that my Sony HT receiver is definitely letting down my CF2s.

[Joecoulson]

Would like to add my new two cents to the mix here. Lots of audio pals told me I would want to dump the SS when I got the CW IV’s, but I am in heaven with the 6+\- pure class A that the A21+ Parasound puts out.  It never sounds harsh, even waaaay up.  And low listening has the most transparent effect I have ever owned.  They just disappear. 
 

The Parasound gear is really nice and when fed good power (20amp Dedicated/ AQ Hurricane/ AQ Niagara) you really get the best out of any speaker.  
 

Combine this with the efficiency of the CW’s, great source and tubes become a distant friend. Had tubes, loved them, would stay with this combo and be happy for a very long time. 
 

But then again, I do have a sickness. 

[Jon B]

I had tube guitar amps for years and loved them as a source, but disliked their care and feeding requirements over time. In the end, tubes need to be replaced. Transistors LOL, not so much.

 

And I agree that Parasound amps sound really good. But I do have a HCA-1000 that hums through the speakers like an old barber cutting hair when it is at idle. I have tried everything under the sun, custom power cables, dedicated circuits, power filters, testing with no external input and nothing will work. It's the amp, it just has a very clear hum that is masked by the audio when there is input and is not noticeable on quiet passages. But I am about remove it from the shelf its sitting on and pass it on to someone that wants to deal with it!

 

I had a buddy over that says he has metal detectors that do that by design. The audio engineers claim it speeds up the audio output of the detector when sweeping the detector. I said well that's great for a metal detector, but I really don't want to hear it when I am listening to Dark Side of the Moon!

 

[Edgar]

14 minutes ago, Jon B said:

And I agree that Parasound amps sound really good. But I do have a HCA-1000 that hums through the speakers like an old barber cutting hair when it is at idle. I have tried everything under the sun, custom power cables, dedicated circuits, power filters, testing with no external input and nothing will work. It's the amp, it just has a very clear hum that is masked by the audio when there is input and is not noticeable on quiet passages. 

 

My HCA-855 is the same way. Sounds nice, but some days it just hums for no apparent reason. Other days it doesn't. Sometimes it's only in one or two channels (of five), but it's not always in the same ones! I've been through the whole amp trying to find the source, to no avail.

[chuckears]

I had a Rotel 5-channel, 100 wpc (RMB-something-or-other) when I first expanded into HT, and it was the deadest, non-musical sounding amp I've ever tried with my Fortes.  Both the Carver before it, as well as (and especially) the McCormacks I owned before and after it, were exponentially better-sounding.

[Edgar]

46 minutes ago, chuckears said:

I had a Rotel 5-channel, 100 wpc (RMB-something-or-other) when I first expanded into HT, and it was the deadest, non-musical sounding amp I've ever tried with my Fortes.

 

I have a 7-channel Rotel that could be described in exactly the same way. Works fine, measures fine, does everything that an amp is supposed to do. But only makes sound, not music.