What receiver should I use for my Klipsch Speakers?

[rlmerrell69]

Good day everyone!

 

As my first question/post, i'd like to say Klipsch has been the only brand of speakers I've ever owned. I've always been pleased and even more so now that I've recently purchased 2 R-28F Speakers. Right, on to my question; may be a little long.

 

I've tried to get straight answers or 'scientific' answer to the quality, level and wattage of receiver I should get when it comes to powering my Klipsch speakers. My current system is the Klipsch Quintet 5 they sound amazing. This is joined with a Yamaha RX-377 and the Klipsch SW-112 Subwoofer. I knew these small speakers wouldn't take much to power, so I got the Yamaha receiver. However, I purchased 2 Klipsch R-28F Floor-standing speakers to replace my 2 front speakers. I will, soon, be getting another pair of those to replace my rear speakers and will be replacing my center speaker soon after that with a Klpisch R-25C Center Speaker. I'm fairly certain I would be under-powering these speakers and from what Klipsch has mentioned, this isn't healthy for these speakers.

 

How I use these beauties:

Music and Movies

Prefer to crank up the sound as much as I can.

Speakers are no more than 10ft away from listening position(although may change later to no more than 15ft)

 

Considering what I will be using in the future. What receiver is my best option? Would I need a more elaborate setup to properly drive these towers?

If no particular selection of receivers can be provided, what should I look for when searching for a receiver to properly compliment the Klipsch speakers?

 

I certainly do appreciate y'alls replies and input. Looking forward to seeing responses!

Thanks!

[rebuy]

I would dump the Yamaha-especially since it's an entry level one.

When you hook up more than 2 speakers to an entry level yamaha,

a 100 WPC can turn into a 30 WPC. 

Look at some of the other ones people use here.

Many are posted in their signatures.

Mine is a Denon and it's good.

Accessories4less had good refurbs for great prices.

Stay away from cheap Yammies.

If you're not on a tight budget--Shop Anywhere.

[rlmerrell69]

5 hours ago, rebuy said:

I would dump the Yamaha-especially since it's an entry level one.

When you hook up more than 2 speakers to an entry level yamaha,

a 100 WPC can turn into a 30 WPC. 

Look at some of the other ones people use here.

Many are posted in their signatures.

Mine is a Denon and it's good.

Accessories4less had good refurbs for great prices.

Stay away from cheap Yammies.

If you're not on a tight budget--Shop Anywhere.

Thank you for the references! I thought so about the Yamaha, although I do see some people using those 2030 Yamahas (in that family of receivers).

So, I should aim towards a Denom receiver. About what wattage range should I be looking into? Or at least, what wattage can I get that would properly drive the towers without being way too under-powered?

[rebuy]

Get one with as power you can afford.

The best would be to get one with Pre Outs

so you can Add A Power Amp later if you wish.

I don't have pre outs--Next one I buy will have them

but I was short on cash.

If you're 10 to 15 feet away I  would guess

80 to 100 watts would be more than enough

but I'm just a hillbilly. Maybe one of these

City Boys can give better advice.

[wvu80]

5 hours ago, rlmerrell69 said:

If no particular selection of receivers can be provided, what should I look for when searching for a receiver to properly compliment the Klipsch speakers?

Welcome to the Klipsch forums! 

 

I'm not familiar enough with AVR's to suggest a specific model.  A lot of people mention Denon, Marantz and some of the nicer Yamaha's and Pioneers as working well with Klipsch.

 

I think of the AVR as the heart of your system in particular if you have a 5.1 (or so) setup.  In general you want to think in thirds, a third of your budget should be speakers, a third subs, and a third for your AVR.

 

I thought @rebuy had some good suggestions ^^^.

 

 

[rebuy]

Here is a couple to get you started.

 

https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavrx2400h/denon-avr-x2400h-7.2-ch-x-95-watts-networking-a/v-receiver-w/heos/1.html

 

https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/denavrx1400h/denon-avr-x1400h-7.2-ch-x-80-watts-networking-a/v-receiver-w/heos/1.html

 

https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/marsr5011/marantz-sr5011-7.2-ch-x-100-watts-networking-a/v-receiver/1.html

[The History Kid]

I'd dump the Denon AVR-X1400 and Marantz SR-5011 off that list above.  The 5011 is their entry level, and I've heard enough negative reviews to steer clear.  People either really like them or really hate them.  The 6011 however, is a different beast entirely.  The 1400 doesn't have pre-outs, and if you're running Klipsch speakers with the risk of upgrading, I'd do nothing short of an AVR with a full ensemble of preouts. 

[wvu80]

11 minutes ago, The History Kid said:

The 6011 however, is a different beast entirely. 

I have the Marantz SR6011 and it is much higher end than the 5011.  Highly recommended.

 

It has 125 big watts, meaning it is more powerful than my Onkyo 717 which is also 125 wpc.  The 6011 is a 2017 model but it is far above entry level in terms of the amount of speakers it can drive.

 

What the older models lack is features such as the Alexa connectivity but if you have the budget for it, you can get years of service out of it and it will drive nearly any configuration of speakers you need.

[rlmerrell69]

Thanks @The History Kid, @wvu80 & @rebuy !!

I'd like to keep a bit simple and have the receiver power the towers. I'm sure if I needed pre-outs to power Klipsch speakers I would have upgraded to Klipsch's THX speakers. Which would come much much later. For now, i'd like to keep it as a 5.(1)(2) / 7.(1)(2) with the upgrade ability to have overhead speakers for Atmos. Would a Denon AVR-X5200W suffice or is the Marantz SR6011 still preferable? I can't seem to reach the Marantz website for that model, not letting me through.

[The History Kid]

1 minute ago, rlmerrell69 said:

Thanks @The History Kid, @wvu80 & @rebuy !!

I'd like to keep a bit simple and have the receiver power the towers. I'm sure if I needed pre-outs to power Klipsch speakers I would have upgraded to Klipsch's THX speakers. Which would come much much later. For now, i'd like to keep it as a 5.(1)(2) / 7.(1)(2) with the upgrade ability to have overhead speakers for Atmos. Would a Denon AVR-X5200W suffice or is the Marantz SR6011 still preferable? I can't seem to reach the Marantz website for that model, not letting me through.

Both are solid options.  I will still encourage you to find an AVR with pre's which both have.  It has nothing to do with assuming the power isn't there, just allows you to keep your investment longer than a few years when technology changes or power needs can't be met.

[wvu80]

8 minutes ago, rlmerrell69 said:

For now, i'd like to keep it as a 5.(1)(2) / 7.(1)(2) with the upgrade ability to have overhead speakers for Atmos.

Go for the Marantz 6011.  It has enough amps internally to run 5.2.4.  If you want to go Atmos some day, four Atmos modules (instead of two) are the way to go.  It can process 11 channels so you could go 7.2.4 but you would need an external amp for the last two channels.

 

If you don't have Atmos yet you can still make use of the extra channels as I've done which is bi-amp my L/R.  I use 5.2 bi-amped and I still have two amps not being used.

[rebuy]

15 minutes ago, wvu80 said:

Go for the Marantz 6011.  It has enough amps internally to run 5.2.4.  If you want to go Atmos some day, four Atmos modules (instead of two) are the way to go.  It can process 11 channels so you could go 7.2.4 but you would need an external amp for the last two channels.

 

If you don't have Atmos yet you can still make use of the extra channels as I've done which is bi-amp my L/R.  I use 5.2 bi-amped and I still have two amps not being used.

Does that Marantz have built in equalizers?

 

I told ya these Big City Boys got smarts.

[wvu80]

4 minutes ago, rebuy said:

Does that Marantz have built in equalizers?

Yes.  It has the advanced version of Audyssey and if you wanted to make your own adjustments you can EQ each set of speakers via the AVR menu.

[rebuy]

Just now, wvu80 said:

Yes.  It has the advanced version of Audyssey and if you wanted to make your own adjustments you can EQ each set of speakers via the AVR menu.

You see my Denon has actual Eq's built in

I gotta have EQ's

I can EQ each channel as I like.

[rlmerrell69]

@wvu80, my entry level Yamaha receiver has EQ built in too. Although I would need to individually set them if I didn't use auto or kept it off. I'll be honest, I've tried messing with those settings and really couldn't get what I was looking for. I'm sure i'm doing something wrong there. Or maybe it isn't a 'real' EQ. 

 

It seems the Marantz is the preferable receiver according to y'all. I do see the cont' watts for these towers are 150. Would it still be O.K. to go with Marantz 110 watts instead of Denon's 140 watts? I only mention this because when I can, I REALLY crank up the volume to my receivers absolute maximum. I am a little deaf(about %20 deaf)(from a medical issue in my middle school days not because i'm blowing out my ear drums with sound), and I love to literally feel the sound... heh. Of course, this isn't always the case. I'd like to make sure i'm not 'underpowering' the speakers with 110watts when listening at very high volume.

[The History Kid]

It's unlikely you'll use more than about 30 Watts anyway.  Most people won't be able to take 150 Watts continuously anyway.  Watts are only a piece of the puzzle.

[rebuy]

21 minutes ago, rlmerrell69 said:

@wvu80, my entry level Yamaha receiver has EQ built in too. Although I would need to individually set them if I didn't use auto or kept it off. I'll be honest, I've tried messing with those settings and really couldn't get what I was looking for. I'm sure i'm doing something wrong there. Or maybe it isn't a 'real' EQ. 

 

It seems the Marantz is the preferable receiver according to y'all. I do see the cont' watts for these towers are 150. Would it still be O.K. to go with Marantz 110 watts instead of Denon's 140 watts? I only mention this because when I can, I REALLY crank up the volume to my receivers absolute maximum. I am a little deaf(about %20 deaf)(from a medical issue in my middle school days not because i'm blowing out my ear drums with sound), and I love to literally feel the sound... heh. Of course, this isn't always the case. I'd like to make sure i'm not 'underpowering' the speakers with 110watts when listening at very high volume.

The Point is--and do not be offended.

A small Yamaha like you have is crappy when hooked up

to many speakers because it has a very weak power supply.

Low power AVR's when you're trying to play them Loud,

lose power and introduce "distortion" which is fed to 

Your new Klipsch, and that distortion is what burns up many speakers.

 

[wvu80]

59 minutes ago, rlmerrell69 said:

Would it still be O.K. to go with Marantz 110 watts instead of Denon's 140 watts?

Yes.  Both @The History Kid and @rebuy are right on point regarding power.  It's more than just the numbers.

 

If the Marantz has 110 watts to gain another 3 db (you can't hear less than a 3 db change) you need a 220 watt amp.  You have to double the power to get a 3 db gain.  As THK said, 30 watts is virtually no advantage at all.

 

The big advantage of the 6011 is the Marantz has 9 discrete amps.  That means each speaker gets it's own power amp and doesn't "borrow" from one big power amp.  That's why even though the Denon might claim 140 wpc as you add more speakers, the sound gets more dull and less dynamic because all the speakers share the same amp.  You might start out with 140 wpc but by the time you add a center and surround speakers each set of speakers might only be getting 50 watts.  The Marantz has the same amount of power no matter how many speakers you add.

[rlmerrell69]

@rebuy, None taken! I very much welcome constructive truth and knowledge/understanding of how it works. So it's safe to say, I am 'overloading' my receiver with speakers that need more power than what the Yamaha could provide? In a better case scenario for this Yamaha is just a simple 2.1(powered sub) setup, and not a 5.1 i'm guessing. With only my Quintet speakers, I have noticed my Yamha's display kinda dim a little when I have it past 85-90(I believe 97 is the maximum) during loud moments. Even for my Quintets, I don't think I really heard much distortion. Does this mean this entry level Yamaha is a pretty good fit for my quintets I have?

 

I ask this question because my Yamaha is at 70w... I think i'm starting to put some pieces of this amplifier puzzle together. My Yamaha receiver says 2 channel driven at 70w and dynamic power of 110w for Front L/R Speakers. So the more speakers I add, the more shared these watts are. In a sense, this receiver only has 2 'poweramps'. Where as the Marantz 6011 and the Denon AVRX5200W have a total of 9 'poweramps', with the addition of both doing 11.2 channels according to the spec sheet and the physical plugs in the back(not pre-outs). So this means, to me, that Marantz and Denon have literally 9 amplified channels(Which is why @wvu80 recommended to use pre-outs for anything past 9 speakers) so that each speaker has their own min-amp within the amp providing true 110w or 140w per channel. If this made ANY Sense... or if I missed earth completely.

[rebuy]

Never turn any AVR or stereo up to Maximum.

The dial is not an indicator of power output.