Galaxy12 Posted October 25, 2021 Share Posted October 25, 2021 (edited) New to the forum and recently bought a pair of klipsch R51m on sale . I am looking for options to build a budget vinyl setup and started looking at options to combine the speakers with a budget ( < 500 euro) vintage integrated amp .Not necessarily looking at a too warm sounding amp so I restricted my selection to budget and what I could see and read up on being natural soundings amps with a decent phono stage ... so these are some of the options I have on the amps and wondering if any other klipschonians has used them or would recommend ? Yamaha CA-800 Pioneer A-616 II YAMAHA AX-700 Kenwood KA-5500 KENWOOD KA-6004 PIONEER A-656 II Pioneer A-717 Pioneer SA-710-II SANSUI AU-X501 SANSUI AU-417 Met vriendelijke groeten , Bert Edited October 26, 2021 by Galaxy12 Resend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pondoro Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 I have R-51Ms and I will try them with my rebuilt Magnavox 185. Right now. I should have done it long ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pondoro Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 As I write this Frank Sinatra is crooning through the old Maggie amp. I think it produced about 10 watts per channel into it's original 4 ohm speakers. So somewhat less into the R51's. They sound very good. I have always used the Maggie with Heresy I speakers before, and the R-51's with a 70 watt per channel Yamaha AVR. The Heresy speakers sound much more full and rich, but the R-51's are really nice. They want a subwoofer but I am too lazy to hook one up (I use them with a sub when they are hooked to the Yamaha.) Get a vintage 4-8 watt per channel amp (lots of Magnavox amps are for sale in the US) and I predict you will be very happy playing jazz. If you wanted to reproduce a heavy metal concert or a live disco you would never have started with R-51 speakers, right? I got this amp free but spent about your budget getting it rebuilt. I can try it with Beach Boys or Beatles or Johnny Cash if you wish. I have no techno or classical CD's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pondoro Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 I am going to listen to this for a few days. The soft ballads sound very good, Frank is placed right in the center of the stage, where he wanted to be. The trombones and trumpets sound different between the Heresy's and the R-51's but I am not ready to describe the difference. The R-51's certainly sound smaller, the size difference is palpable. I love the R-51PM's (powered version of the R-51's) on a computer desk but the R-51's are not on a desk, they are trying to fill a medium room. I like them, I just like the Heresy's better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pondoro Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 OK, I have listened to a lot of Sinatra, some Beach Boys and some Beatles on my Klipsch Heresy I's, my R-51M's and my R-51PM's. The R-51PMs have very modern built in amplification. I listened to the Heresy speakers and the R-51M's using a CD player, a Schiit Modi DAC, a Schiit Vali 2+ preamp and my vintage Magnavox tube amp. The R-51PM's are fed with ripped audio files (high quality) through a Schiit Modi but no tube preamp. The R-51PM's are aided by a low power (50 watt) Polk subwoofer. I was too lazy to disconnect the subwoofer from the R-51PM's and too lazy to install it with the R-51's. Reactions: 1) The Heresy speakers do a better job at high volumes. Both other speakers sound "confused" when the trombones and trumpets get loud, the horn sounds mix together. I kept lowering the volume until this confusion stopped. It does stop at low enough volume. The tube amp and the subwoofer made no difference, the R051 and the R-51PMs both displayed this effect. 2) As I said I love the R-51PM's as nearfield computer speakers. No trouble there. 3) The R-51M's with the tube amp do not sound extremely "warm", compared to the Heresy speakers they sound cool. 4) Both the R-51M with tube or the R-51PM sound great with jazz at lower volumes. They are not party speakers. The Beach Boys and the Beatles also sound good. I think any high quality vintage amp that has at least ten watts per channel will sound great driving the R-51M's, if you are in a small room or happy with decent (but not loud) volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absolve2525 Posted October 30, 2021 Share Posted October 30, 2021 Those are all really nice vintage amps. Hard to go wrong with any of those, really. I gravitate towards Sansui, but I like the other brands also. I would probably see if any work or service has been done, like new capacitors etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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