alwezhpy Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 Hello All. I would like to solicit any recommendations for an amplifier for my Klipschorns. I am looking for experience vs on-paper reco's. First of all, the Khorns are part of my audio/theater room. I am currently driving them with a Yamaha RX-A3050 receiver. This receiver, along with another Yamaha RX-A3030 receiver drives the 7.3.4 system for movies. This setup has been excellent and I have no need to improve on the theater aspect. What I am searching for, is whether I should introduce a separate amplifier for 2-channel listening. Even though I would rather have as few components between the source and speakers as possible, should I add a switch to move from the Yamaha to the new amp when moving from movies to 2-channel? Then, I would like you to consider that all my source music is digital. So because of the digital sources, should I even consider tubes, which I hear are excellent with Klipsch's legacy speakers (I also have a pair of Tangent 50's in a separate system in another room). If I should then stick with digital amplification, is there a recommended digital amp/integrated amp/pre-amp & amp combo that would stomp on the Yamaha for 2-channel listening? Like most people, price is definitely a constraint. I know I am asking a lot, but I would like to see if there is a consensus as to what changes are needed to further enjoy the phenomenal sound the Klipschorns are already giving me. Thank you all in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssh Posted February 7, 2022 Share Posted February 7, 2022 Welcome to the Forum. Most of us will recommend what we use. You might consider an integrated tube amp such as the Scott 299 series. SSH 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davecv41 Posted February 8, 2022 Share Posted February 8, 2022 I second the welcome. I have Khorns with a Belle in the middle and a pair of H2's in the rear, connected to an A/V receiver. The Khorns can be switched to another amp by using a 4 pole, double throw toggle switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alwezhpy Posted February 8, 2022 Author Share Posted February 8, 2022 Thank you both for your welcoming comments. SSH, I will look into the Scott series amps. Davecv41, I've been looking for a single Belle as I am aware Mr. Klipsch meant for a center channel to be used and that seems to be a much better match than the original Heresy he used. Right now, I only have a Klipsch KV-4 as my center. It is a very good center channel, but I do think the Belle would be a better match. I would rather not have a toggle as it just adds distortion/resistance (although only a little) to the line, but will continue looking for an electronic solution to switching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alwezhpy Posted February 14, 2022 Author Share Posted February 14, 2022 (edited) I didn’t get much of a reply from the forum (thanks to the two that did), so I did some more research. I found a nice entry level McIntosh amp (MC7100) which received high marks in the reviews and ordered it today. I will use my Yamaha RX-A3050 as the pre-amp. The 3050 has an excellent DAC built-in and has a clean pass-thru. If anyone is interested, I can post some review comments after I listen to it paired with my Klipshorns for a short while. Edited February 14, 2022 by alwezhpy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alwezhpy Posted May 2, 2022 Author Share Posted May 2, 2022 (edited) I'm pretty sure I am talking to myself here, but I've got an update to my last post: Since my last post, I have become infatuated with how wonderful the McIntosh MC7100 sounds with Klipschorns. In fact, I liked the sound so much, I purchased two more MC7100's and are now using them as monoblocks for my LCR setup in my 7.2.4 home theater. Each MC7100 outputs 300 watts in mono mode @ 8 Ohms. BTW, the center speaker is a Klipsch KV-4 rated at 200/800 watts and has a sensitivity rating of 98db. It is very hard to find these nowadays and the sound is great. I changed out my Yamaha RX-3050 as a pre-amp to a Yamaha RX-A6A. Because of the WOW factor of McIntosh and Klipsch, all the theater components are in a rack at the rear of the room, other than what you see on display at the front (I know, I know, "cable management"). Now, the RX-A6A's amp is only used to power the Klipsch RS-35 white surrounds and Klipsch IW-150 rear surrounds. A Yamaha RX-3030 is also connected to the RX-A6A and runs the four Polk Audio RC80i ceiling Atmos speakers. This picture is taken from the rear seats on a 14" riser. Finally, along with the 65" & 82" TVs, a 125" acoustically transparent screen drops from the ceiling for movie nights. So if anyone reads this, I'd love to hear your thoughts - especially on the front three amps as this is the message topic of matching amps to the Klipschorns. Edited May 2, 2022 by alwezhpy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted May 2, 2022 Share Posted May 2, 2022 Looks really nice. Here is what I did when I had my heritage system that doubled as a 2 channel, home theater and 5.1 music. I physically reconnected my mains to a tube amp when I wanted to listen to 2 channel with external dac and per amp... and when I wanted to watch HT or 5.1 music I connected to another set of class d and avr. I am sure there is a way to do it with some kind of auto switcher, but I didn't want that in my signal chain... so it's four monoblocks, an avr, a preamp, an external dac... both systems used the same source which is an Oppo203. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alwezhpy Posted May 2, 2022 Author Share Posted May 2, 2022 19 minutes ago, Schu said: Looks really nice. Here is what I did when I had my heritage system that doubled as a 2 channel, home theater and 5.1 music. I physically reconnected my mains to a tube amp when I wanted to listen to 2 channel with external dac and per amp... and when I wanted to watch HT or 5.1 music I connected to another set of class d and avr. I am sure there is a way to do it with some kind of auto switcher, but I didn't want that in my signal chain... so it's four monoblocks, an avr, a preamp, an external dac... both systems used the same source which is an Oppo203. Very cool. And I agree with you on the signal chain. You said, "had my heritage system". Did you move onto something different? BTW, I'm in LV too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted May 2, 2022 Share Posted May 2, 2022 I still have heritage, but I moved away from 5.1 for the time being to concentrate on 2 channel for a while. This was my Heritage 5.1 system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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