Would like some guidance on finding (secondhand) an amp for a pair of KSB 3.1 bookshelves

[revcor]

Hello ladies and gentlemen. I'm in a new apartment for a couple months before moving across the country, and while at my storage unit the other day I found a pair of KSB 3.1 speakers that my buddy gave me a couple years ago that I'd forgotten about (at the time I already had some Mackie powered speakers at home—alas, they were not long for this world). I googled them and people generally seemed to be quite fond of this model, and since I've only had headphones to listen to music for months, I'd like to get a little basic hifi setup going at my apartment.

 

I can not divert much money to this at the moment unfortunately, so I will be looking for an amp on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc. I was hoping some of you might have suggestions for probably older amps that i should look for on the secondhand market that would pair well with those speakers, to the extent that needing to remain squarely in the "low low budget" category will allow. Or even specific features/specs to look for would be appreciated.

 

Some details in case they are relevant:

• I listen to rock n roll, old school metal, blues, Memphis soul and funk mainly, but also classical, '90s rap, bluegrass, honky tonk/country.
• Likely the only source I'll be using for now is my laptop where I have my little "digital archive," a decent sized lossless FLAC collection of mainly very high quality vinyl transfers
• The owners manual for the speakers states:

  • Nominal Impedance: 8 ohms

  • Power Handling: 100 watts maximum continuous (400 watts peak)

  • Sensitivity: 94 dB @ 1 watt/1 meter

• It's a studio apartment maybe 220 sq ft total

• I have a powered subwoofer that I would like to be able to connect as well (I love live albums, which I find a little sub really helps bring to life)

• Would like to find something for under $100, but maybe can massage that number a bit if necessary

 

Thanks in advance! Oh and I am in the SF Bay Area if it make a difference.

[jjptkd]

8 hours ago, revcor said:

Thanks in advance! Oh and I am in the SF Bay Area if it make a difference.

 

About as budget as you can get at $55 these Denons sound nice with Klipsch:

 

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/ele/d/san-rafael-denon-avr-2807/7670683447.html

[billybob]

@revcor

[Peter P.]

I'm not a believer in certain amps pair with certain speakers. Buy the amp that has the features you need at a price you can afford.

In your case, find something that has a subwoofer output to easily connect to your subwoofer, assuming it has an LFE RCA input.

If the subwoofer only has speaker inputs/outputs, don't even worry about it as you can connect the subwoofer to the receiver/amp's

Channel 2/B outputs. The good thing about this is you can turn off the subwoofer should you want.

 

You might want to consider an A/V receiver even though you may not have a TV,  because pretty much all of them have subwoofer/speaker management capabilities, and on the used market you can usually get them for cheap as people upgrade. Ideally you'd be able to make adjustments to send only the low frequencies to the subwoofer and send the high frequencies to the Klipsch speakers, simply to prevent overdriving the speakers, especially if you play loud.

 

You'll want one you can adjust through front panel controls unless you temporarily connect it to a TV or computer monitor to make adjustments.

[billybob]

Think you will be alright with out a sub for that short a time.

Colter liked them for their bass as well.

Anything just to see you through before the move.

[the real Duke Spinner]

On 10/12/2023 at 6:25 PM, Peter P. said:

I'm not a believer in certain amps pair with certain speakers. Buy the amp that has the features you need at a price you can afford.

In your case, find something that has a subwoofer output to easily connect to your subwoofer, assuming it has an LFE RCA input.

If the subwoofer only has speaker inputs/outputs, don't even worry about it as you can connect the subwoofer to the receiver/amp's

Channel 2/B outputs. The good thing about this is you can turn off the subwoofer should you want.

 

You might want to consider an A/V receiver even though you may not have a TV,  because pretty much all of them have subwoofer/speaker management capabilities, and on the used market you can usually get them for cheap as people upgrade. Ideally you'd be able to make adjustments to send only the low frequencies to the subwoofer and send the high frequencies to the Klipsch speakers, simply to prevent overdriving the speakers, especially if you play loud.

 

You'll want one you can adjust through front panel controls unless you temporarily connect it to a TV or computer monitor to make adjustments.

Thank You An Amp is supposed to be a Straight Wire with Gain. 🙂

[revcor]

On 10/12/2023 at 3:23 AM, jjptkd said:

 

About as budget as you can get at $55 these Denons sound nice with Klipsch:

 

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/ele/d/san-rafael-denon-avr-2807/7670683447.html

 

Thank you, I've contacted the guy to go take a look at it this week! Can you elaborate on the Denon-Klipsch combo sounding particularly good? Are there particular technologies, aspects of design or characteristic sonic traits of the two companies' products that you've found complement each other?

 

On 10/12/2023 at 3:25 PM, Peter P. said:

I'm not a believer in certain amps pair with certain speakers. Buy the amp that has the features you need at a price you can afford.

In your case, find something that has a subwoofer output to easily connect to your subwoofer, assuming it has an LFE RCA input.

If the subwoofer only has speaker inputs/outputs, don't even worry about it as you can connect the subwoofer to the receiver/amp's

Channel 2/B outputs. The good thing about this is you can turn off the subwoofer should you want.

 

You might want to consider an A/V receiver even though you may not have a TV,  because pretty much all of them have subwoofer/speaker management capabilities, and on the used market you can usually get them for cheap as people upgrade. Ideally you'd be able to make adjustments to send only the low frequencies to the subwoofer and send the high frequencies to the Klipsch speakers, simply to prevent overdriving the speakers, especially if you play loud.

 

You'll want one you can adjust through front panel controls unless you temporarily connect it to a TV or computer monitor to make adjustments.

 

I am not knowledgeable enough to have an opinion either way.. but when I wrote the post I was thinking more in concrete terms, e.g., learning the thought process(es) that people use to go from this:

 

″I have these pieces of information about a pair of speakers: 1. nominal impedance, 2. continuous power handling, 3. peak power handling and 4. sensitivity (+ any other useful specs from the manual that might factor in to this decision)"

 

to this:

 

″...I would like to string em up to an amplifier that puts out ____ Watts (+ any other relevant specs that might be dictated by any of the known quantities)"

 

I've tried a handful of times to develop some kind of objective foundational understanding around this, and I've never been able to find much information that is consistently accepted across a wide range of resources for how to approach it. I could never swim my way out of the "confident opinion" end of the pool when my gut was telling me that there must exist somewhere a purely objective end of the pool with a diving board made out of EE degrees. And then specifically with used stuff, I wasn't sure if there any rules of thumb to mind such as "avoid brand X receivers from the '80s because their quality took a dive" or "the blahblah series from brand Y are consistently decent, but their blehbleh line of receivers had issues" that sort of thing.

 

Is the distinction between the classes of amplifier something worth worrying about? I see the Denon AVR-2807 is class B and when looking up the meaning, I see a lot of mentions of higher distortion than the A or AB varieties. I kindof assumed the gravity of this characteristic's actual effect on the listening experience was somewhat overblown for all but the most discerning ear, or else I imagine no one would buy them. At this budget level is this an area that I'm better off just ignoring?

 

Btw the sub does have an LFE RCA, and I do not have a tv. Most if not all of the receivers I've looked at have front controls.

 

On 10/12/2023 at 5:53 PM, billybob said:

Think you will be alright with out a sub for that short a time.

Colter liked them for their bass as well.

Anything just to see you through before the move.

 

Yeah I'd like to have it, but it's not the end of the world if I can't. I would think that 8” woofers would provide some satisfying oomph on their own. But who is Colter? If he's hurt I don't remember him tell him I'm bad with names

 

 

Thank you everybody for the guidance so far!

[billybob]

1 hour ago, revcor said:

 

Thank you, I've contacted the guy to go take a look at it this week! Can you elaborate on the Denon-Klipsch combo sounding particularly good? Are there particular technologies, aspects of design or characteristic sonic traits of the two companies' products that you've found complement each other?

 

 

I am not knowledgeable enough to have an opinion either way.. but when I wrote the post I was thinking more in concrete terms, e.g., learning the thought process(es) that people use to go from this:

 

″I have these pieces of information about a pair of speakers: 1. nominal impedance, 2. continuous power handling, 3. peak power handling and 4. sensitivity (+ any other useful specs from the manual that might factor in to this decision)"

 

to this:

 

″...I would like to string em up to an amplifier that puts out ____ Watts (+ any other relevant specs that might be dictated by any of the known quantities)"

 

I've tried a handful of times to develop some kind of objective foundational understanding around this, and I've never been able to find much information that is consistently accepted across a wide range of resources for how to approach it. I could never swim my way out of the "confident opinion" end of the pool when my gut was telling me that there must exist somewhere a purely objective end of the pool with a diving board made out of EE degrees. And then specifically with used stuff, I wasn't sure if there any rules of thumb to mind such as "avoid brand X receivers from the '80s because their quality took a dive" or "the blahblah series from brand Y are consistently decent, but their blehbleh line of receivers had issues" that sort of thing.

 

Is the distinction between the classes of amplifier something worth worrying about? I see the Denon AVR-2807 is class B and when looking up the meaning, I see a lot of mentions of higher distortion than the A or AB varieties. I kindof assumed the gravity of this characteristic's actual effect on the listening experience was somewhat overblown for all but the most discerning ear, or else I imagine no one would buy them. At this budget level is this an area that I'm better off just ignoring?

 

Btw the sub does have an LFE RCA, and I do not have a tv. Most if not all of the receivers I've looked at have front controls.

 

 

Yeah I'd like to have it, but it's not the end of the world if I can't. I would think that 8” woofers would provide some satisfying oomph on their own. But who is Colter? If he's hurt I don't remember him tell him I'm bad with names

 

 

Thank you everybody for the guidance so far!

He worked at Klipsch. Yes, thinking you will be fine. Let us know... thanks!⁶

[Peter P.]

9 hours ago, revcor said:

 

Is the distinction between the classes of amplifier something worth worrying about? I see the Denon AVR-2807 is class B and when looking up the meaning, I see a lot of mentions of higher distortion than the A or AB varieties. I kindof assumed the gravity of this characteristic's actual effect on the listening experience was somewhat overblown for all but the most discerning ear, or else I imagine no one would buy them. At this budget level is this an area that I'm better off just ignoring?

 

Btw the sub does have an LFE RCA, and I do not have a tv. Most if not all of the receivers I've looked at have front controls.

 

 

Yeah I'd like to have it, but it's not the end of the world if I can't. I would think that 8” woofers would provide some satisfying oomph on their own. But who is Colter? If he's hurt I don't remember him tell him I'm bad with names

 

 

People don't listen to their amplifier/receiver. They listen to THE MUSIC. I think all this A-B-D Class amplification is more for marketing, to differentiate one brand from another. Write the ad copy just right and you'll suck people in!

 

I'll reiterate; get the amp/receiver with the features you want or need.  In your situation you can buy a  basic unit and connect the speakers to Channel A and the subwoofer to Channel B and you're done-don't worry about the speaker management features available in home theater receivers. Move up a step and you CAN steer the lows to the subwoofer and the highs to the Klipsch speakers, sparing them from signals that might blow a woofer when low frequencies are played at loud volume (ask me how I know!). 8" woofers are where you just start to reach below 50Hz; you'll get decent bass but once you add a subwoofer you'll never go back! I just now looked at the SF craigslist and see Denon home theater and Yamaha stereo receivers for sale within your $100 budget. Get one.

[revcor]

 

Going to read the manual and get it all hooked up today so I can make a deposit into my tinnitus fund

[billybob]

17 hours ago, revcor said:

 

Going to read the manual and get it all hooked up today so I can make a deposit into my tinnitus fund

Cool...