ric Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 ok heres the scoop, ive been told that even with a good home theater reciever your not getting clean power to all those 6 speakers(6.1 set up) that if you listen to 2 channel stereo as well it would be a good idea to run a 2 channel amp to the front speakers? is that true?? or is this guy trying to sell me an amp? if hes telling me the truth whats a good in-expensive 2 channel amp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texas42 Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 In my opinion the best 'inexpensive' 2 channel solution to Klipsh (and RF-7s in particular) are vintage rebuilt tube amps like the Scott 299s, Eico's and Fisher's. Then I would recommend the newer tube integrated like the Cayins, ASL's. Or 2A3 SET amps like the Bottlehead Paramours. Audition with some of these if you can. You might really be surprised on the improvement. I used an AV Receiver for home theater, but tubes for music only listening. Many on here do the same. Happy Listening, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuNat Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 the hafler dh-220 sounds fantastic with my heresies, you can find them for under $200 on ebay and audiogon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meuge Posted December 12, 2004 Share Posted December 12, 2004 Whoever is telling you that is absolutely right. If you have front pre-outs on your receiver, you should get a dedicated power amp. The brands you should be looking for are: McIntosh, Aragon, B&K -> usually a little more expensive ($350-400 and above) Rotel, NAD, Hafler, Acurus -> ($200 and above) I prefer audiogon.com to ebay, as I've had a lot of bad experiences with ebay and none with audiogon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMcGoo Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 Ric, Your RF-7s drop below 3 ohms in the bass frequencies. The increase in current required per Ohm's law means that a very good amp is needed to hear the full potential of the RF-7s in the bass frequencies. I used a 140 watt B&K outboard amp initially to improve performance over a 130 watt receiver. I currently use a 225 watt Sunfire that thrives on low impedances. Every step up in power improved the bass response with the Sunfire by far being the biggest improvement. In my opinion, tubes are impractical in a multi-channel home theater. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiob Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 ---------------- On 12/13/2004 12:55:04 AM MrMcGoo wrote: Ric, Your RF-7s drop below 3 ohms in the bass frequencies. The increase in current required per Ohm's law means that a very good amp is needed to hear the full potential of the RF-7s in the bass frequencies. I used a 140 watt B&K outboard amp initially to improve performance over a 130 watt receiver. I currently use a 225 watt Sunfire that thrives on low impedances. Every step up in power improved the bass response with the Sunfire by far being the biggest improvement. In my opinion, tubes are impractical in a multi-channel home theater. Bill ---------------- [/blockquote Bill, are you using your sunfire with a tube pre amp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minn_male42 Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 another great option IMHO is a digital amplifier to power the mains... i use a carver professional ZR1000 digital amplifier (225 watts per channel at 8 ohms) to power my KLF-30's.... as Mr McGoo has pointed out - the impedance of the RF-7's (as well as my KLF-30's) does drop below 3 ohms at certain frequencies... i had used a dynaco sca-35 tube amp for awhile in my system but it really couldn't reproduce the demanding movie soundtracks or some very dynamic music... the digital amp is much smoother than any other solid state amp that i have ever tried in my system, yet gives me the power to handle very dynamic movie and music.... i do plan to purchase more of these amps for the rest of the channels as soon as funds allow (right now i am using the inboard amps of my pioneer elite 55txi to power the rest of the channels)... http://www.carverpro.com/2003/products/zramps.html these amps go for between $500 to $650 used.... watch audiogon for the best deals.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theryugobuddy Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 Adcom and B&K amps have worked well with my Klipsch KG5.2s. You can get them on eBay--I've purchased more than a dozen pieces on eBay with no problems, and they seem alot less expensive than Audiogon. In my mind, if you can find a "mature" seller with good feedback, they won't ship you a problem component. And power amps have few moving parts to worry about. Adcoms are a tad harsh at higher volumes with Klipsch, but with great bass. The 60 watt GFA535 sounds better with Klipsch than the 545 or 555. I use a B&K 140-watt now, which is very sweet. You can find all of them for $200-$350. Solid state would work better for home theater, not tubes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richinlr Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 I currently run a Yamaha 5790 for HT. I use the pre-outs for the fronts to feed my Electro pre-amp which runs my Electro power amp on my two fronts. Works great for HT when the levels are set correctly. This setup allows me to flip an input switch on my Electro pre-amp and just listen to two-channel through nothing but my old dedicated two-channel gear (TT, CD Player) with no HT stuff in the middle. And yes, you DO need a high current dedicated power amp for your RF-7's. You might even find that, if you set it up like I did, it will make your HT setup a whole lot better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted December 13, 2004 Share Posted December 13, 2004 Texas42 is wrong. Mr McGoo is right. As I much as I love my flea-powered tube Bottlehead 2A3 Paramour amplifiers with my classic Klipsch corner Khorns, your RF-7 dip below 3-ohms in the bass frequencies means that a very good solid-state or a great tube amp is needed to hear their full potential. This can be done easily in two-channels with solid-state receivers that sound good with super-sensitive (95dB/w/m) Reference models, like dirt-cheap vintage dual transformer harmon/kardon 430 -930 models and McIntosh receivers. It can also be done with refurbished vintage integrated tube amplifiers, if you dial your powerful subwoofer to add a little more mid-bass to the bottom. I heard the copper-faced Cayin TA30 integrated EL34 tube amplifier (less than a grand) do a wonderful job with RF7s and Khorns at preacherman Daddydees May 2004 Klipsch gathering in Little Rock, Arkansas. ASL makes great integrated tube amplifiers for less than a grand. The AQ 1003 DT is far more power than my ultra-sensitive (104dB/w/m) big ole horns need, but it should be plenty for Reference models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ric Posted December 13, 2004 Author Share Posted December 13, 2004 and where can i find the 140 watt B&K? someplace where i can trust them? any suggestions? oh and what is the model #. thanks all for the ear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meuge Posted December 14, 2004 Share Posted December 14, 2004 As far as inexpensive B&Ks go, the models you're looking for begin with letters "ST" and range from recent to 10 years old. I would recommend looking at Audiogon. If you see a B&K Reference 200.2 model on Audiogon (it'll be expensive), send me a PM/email -> if I grab one, my 140W B&K ST-2020 will be on sale for $300. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted December 14, 2004 Share Posted December 14, 2004 Adding a 2 channel power amp to your system would be an excellent upgrade. I wouldn't suggest going too expensive though to start off. How about a Rotel? Even a mid priced Rotel has to be a HUGE upgrade. Or even a NAD. Try something used first. If you like what you hear you could try another upgrade later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theryugobuddy Posted December 14, 2004 Share Posted December 14, 2004 The 140 watt is the B&K ST 202. I got mine off eBay five months ago for about $225. Sweet SS amp, and a nice improvement over an Adcom GFA 545 II. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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