What amp for your Salk Speakers?

mark funk · « **Reply #40 on:** 18 Apr 2012, 09:23 pm »

My HT2-TLs sound just fine with all my Van Alstine stuff, Ultra+ 550 at around 280 watts driving a 4 ohm load would be around 500 watts+ in my room it sounds great.

fishinbob · « **Reply #41 on:** 18 Apr 2012, 09:50 pm »

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 18 Apr 2012, 08:40 pm

I still have a soft spot in my wallet for Wyred amps. Price per watt they are hard to beat. Cherry, McCormack, Wyred's all get my attention because I like my wpc to begin with a 3xx or higher. Then I know when I stomp on the gas, I can light the tires.

Amen.
I'm "breaking in" a pair of SX-500s as we speak.

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #42 on:** 18 Apr 2012, 10:09 pm »

Quote from: mark funk on 18 Apr 2012, 09:23 pm

My HT2-TLs sound just fine with all my Van Alstine stuff, Ultra+ 550 at around 280 watts driving a 4 ohm load would be around 500 watts+ in my room it sounds great.

Horsepower - yeah

sounddog · « **Reply #43 on:** 19 Apr 2012, 12:20 am »

I'm powering my new HT2-TLs with Bryston separates (4BSST2 and BP-25). Sounds great!

Frans · « **Reply #44 on:** 19 Apr 2012, 01:22 am »

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 18 Apr 2012, 08:40 pm

I still have a soft spot in my wallet for Wyred amps. Price per watt they are hard to beat. Cherry, McCormack, Wyred's all get my attention because I like my wpc to begin with a 3xx or higher. Then I know when I stomp on the gas, I can light the tires.

Especially when you are running a surround system you don't want to be clipping at all the wrong times, especially with lower sensitivity speakers. I always go 2X higher in Wattage than what is recommended, but I'm a rebel.

Either way, I'm surprised more people are not running these Wyred amps as they just take everything you throw at them and sound great!

revrob · « **Reply #45 on:** 19 Apr 2012, 01:37 am »

Speakers: HT3s

I have used a LSA Signature integrated amp, great sound not enough power.

Next was Wyred SX1000 monos with Joule Electra LA-150 MKII preamp, a great combination. Sold the Joule and mated the Wyred with a Purity One preamp another very good combo.

Presently I have Monarchy SE-250 hybrid amp with an Audio Valve Ekilpse preamp which I really love. I will keep the preamp (the best I owned) and sell the Monarchy in search of my last amplifier (smile).

Peace

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #46 on:** 19 Apr 2012, 01:41 am »

Quote from: revrob on 19 Apr 2012, 01:37 am

Speakers: HT3s

I have used a LSA Signature integrated amp, great sound not enough power.

Next was Wyred SX1000 monos with Joule Electra LA-150 MKII preamp, a great combination. Sold the Joule and mated the Wyred with a Purity One preamp another very good combo.

Presently I have Monarchy SE-250 hybrid amp with an Audio Valve Ekilpse preamp which I really love. I will keep the preamp (the best I owned) and sell the Monarchy in search of my last amplifier (smile).

Peace

I seriously considered the Eklipse before going with the Dude. Nice looking unit as well.

revrob · « **Reply #47 on:** 19 Apr 2012, 01:57 am »

BRM,

I heard a lot of great things about the Dude but I was offered an amazing deal on the Eklipse and I am very impressed to say the least. Your room looks amazing.

Steve

s_cervin · « **Reply #48 on:** 19 Apr 2012, 02:03 am »

HT3's with a Belles 350a Ref, both sitting in basement storage. Modwright 150SE's as mono and JC-1's are on the short list for the new room.

Nuance · « **Reply #49 on:** 19 Apr 2012, 03:52 pm »

Quote from: Big Red Machine on 18 Apr 2012, 08:40 pm

I still have a soft spot in my wallet for Wyred amps. Price per watt they are hard to beat. Cherry, McCormack, Wyred's all get my attention because I like my wpc to begin with a 3xx or higher. Then I know when I stomp on the gas, I can light the tires.

Thanks for your input, Pete. You know I always appreciate your honesty.

revrob · « **Reply #50 on:** 19 Apr 2012, 06:43 pm »

I also posted this another thread. The person I purchase the HT3's from was using a Pass XA30.5 with a Modwright Transporter and he was able to really push the Salk better than I have. I am still trying to achieve that sound.

The little Pass really made the HT3's sing and play beautiful music. So go figure how 30 watts could do that.

Peace

yetis · « **Reply #51 on:** 19 Apr 2012, 07:49 pm »

Quote from: revrob on 19 Apr 2012, 06:43 pm

I also posted this another thread. The person I purchase the HT3's from was using a Pass XA30.5 with a Modwright Transporter and he was able to really push the Salk better than I have. I am still trying to achieve that sound.

The little Pass really made the HT3's sing and play beautiful music. So go figure how 30 watts could do that.

Peace

I think that is due to the very conservative rating of Pass Amps. That is 30W a channel at Class A!

http://www.stereophile.com/content/pass-labs-xa305-power-amplifier-measurements

"Fig.4 shows how the THD+noise percentage in the amplifier's output varies with output power into 8, 4, and 2 ohms. While the XA30.5 may give 30Wpc into 8 ohms in class-A (14.8dBW), the distortion at this power level is low, at 0.015%. The amplifier doesn't actually clip (defined as the THD reaching 1%) until a much higher power level: 130Wpc into 8 ohms (21.14dBW). Even higher powers were available into lower impedances before clipping: 195Wpc into 4 ohms with both channels driven (19.9dBW), and 332W into 2 ohms with one channel driven (19.2dBW). The shapes of the traces in fig.4 indicate that the distortion starts to rise out of the noise floor at output powers above a few watts, with then a gentle increase until the waveform starts to square off. I therefore examined how the THD+N percentage changed with frequency at a level of 10.5V, equivalent to 13.8W into 8 ohms. The results are shown in fig.5. While the distortion is very low in the low and middle frequencies, it does start to rise with increasing frequency above 500Hz, and is worse into 2 ohms (green trace) than into higher impedances."

Kwebb · « **Reply #52 on:** 21 Apr 2012, 03:27 am »

I have HT2-TL in 5.1 configuration. Powered by an Anthem Statement P5 amp, 325w into 8 ohms and the matching Anthem Statement D2 preamp processor with ARC (active room control). I am very curious how different the HT2-TL's would sound with the new AVA FET Valve amp and preamp. Thinking very hard about going back to strictly 2 channel.

Saturn94 · « **Reply #53 on:** 21 Apr 2012, 01:26 pm »

Quote from: Kwebb on 21 Apr 2012, 03:27 am

... Thinking very hard about going back to strictly 2 channel.

Why not enjoy both?

Kwebb · « **Reply #54 on:** 21 Apr 2012, 02:51 pm »

I would love to have it all but even passions have financial limits. Would need to sell existing amp & pre-processor to help offest some of the cost of the new FET Valve preamp and amp. Limits and constraints have to be managed reality is a stuborn thing sometimes.

kyle

Warpdrv · « **Reply #55 on:** 21 Apr 2012, 03:10 pm »

Quote from: Frans on 19 Apr 2012, 01:22 am

Especially when you are running a surround system you don't want to be clipping at all the wrong times, especially with lower sensitivity speakers. I always go 2X higher in Wattage than what is recommended, but I'm a rebel.

Either way, I'm surprised more people are not running these Wyred amps as they just take everything you throw at them and sound great!

I agree..... I have both Wyred and a D-Sonic amp for my 2 systems...
Wyred4Sound 7 ch 500 x 3, 250 x 4 amp for my larger HT, Integra 80.3 & Paradigm Sigs
D-Sonic 500 x 3, 250 x 2 for my small setup 80.3 with the SoundScapes.. Both are fantastic amps...
http://www.d-sonic.net/

I was just discussing with Nuance about doing and A/B to see if we could notice any differences between the 2 amps as they utilize the same exact B&O Ice Modules... with the D-Sonic asking 15-20% less

Perhaps we'll be able to enlighten you guys in the near future...

Frans · « **Reply #56 on:** 21 Apr 2012, 03:21 pm »

Yes, i had a similar conundrum so I planned it in phases, but it was because I already had older surround speakers and a relatively new surround receiver. My goal was to have a home theater that also had great 2 channel performance. No way was I going to embark on two separate systems!

Phase 0: use my surround receiver to power the fronts, surrounds, and center until I got a dedicated amp for the fronts such as the AVA.

Phase 1: pre-out the fronts to a dedicated stereo amp. I figured that would work fine since the surround speakers are less demanding.

Phase 2: fill out the other speakers over time. Salk of course!

Phase 3: is to upgrade the amp for the other 3 channels.

Phase 4: me slapping my forehead for forgetting something, but that's the nature of this hobby!

jtwrace · « **Reply #57 on:** 21 Apr 2012, 03:28 pm »

Quote from: Frans on 21 Apr 2012, 03:21 pm

Phase 0: use my surround receiver to power the fronts, surrounds, and center until I got a dedicated amp for the fronts such as the AVA.

Phase 1: pre-out the fronts to a dedicated stereo amp. I figured that would work fine since the surround speakers are less demanding.

Phase 2: fill out the other speakers over time. Salk of course!

Phase 3: is to upgrade the amp for the other 3 channels.

Phase 4: me slapping my forehead for forgetting something, but that's the nature of this hobby!

Yep, you forgot to see Phase 0 after Phase 4.

zybar · « **Reply #58 on:** 21 Apr 2012, 03:33 pm »

Quote from: Warpdrv on 21 Apr 2012, 03:10 pm

I agree..... I have both Wyred and a D-Sonic amp for my 2 systems...
Wyred4Sound 7 ch 500 x 3, 250 x 4 amp for my larger HT, Integra 80.3 & Paradigm Sigs
D-Sonic 500 x 3, 250 x 2 for my small setup 80.3 with the SoundScapes.. Both are fantastic amps...
http://www.d-sonic.net/

I was just discussing with Nuance about doing and A/B to see if we could notice any differences between the 2 amps as they utilize the same exact B&O Ice Modules... with the D-Sonic asking 15-20% less

Perhaps we'll be able to enlighten you guys in the near future...

Having spent one day with the Hypex Ncore amps, you definitely need to add them to the list. Forget the fact that they are the best Class D amp I have heard, the are excellent period!!

George

nyc_paramedic · « **Reply #59 on:** 21 Apr 2012, 05:46 pm »

Quote from: nemir on 17 Apr 2012, 11:25 pm

I am very interested to find out what amplifiers everyone is using to power their Salks!

What speakers do you have?

What amp/pre-amp for stereo? What about surround?

HT2-TL powered by a pair of Quicksilver Silver 88 monoblocks: http://www.quicksilveraudio.com/products/Silver%2088.html

Attenuator is the excellent Placette Audio RVC (remote volume control): http://www.placetteaudio.com/remote_control.htm

DAC is Ayre QB-9 24bit/192hz USB DAC.

The combo is utterly transparent heaven.