[Richard in Idaho]

My Receiver is a Pioneer Elite vsx-30

I find the following on the Specifications page of the manual:

Front Stereo            80 + 80 W

Guaranteed speaker impedance  6 ohm to 16 ohm.

Buying speakers will take most what I am willing to spend at this time. So do not want to upgrade the receiver.

As stated in another thread I am 71 and my hearing drops out at around 8,400 Hz.I have also looked at speakers from Zu, Tekton and Hoyt-Bedford. Am leaning toward Salk's with Custom veneer.

How would ether the SongBird or the SongTower work with this receiver?

Also Jim offers bi-wiring on his speakers. Since the Pioneer has bi-amping using the back surrounds could I bi-amp ether of the Songs to get more power?

While I would love to have HT3's or even 1801-TL they are just more then I am willing to spend.

The Tower's would be pushing the limit I think I could do if the Bird's just wouldn't work.

Thaks for any help you can prvide.

[rahimlee54]

The towers are more sensitive, I ran the HT2-TLs on a pioneer AVR and it works fine.  Do enjoy.

[R Swerdlow]

Jim and Dennis have said that SongTowers can be easily driven by any amp or receiver that delivers at least 50 wpc measured at 8 ohms.

My own experience with STs confirms that.  I've heard them driven by various amps or receivers from as low as 35 wpc (an AVA tube amp) to as high as 225 wpc.  None of them were obviously insufficient to drive them.  When I first got them, I used a Denon AVR that was rated at 70 wpc.  If I recall, that 70 wpc rating was also at 6-16 ohms, but it had no problems with the STs.  Probably Denon's lawyers had more to do with that rating than their engineers .

As Ron already pointed out, the SongTowers with two midwoofs, will be more sensitive than the SongBird.  But I think your receiver will not have any problems with either speaker.

[DMurphy]

Jim and Dennis have said that SongTowers can be easily driven by any amp or receiver that delivers at least 50 wpc measured at 8 ohms.

As Ron already pointed out, the SongTowers with two midwoofs, will be more sensitive than the SongBird.  But I think your receiver will not have any problems with either speaker.

It's really a matter of how loudly you want the Birds to play, and in what size room. The issue is not so much power; it's more one of the woofer bottoming out on heavy bass material at high volume.  If your room isn't very big, and you're not expecting high output levels, then I think your amp will work, and the Birds will work. 

[Richard in Idaho]

Thanks for the responses so far. My current speakers are Mirage M-290s with a PS-12-90 sub. They have been enjoyable over the least several years. But, the sub has gone south so am playing the M-290s only. I looked them up on the web and found that they are 6 ohm nom and 4 ohm min same as the Towers but are 86 db rather than 88. No problems playing them with my receiver.
Still wonder about bi-amping but seems to be unnecessary.