[nauqneyugn]

Hi from a newbie.  

Anyways, I've been planning to ditch the headphone setup (Shure E5 and PPA with Diamond Buffer and STEPS) and move to an entry level speaker rig.  I've decided on Von Schweikert VR1s mainly because I can get a decent deal for them, plus they're smaller and lighter than the Green Mountain Audio Europas - very important.

Now I need an amp.  I just found out about this little Griffin Powerwave and seems to be like an ideal solution but I'm weary about its power rating.  It seems to be excellent with horns and other high efficiency speakers - but there is a lack of information on speakers with lower efficiency.  The other alternative is a Marantz 2238B.  

So for those who have experience with this little unit - can it drive these speakers (89dB) sufficiently?

Thanks and have a nice day.

[Rob Babcock]

I use my P-wave to drive speakers of 88 dB sens, but only in the nearfield.  Works great for me.  I suspect you'll get quite a bit of responses though.

[ohenry]

If you need volume, you may want to try a higher powered arrangement of the Tripath chip in the form of an evaluation board as they are inexpensive and sonically similar to the Powerwave.  There are a few threads mentioning their retail sources on the Horn Shoppe forum lately.

I have the slightly higher rated 2020 evaluation board and there wasn't much gained there over the Powerwave.  If you want to experiment cheaply, the little $30 Sonic Impact amp is claimed to be as good as the P-wave (uses Tripath chip) and I hear that it's PC board is more easily manipulated for upgraded connectors.

[JLM]

PW = good value, fun to mess with, but quality is hampered without some DIY effort/accessories.

Probably not a good match for the VR-1 in terms of quality or output.  This is not to slam the PW, but to point out how good a reasonably priced small standmount can be and the sound of the VR-1 is very good.  Adding a good sub (or two) would bring you to the very edge of state of the art sound.  With the 90 dB/w/m efficiency of the VR-1, the PW would only reach about 101 dB in a 2,000 cu. ft. room (very loud for continous play, but not for peaks, especially coming off headphones).  I did headphones for year in college and I know that it's very easy to play them too loud.

Expect lots of more consumer friendly digital amp options to be available by this fall.  Currently everyone is waiting for the next generation of Panasonic receivers to hit the streets.  Sharp and Sony are also in the fray.

A high quality, looksome, compact, good sounding 30 wpc integrated tube amp (with sub outputs available) would be the $800 Cayin TA-30:  http://www.2baudio.com/.  The tubes are cheap to replace and it will accommodate lots of different types of tubes, even has an option for SET operation (although it's "heart" isn't really into it).

Hybrid integrated amps run from the 30 wpc Jolida JD-1301 for $350 and up.  The 80 wpc Unison Unico is a beautiful piece for $1,500.  Both can be modded.  Check out http://www.responseaudio.com/ and http://www.underwoodhifi.com/

The world is full of solid state integrateds.  Creek, Rotel, and NAD are some of the better, lower cost options.

[nauqneyugn]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I had considered the Jolida 301A (1301), the Panny XR45 and the Sony 1000ES but are a little bit over the price range ($250 max).  The room I'm going to be in is actually very small and the Griffin might actually work, but I'm looking for some expanability.  

If you guys don't have any more suggestions, I'll probably grab that Marantz and fix it up with the potential of selling it off and buying the new Panny XR70 when it comes out.