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The Omega at avahifi.com is an excellent amp and Frank includes a 30 day audition and a warranty. Also, there are a few Hafler XL280 amps on ebay. Very nice amps and will drive just about anything. I have 2 that I was thinking of listing in the Circle classified.
Did you mean passive crossover or did you build a passive preamp?i meant passive xo , its a typo in a way that I got promitheus passive pre here too but intended to use later after everything is fixed with the amp 1. If you're going to use a passive pre-amp with inefficient speakers, the amplifier that you choose must have plenty of gain, not necessarily a lot of power. 26 to 30 dB of gain is a good place to start for such a situation. If you can't find the gain spec for your amplifier, the other way to figure out how much gain it has is to check the sensitivity spec. Something in the 150mV to 500mV range would be good, and anything above that, such as the 1V to 2V range, will probably require an active pre amp.Great thanks for your advice! Come to think of it, would you say using a cdp that has big output gain (>2V) also helps when i do put the passivepre in the mix? This is one reason why so many lower powered tube amps work fine with passive pre amps and inefficient speakers. They usually have a lot of gain.2. If you buy an integrated amplifier, you won't need a passive pre. Which means :3. I have a feeling you meant passive crossover and speaker, so never mind all of that . . . . (It's still worth mentioning though, because understanding the system gain structure helps us to evaluate the sound of things as we put different components together.) great could use more of your advice
Have you considered a used McCormack amp in the DNA family? DNA 1.0, DNA 0.5Both high current great sounding amps, drive harder loads easily, can be upgrade.
Come to think of it, would you say using a cdp that has big output gain (>2V) also helps when i do put the passivepre in the mix?
The "$175 Class D amp--120 wpc" kit amp drove a pair of Maggie SMG/c's very well.
Yes. A strong output voltage, and reasonably low output impedance source (CDp, Phono stage, etc.) is very helpful when using a passive pre. A minimum of 2V output will probably be needed if you get a solid state amp.When I tried my TVC with a solid state amp (NAD) it didn't have as much drive and dynamic swing that it does with lower wattage tube amps. The NAD was designed to be driven with another gain stage, i.e. an active pre amp. Make sure you check the sensitivity of your new amp if you plan on using a TVC with it. Even if you have >2V out of your CD player.Speaking of NAD, a couple years ago I helped a family member get a budget system together and we chose the NAD C 315BEE and some moderately efficient two way bookshelf speakers. I was really impressed with the little NAD. It sounds way better than my older (and higher powered) NAD from the 1990's. I had it over here for a week or so and I even used it with some of my own gear. The quality of sound, the convenience of the remote, and the ability to drive a lot of speakers will be hard to beat for the money. You won't need the TVC with the 315 though.It doesn't look like much but it's a great budget amp : http://nadelectronics.com/products/hifi-amplifiers/C-315BEE-Stereo-Integrated-Amplifier
I'd recommend you take a long look at Denon's CI line of A/V receivers...models like the 3808CI, 3311CI, etc. They all are available for within your budget, and allow configuration to let you use the rear speaker zones to bi-amp the front mains...this will give you well over 200WPC at 8ohms...The Denon brand sound tends to run very clean...much higher quality SS than the older Adcoms in my opinion. The integrated volume control and room correction software can also be a lot of fun to use for system matching.Best of luck,
Odyssey Khartago Stereo. Call Klaus - (317) 299-5578.Mark
