Advise about Speakers

JoeSchmoe

hi folks some advise if you don't mind,

I have this a pioneer a-204r amp, here's a review

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/archive/perl/443_printreview.htm

and I have been using it with a cheap pair of Wharfedale Speakers, I bought in Dixons about 5 years ago for £65, they have served me well but recently one has given up the ghost, so I'm in the market for a new set of speakers

I was thinking about either these

http://www.peats.ie/cgi-bin/shop/db.cgi?view=1&id=7974&type=6&sid=827883x0

or these

http://www.peats.ie/cgi-bin/shop/db.cgi?view=1&id=7777&type=6&sid=827883x0

300 euro would be about the top of my budget

My question is are my amp and these speakers compatible? will the amp have enough power to drive them?

I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to hi fi, so any suggestions anyone might have for a suitable set of floor standing speakers would be well appreciated.

Tony

I think your amp will most likely drive them just as well as your current speakers but I there is better value around om heybrook and gale floorstanders, take a look in the speaker section of www,richersounds.ie. You might even consider splitting your budget for a better amp as money is better spent on source component (cd etc) and amp IMHO

JoeSchmoe wrote:

hi folks some advise if you don't mind,

I have this a pioneer a-204r amp, here's a review

http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/archive/perl/443_printreview.htm

and I have been using it with a cheap pair of Wharfedale Speakers, I bought in Dixons about 5 years ago for £65, they have served me well but recently one has given up the ghost, so I'm in the market for a new set of speakers

I was thinking about either these

http://www.peats.ie/cgi-bin/shop/db.cgi?view=1&id=7974&type=6&sid=827883x0

or these

http://www.peats.ie/cgi-bin/shop/db.cgi?view=1&id=7777&type=6&sid=827883x0

300 euro would be about the top of my budget

My question is are my amp and these speakers compatible? will the amp have enough power to drive them?

I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to hi fi, so any suggestions anyone might have for a suitable set of floor standing speakers would be well appreciated.

JoeSchmoe

thanks for the reply, to be honest I don't have any problems with the amp, I'm not a huge audiophile all I want is good clear sound that packs a punch,

would you reccomend these Gales above the wharfedales then?

http://www.richersounds.ie/asp/ViewProducts.asp?CatID=5&ProductID=3723

Tony

I'd hesitate to recommend one speaker over another as its really a subjective thing and really depends on how well they sound with the amp. Probably difficult but a listen to them is the only real way to be sure which one is best for you.

JoeSchmoe wrote:

thanks for the reply, to be honest I don't have any problems with the amp, I'm not a huge audiophile all I want is good clear sound that packs a punch,

would you reccomend these Gales above the wharfedales then?

http://www.richersounds.ie/asp/ViewProducts.asp?CatID=5&ProductID=3723

ZENER

Tony wrote:

I'd hesitate to recommend one speaker over another as its really a subjective thing and really depends on how well they sound with the amp. Probably difficult but a listen to them is the only real way to be sure which one is best for you.

These would be my sentiments too. The Warfdales are a cheap and cheerful speaker but in my experience lack quality in both build and sound. I've heard the second set in your list, it took me 5 seconds to reject them, three of those were taken getting to the amp to turn it off - they were awful yokes. That's my opinion of course, you may love them but you need to go and audition a few different kinds of speaker and not take someones say so - you're the one that has to live with them.

I bought a pair of Aegis Evo's 2 way bookshelfs after being very impressed with their detail and punch relative to their size. I like groups like Dire Straits - The Police - Floyd - OMD - Depeche Mode - Yazoo, and plenty of R&B too with a bit of Reggae thrown in for good measure and these haven't disappointed me yet. They can be bought for about 200 to 250. Jamo and Mission offerings are also worth a listen IMO, both have decent speakers in your price range.

ZEN

aodh_rua

I've those Gales as part of a full Gale setup and the sound is very good from them, and certainly for something in their price range. Bass isn't too bad either if you don't want to get a sub.

JoeSchmoe

Thanks for the advise guys, if your interested I got a pair of these

http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/product.asp?id=2182

in Harvey Norman in Swords, they were retailing at 300 euro, down to 269 in a weekend sale, down to 224 after i discovered a friend of mines sister working the store (sweet). A great price as with a quick search for them on the internet the best price I can see is £150,

took em home and set em up and they rock, very happy with the bass in particular, I use them mostly with my decks and they handled my bass heavy breakbeat tunes no problem!!

Brenner

Just thought I'd mention that earlier there was talk about hooking up a 25w per channel amp to 100w RMS speakers...

It is very likely that the amp wattage is measured at "peak" level not Root.Mean.Square... Just for other people's information, peak and RMS are vastly different in their calculation and RMS is significantly more powerful than peak level.

Something alot of people aren't aware of is that you can blow (actually suck) a speaker, if you use an amp that is of too low a wattage. The general rule is to match RMS with RMS gear and likewise for peak stuff, and always have your amp so that it will be capable of really driving the speakers (not that you will) but for clarity the speaker needs a fair bit of voltage to get going.

Sounds mad, but you can destroy speakers by hooking tham up to amps that are too weak.

Kali

Sounds mad, but you can destroy speakers by hooking tham up to amps that are too weak.

Only happens if you are driving your amp too high and it begins to distort and clip... the most common cause is cheap amps connected to speakers with a low efficiency... match the impedance first, then worry about the power ratings.

For example even something as low as a 40W rated amplifier from Naim will drive the vast majority of bookshelf speakers perfectly (which can go anything upto 120W rated).

ZENER

I think most quality amps from the well known makers are rated in Watts RMS. The confusion comes when people buy computer speakers rated at crazy specs like 200 Watts PMPO yet they are no bigger than ciggy packets !

A good way of checking is the Power Consumption rating at the rear of all electrical appliances. Allowing for efficiency a 2X30 RMS watt amp will consume approximately 100Watts so if an amp claims to deliver 200 watts but its rating plate says it consumes only 5W you know something is wrong.

Only happens if you are driving your amp too high and it begins to distort and clip... the most common cause is cheap amps connected to speakers with a low efficiency... match the impedance first, then worry about the power ratings.

Very very true ! Just because a speaker can HANDLE 100watts doesn't mean it will be louder than a speaker that handles 50watts ! A speakers efficiency rating can tell all sorts of tales about it. Bookshelf speakers tend to have very loww SPL efficiency because the upper part of the audio spectrum is attenuated in order to give it a more even sound from a bass point of view. "Hi-Fi" speakers can range from 83db at 1m up to 92db at 1m in my experience the lower number being less efficient types. 3db is a doubling in power so in theory a 50watt amp driving an 83db speaker will be the same as a 25watt amp driving an 86db speaker - I know it's not quite that simple but you get the general idea. Car speakers are notoriously inefficient.

Another thing to consider is that sound is dynamic and even though an amp is turned down low - say 25% - it's still possible for the amp to reach its power output rating and have you diving for the attenuater control (that's volume for the lesser mortals ).

ZEN