What is a good Amp to start off with?

[scansp7]

What is a good amp that you would recommend? I have a set of Aria 5’s that I plan to use but I need to still get a good cd or possible cd/dvd player (any recommendations with these) and an amplifier to power these I don’t have the cash to buy something extremely nice like a pass labs but I want something that will let the Focal’s work well. I have had a few people suggest a NAD amp but I’m curious to what others think. I’m looking at about 150 watts per channel into 8 ohms I want to make sure I have a good amount of headroom so that if I crank them up and listen to my music on a somewhat louder level than average I won’t have anything to worry about. Soon I plan on constructing a larger set of speaker that will have more low end response. Thank you for any feedback any of you might have.

[jacco vermeulen]

The Aria 5 has a sensitivity of over 91 dB/watt.

A 150 watt amplifier for these loudspeakers is way over the top.
Spending your cash on a really good 50 watt amp is much wiser.
50 watt in 8 Ohm is good for 17dbwatt.
A regular amp can have 1 db dynamic power.
That would be electrically good for nearly 110 dB sound pressure,

Your Aria 5 certainly will not deliver 110 dB, you'll need serious big speakers for that.
A 50 watt amplifier on your speakers will drive your neighbours bonkers at far less than a quarter volume.
You might even consider a nice 20 to 25 watt class A amplifier for your Aria's.

The Jacques Mahul speakers need a really good amplifier.
Lovely loudspeaker btw, a classic.

[scansp7]

Thanks for the information Jacco Vermeulen. The reason I was looking for a larger amplifier is because I definitely plan on constructing a much larger set of speakers in the near future, so I didn’t want to go out and buy another amplifier that is more powerful for the new bigger speakers. What Brand of amplifiers would you recommend? Do you know of any good websites to read up on info on different amplifiers?

Thanks again

-Ryan

[still4given]

Maybe I'm not clear on this. Are you asking what amp you should buy or what amp to build?

Big difference.

Blessings, Terry

[scansp7]

Sorry for the misunderstanding but i was looking to buy not build, did i post in the wrong section? Sorry this is my first time on the boards.

Thanks

[tomtt]

whatever is at your local thrift store
reasonable ly priced

[jacco vermeulen]

You have www.6moons.com in the US, and you have one of the best audio magazines.

I can post a few more that please me if you like, they are in other languages however.
If i were to buy an amplifier in the 150 watt league first thing would be how much to spend, second what speakers it will power. 150 watts does not mean much.

I run electrostats.
Those need an amplifier that is able to deliver much current at a high phase shift.
Which makes choosing an amplifier more difficult.

[mastertech]

jacco vermeulen []
diyAudio Member

Offline
Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Holland, in a beachplace under Rotterdam


Post #2 The Aria 5 has a sensitivity of over 91 dB/watt.

A 150 watt amplifier for these loudspeakers is way over the top.
Spending your cash on a really good 50 watt amp is much wiser.
50 watt in 8 Ohm is good for 17dbwatt.
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over the top?,not if driven at lower power
really good 50w amp driven at its max will over the top distortion

[jacco vermeulen]

Doubling power adds 3 dB volume.
25 watts is around +14 dB.
With the Aria5 sensibility at 91 db at 1 watt at 40" distance 25 watt power gives 105 dB sound pressure.
Dont think the Aria5 will be able to reach 105 dB.

At 25 watt output power a 50 watt amplifier does not have much distortion, imo, probably something like 0.004 % THD.
The distortion of the Aria5 at the max pressure level will be much graver.
As far as i heard the story right MCR power output of an amplifier is measured at 1 % distortion at 1kHz signal.
At 49 watt output distortion of a decent 50 watt amplifier usually is down at 0.01 or lower THD.

If you think a 150 watt power amplifier has a lower distortion level at 25 watt output than a 50 watt amplifier, please buy one.
It will cost more than twice, i'd rather put the money in a 50 watt amp with an larger sized powersupply.

I had 3-way 89 db sensitivity diy speakers that could do 105 dB, with a 50 watt amplifier they would blow the windows out at 40 watt continuous output power.
I used an Elektor class A headphone amplifier that i built on those speakers for some time.
That one delivered a tad over 10 watts in 8 Ohm with 8 BD139 and BD140 in the output stage.
I could not turn up the volume completely on the amplifier, or my neighbours in the next apartment would be banging the walls, and the sound would still be at normal distortion level.

Continuous sound pressure of over 80 dB will damage your ears after a couple of hours.