Morgolus
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More power needed.... I think.
wkhanna
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A 2-ch power amp can easily be integrated into you system with the use of two RCA interconnects and an available wall outlet.
I am not familiar with your speakers, but I am sure they would benefit from the increase in power.
Since you said you have invested in a DAC, I get the impression you are quite serious about your music. If this is the case adding a decent 2-ch amp is a V good first step in building a nice system.
My next recommended course of action would be to upgrade your speakers and then possibly your receiver.

Morgolus
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Thanks for the response. I guess I was on the right track. Just wondering how much per channel would be sufficient? I was thinking about 200 watts per channel; I would assume that would be enough. Is there a rule of thumb with respect the amount of power going to a speaker verses the wattage rating of the speaker?

wkhanna
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The wattage rating on a speaker is a misnomer in most cases, IMHO.
Under powering a speaker will cause harm more often than over powering.
If you had a speaker with a 150 watt rating and were using a 300 watt amp, in most cases you would damage your ears before you would the speaker.
Trying to drive a speaker to high SPL levels with an under powered amp causes the amp to work at its limit. This is were it starts adding distortion to the signal. This distortion is very harmful to your speakers. It doesn't usually sound all that good either.

bobedaone
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The amount of power you need is going to depend on how the manufacturer measures wattage and how honest and realistic they choose to be with you. All watts are NOT created equal. The ratings for receivers are usually very overblown and do not accurately represent the capabilities of the amplifier. Hi-fi stereo amplifiers typically are rated in a more useful fashion. I recently replaced an old Sony receiver ("100W") with a Rega Brio, rated at a comparatively puny 49W. The Rega SMOKES the Sony. My ears say uncle well before the amplifier starts to distort.

Your speakers also have more to do with the loudness capability of a system than many people are aware of. Specifications such as sensitivity (dB/W/m, usually listed simply as "dB") and impedance can give you an indication of how hard your amplifier has to work to produce at a given intensity.

I advise you to find the specifications for your speakers and visit a dealer. Tell them how you like to listen, and it's likely that they'll be able to recommend an amplifier that will be an adequate power match for your loudspeakers.
200 good, clean watts would be more than enough. In fact, you can probably get away with significantly less power than that. As always, let your ears decide.

The sooner you stop driving your mains with a receiver, the better.

wkhanna
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Quote:
I recently replaced an old Sony receiver ("100W") with a Rega Brio, rated at a comparatively puny 49W. The Rega SMOKES the Sony. My ears say uncle well before the amplifier starts to distort.

OT, But I love how Rega 'Rated' that little jewel.
The fact that they went with 49 rather than 51 makes me smile when I think about it.

Glad to here you are enjoying it.

bobedaone
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Yeah, Rega engineers sure do have a sense of humor! "Those Americans think anything under 50 Watts is rubbish. Let's rate it for 49!" I love that quirky little box.

jackfish
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The Yamaha HTR 5560 has audio preamp outputs for main R & L, surround R & L, center, rear center and subwoofer so hooking up external amplifiers is easy.

The Outlaw 2200 M-Block amps for $624/pair are very good. You'ld need two for a right and left channel.

There are a lot of two channel power amps on AudiogoN that would fill the bill.

Otherwise, you could look at Audiosource amps or even some of the pro sound amps.

wkhanna
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I have heard good reports from people I know on the new to the market Emotiva Audio brand.
But only on their multi-ch amps. Their RPA-1, a 200 watt 2-ch design of theirs looks V interesting. I would love to get one just to see how good it sounds.

http://www.emotiva.com/rpa1.html

jackfish
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The JBL ND-310II loudspeaker has an 1 watt/1 meter SPL efficiency rating of 91 dB which means your speakers don't need a lot of power to get pretty loud. However, I like the idea of having more power than really needed, I guess its called dynamic headroom. I'm running 200 watts per channel into speakers with an 88 dB 1 watt/1 meter SPL and wouldn't want anything less.

Depending on the type of music you listen to, you actually have a lot of choices. I'd check out power amplifiers in your price range on UnderwoodHiFi or AudiogoN. There are a lot of good buys there. For example:
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1189795402
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1191117712
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1190942216
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1190827771
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1190779469
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampstran&1190710301
http://www.underwoodhifi.com/specials.html

Morgolus
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Thanks for all your help and suggestions, especially Jackfish for all the research. I just joined AudiogoN, so those links are a great help. Just have to save up a bit of cash and grab something in the $400-$500 range.
Thanks again.

59mga
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Quote:
I have heard good reports from people I know on the new to the market Emotiva Audio brand.
But only on their multi-ch amps. Their RPA-1, a 200 watt 2-ch design of theirs looks V interesting. I would love to get one just to see how good it sounds.

http://www.emotiva.com/rpa1.html

I never heard of this brand, before, so I looked it up. Looks nice, reminds me of a McIntosh, with the blue lights and VU meters. It got some good reviews, too. And for that price...I'm considering auditioning it for 30 days.

But if you only want "one" button forget it.

wkhanna
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What got my attention is the fact that it seems to have a topography of much higher priced equipment.
It is basically Two mono-blocks in one chassis.
The fact that it is quite new and I have no clue as to the quality of the individual components makes me a bit leery, but still, it does look quite impressive for the money.

cyclebrain
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Might be good, but....
Nice website, but uses a bit too much hype. Much of the ad speaks of how cool it looks.
Does anybody know what tiffany style RCA connectors are?

Elk
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Great question!

I have seen lots of references to "Tiffany RCA" and "Tiffany style" but they all look look like any other RCA connector to me.

59mga
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Check out these 2 reviews:

www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_14_2/emotiva-rsp-1-preamlifier-rpa-1-power-amplifier-5-2007-part-1.html

www.audioholics.com/reviews/amplifier/emotiva-rpa-1-amplifier

Both right-ups gave these units excellent ratings. The power amp is a Class H...not familiar with the specifics as to how a Class H amp functions but the reviewers enjoyed it.

cyclebrain: I agree on your "hype" comment...but then again, a number of quality items (NHT for one) have less than impressive verbage on their websites.

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