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January 20, 2013 - 4:53pm
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Sufficient Receiver
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B&W 683s are relatively hard to drive. Their impedance drops to 3 Ohms in a wide range of frequencies under 1000Hz. A receiver which is known to work well with 4 Ohm load is a must. On the other hand the B&W CM9 is not particularly hard to drive and could be used with a wide variety of receivers. Unless your room is cavernous, 125 wpc to 140 wpc should be adequate for both. Remember that those power ratings are for two channels driven unless specifically stated otherwise.
I know the elite is two channels driven, but the Marantz says "Fully discrete current feedback power amplifier design for all 7 Channelannels." What does that mean? And at 6 ohms it is 165 wpc. On the other hand, the Elite is 140 wpc, but it doesn't say anything about lower ohms.
What setup would you recommend in order to do justice to the 683s in a 5.1 setting? I don't listen to music at head-banging volumes, but especially during movies, I want an engulfing sound level.
Sorry, I am just so new to this and really don't know what direction to take. I figured a 2k receiver would give plenty of amplification, but then again I am dealing with b&w.
Here is a link to the product page about the Marantz
Anyone? Any suggestions?
you could get Emotiva separates which would have more power and a robust preprocessor.
UMC-200 $600
XPA-2 $800
XPA-3 $700
I just had this suspicion that at that price I would be compromising on quality. But there seems to be a pretty high regard for them... Is the sound more warm or analytical?
Your suggestion brings up one other question. Why are hifi amps usually 5.0 instead of 5.1? That has been a big deterrent from separates, because I want a sub if I'm doing surround sound.
Subwoofers generally have their own amp, therefore an external amp isn't needed.
Hence, power amplifiers only have to drive the mains, center and surrounds.