Speaker Amplifier Suggestions

[rhyseyness]

So, soon I will be building a pair of these bad boys.

Same drivers, enclosure, crossover, the lot.

Currently I've got my eye on the Yamaha A-S501 amp to drive them.

However, I have no idea if this is a decent amp, or appropriate for my application.

I believe the maximum power for the speakers is going to be about 150W per, so I picked an amp that looked pretty, had appropriate connections and could deliver at least half that power continuously.

Also picked what I thought was a reputable brand an an appropriate price range (compared to cost of speakers).

My question is, have I made a decent decision?

Do I need to spend more?

Should I spend less?

Is that amp actually any good?

I'll be driving it from optical on my PC, and all the data for the speakers can be found in the link at the top of this post.

Let me know if you need any more information.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks!!

[johnt]

2 hours ago, rhyseyness said:

My question is, have I made a decent decision?

Yes... however, you could consider buying a used amp on Craigslist. You will be able to find something around $100 that is just as good, if not better than the A-S501

 

2 hours ago, rhyseyness said:

Do I need to spend more?

Should I spend less?

Definitely don't spend more. The A-S501 is a beast. You could definitely find a better deal elsewhere if you look used and older. Just set it before you buy.

 

2 hours ago, rhyseyness said:

Is that amp actually any good?

Yamaha generally makes good, high quality products. I think you will be happy with it. Understand the speakers you've chosen are what I consider to be borderline between low and medium sensitivity. You will need to turn up the volume quite a bit before they get to a comfortable level.

 

2 hours ago, rhyseyness said:

I'll be driving it from optical on my PC

Running optical is a good idea.

[Rmusic10891]

2 hours ago, JohnT said:

Yes... however, you could consider buying a used amp on Craigslist. You will be able to find something around $100 that is just as good, if not better than the A-S501

 

Definitely don't spend more. The A-S501 is a beast. You could definitely find a better deal elsewhere if you look used and older. Just set it before you buy.

 

Yamaha generally makes good, high quality products. I think you will be happy with it. Understand the speakers you've chosen are what I consider to be borderline between low and medium sensitivity. You will need to turn up the volume quite a bit before they get to a comfortable level.

 

Running optical is a good idea.

I certainly agree with all this. If you can't find something that looks nice used you could also look at the TEAC line of integrated amplifiers such as the 301DA and 101DA. The 301DA is on my desk currently. Costs about $150 less than the Yamaha, delivers about 25 watts less, but has more digital inputs and Bluetooth. Depending on the size of your room 85 watts might be overkill.

[spwath]

4 hours ago, JohnT said:

Yes... however, you could consider buying a used amp on Craigslist. You will be able to find something around $100 that is just as good, if not better than the A-S501

 

Definitely don't spend more. The A-S501 is a beast. You could definitely find a better deal elsewhere if you look used and older. Just set it before you buy.

 

Yamaha generally makes good, high quality products. I think you will be happy with it. Understand the speakers you've chosen are what I consider to be borderline between low and medium sensitivity. You will need to turn up the volume quite a bit before they get to a comfortable level.

 

Running optical is a good idea.

Yes, Craigslist is great, i got a Denon receiver with hdmi to replace muy broken onkyo for $30

 

And stereo great deals can be found as well.

[johnt]

25 minutes ago, spwath said:

Yes, Craigslist is great, i got a Denon receiver with hdmi to replace muy broken onkyo for $30

 

And stereo great deals can be found as well.

Nice! I recently upgraded my baby Yamaha to a monster Denon too in my movie room. I really wanted to see what Audyessy was all about.

[rhyseyness]

Excellent!

Thanks a bunch for the responses

I'll have a look used and see what I can find.

I'll have a look into the TEAC ones too. 

Thanks again everyone

I'll post back if I have any more questions