Macintosh Speakers XR 1052...A POWER question


My power source is a Yamaha Integrated Amp AX 500U...It has 85 Watts per channel into 8 OHMS.

I also have a JVC RX 6030V Receiver....It has 100 Watts per channel.

Will either of these two units be enough power to run these Macintosh speakers ?

Which of these would you use ?

Thank you

rocky1313

The Yamaha Integrated amp.  You won’t hear any loudness difference between an 85 watt amp and a 100 watt amp.  The integrated will sound better than a receiver, less compromise’s in the integrated.  Never heard those Mac speakers but have heard others.  You should be fine.  Try the integrated first, listen for a day then substitute the receiver, you will then be able to hear the difference. 

OP you have some top drawer power hungry McIntosh speakers. You have a couple of older nothing special Units to power them. If you don’t wish to get a dedicated power amp with at least 200wpc then you are doing the speakers a disservice and should probably move them on to someone who has amp to drive them properly.

From your other thread.

82 db with 1 watt with 100 wpc power handling in a 3 way w passive radiator ( Roger Russel ) begs for a beefy solid state amp with good damping to control the low end.  A 100-200 wpc mac ideal. A MC275 tube even better IMO.