AV setup with LS50

Thanks for the feedback AJ.

To give more information, the apartment is only 40square meters, and the lounge area where this is used is around 15 square meters. For now I will only be using it in a 2 channel setup, though this may change later on if I see a need to upgrade to 5 channel (or if I move to a bigger place)

Any thoughts on the Onkyo TX NR686? It claims to do 100W per channel in a 2 channel setup.

All Channels:
100 W/Ch (8 Ohms, 20 Hz–20 kHz, 0.08% THD, 2 Channels Driven, FTC)
210 W/Ch (6 Ohms, 1 kHz, 10% THD, 1 Channel Driven)

Dynamic power:
240 W (3 Ohms, Front)
210 W (4 Ohms, Front)
120 W (8 Ohms, Front)

https://www.onkyousa.com/Products/model.php?m=TX-NR686&class=Receiver&source=prodClass

So I think it’s important to as yourself what’s most important to you, especially at this budget. I know it’s hard to understand but based on my experience and many other users on this forum, a 2 channel amp will have a better sound quality than similarly priced multi channel avr at this price point, and generally well above it. Think of it this way, look at the list of features and the fact that the unit is designed to drive 7 channels compared to something the same price without the bells and whistles (like the Yamaha I posted about before) designed to drive 2 channels. The result will be cleaner power. I’m my experience, 1 watt from an avr does not measure to 1 watt from a good 2 channel amp. If you’re really sold on starting with an avr it’s important to understand all of the manufacturers specs. 

It’s always a challenge to look at manufacturers specs and really understand what they are telling you. Take the unit you pasted about above. The 100 wpc is a nice amount of power, however what you would want for the ls50s is an amplifier that ideally doubles or comes close to doubles the power from 8 ohms to 4 ohms because a lot of the low bass output from the speakers falls in the 4 ohm region (look up Stereophile’s measurements for the ls50s and you might be able to see what I’m talking about). What that means is that it’s harder for an amplifier to drive the speaker for the low frequency part of the audio spectrum. Be careful, the unit you posted claims 210 watts into one channel at 6 ohms with a massive 10% distortion, which to me seems like it would be for a center channel and not your front channels. It’s hard for me to tell without digging too far into reviews. 

I really dont don’t have a huge amount of experience in choosing avr’s because I’ve chosen to focus on the fantastic ability of the ls50s to develop a 2 channel system. My surround setup came after.

Based on the speakers you’ve chosen, I would take advantage of that as well, there is just so much potential there that would be a shame to waste. That’s just my opinion based on my experiences which shouldn’t be taken as the only opinion out there.

I’d be happy to help evaluate anything else you can dig up and try my best to give you some advice. 

Happy hunting!

Let me just add that the yamaha a-s501 does not have the capability to use a home theater bypass setting like I am using in my current setup. That type of setting would bypass volume setting on the amplifier that you are using for your front two channels and letting you control the volume from the avr. Its a little hard to grasp, think of it as the 2-channel amplifier only providing the power and letting the avr control how loud the speakers play.

If you wanted to upgrade to a surround sound setup, it would include a greater effort and larger investment to get there from the yamaha. The first unit that I encountered with home theater bypass was peachtree's nova 150, which is beyond what you're looking at currently. With a quick look, the marantz pm8005 has a home theater bypass setting. If you can stretch your budget a little that might be a viable option. The unit claims 70 wps into 8ohms and 100 wpc into 4ohms. I personally think that yamaha's wpc statistics are exaggerated and I would bet that the marantz has more muscle. However I have never heard the marantz, just based on online reviews.

Its challenging to find a balance between features and quality.  For the price of the marantz there are other 2-channel amps that I would recommend if you were not interested in a surround setup. Hopefully I haven't made this sound too complicated. It really comes down to your priorities and what you are interested in. If you really don't see yourself expanding to surround until you move, I strongly recommend a 2 channel setup (you can still add a sub for home theater) if you are looking to get the best quality from your LS-50s that your money can afford.

AJ, Thanks for your comments. It does make sense that if I just need something to power the speakers for now, all I need is a solid 2 channel amplifier, without all the bells and whistles of a cinema AV box. I will take a closer look at this area. A quick check of the Marantz PM8005 shows it is "Rated at 70 watts per channel into 8 ohms, the PM8005 features a robust power supply along with high current capability to deliver 100 watts per channel into 4 ohms" 70W per channel at 8Ohm sounds a bit low?

The Yamaha A-S801 looks interesting:
Standard: 100W+100W/8Ω（20Hz～20kHz、0.019％THD）、120W+120W/6Ω （20Hz～20kHz、0.038％THD）

Dynamic power（IHF）140W/8Ω、170W/6Ω、220W/4Ω、290W/2Ω
https://jp.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/hifi_components/a-s801/specs.html#product-tabs

Given your area, why not a lovely Rotel integrated amp?