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Marantz Pearl Lite for LS50, or..

Hi everybody,

I just bought the KEF LS50, and currently in the looking for an amp.
My room is not very big, roughly 15m2, and I'm initially looking at Roksan Kandy K2, but currently there is one seller in my local forum is selling his few months old Marantz Pearl Lite, so I've been thinking about it.

Does anyone know whether this pairing will work in my room?

Also, as I'm totally new in this thing, will a pure Class A tube amp with 18 Watt sufficient for my room?

Any other recommendation is also appreciated.

Before I forget, my budget is roughly at $1500, and I listen to most type of music, especially progressive rock, jazz, metal, bossanova, etc.

Thanks in advance.
butt
paraneer's avatar
paraneer
818 posts
 
You're welcome Butt.

My speakers are Vienna Acoustics Bach Grands, 4 Ohms at 90 db sensitivity. More efficient than your KEF's but at 4 Ohms, more power hungry. The Marantz I use to drive them with is only 90 wpc into 8 Ohms; 140 wpc onto 4 Ohms and it is bringing my Bachs up to new heights. I am extremely pleased with its performance and the quality of its construction. It is built at Marantz' reference factory in Japan, same place the Pearl Lite is built.

Sounds like your on your way to a great system.
butt OP
6 posts
 
Nice!

Will report back with my findings after I finalized the sale of the Pearl Lite.

Thanks again.. :)
butt OP
6 posts
 
Hi everybody,

Just bought the Pearl Lite and after pairing it with my LS50, I am very much LOVING it!!
I've demoed the LS50 for quite some time with different amp at hifi shop, but I must say after pairing it with the Pearl, it seems like the speaker performance is better.

Thanks to everyone that helps me on deciding to buy the Pearl, I'm totally satisfied with my decision.

Cheers!
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,909 posts
 
Butt, thanks for your take on the pairing of the KEF LS50 and the Marantz as I'm considering a move to a different speaker and the KEF R900 or R700 is on my radar. From what I can recall from the last Newport Audio show, the KEFs sounded really nice.

All the best,
Nonoise
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,413 posts
 
"Also, as I'm totally new in this thing, will a pure Class A tube amp with 18 Watt sufficient for my room?"

Good quality small speakers with extended bass, like these KEFs, tend to have very low efficiency and all like power and current, the more the merrier, for best performance. 18 watts is minimal to drive most any speakers except those that are upper echelon in regards to efficiency. High efficiency speakers with good bass extension will tend to be larger. That's basically how it always works based on teh laws of physics.

I've heard teh KEFs off my 180 w/ch and 500w/ch amps. THey sounded excellent with the 500 watts in my smaller 12X12 sunroom. They did not impress at all off 180w/ch in my larger family room area.

So I would not expect much out of the KEFs with 18 watts no matter how they are boiled.
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