I have the Van Alstine DVA SET 500 and it is great value and sound. I switch it in/out with my tube monoblocks. Drives my EgglestonWorks Fontaine speakers with ease. 250w A/B. Many reviews on the SET 400 out there, the 500 is the same amp (alittle more power) but in the newer, smaller, much easier to handle box, heatsinks now on sides instead of the back. Check out their website. Direct, no dealers.
Looking for 200 watt Amp to drive Dynaudio Heritage speakers
Hi Everyone -
BACKGROUND
A few years ago, during Covid and after having worked for so many years without really treating myself to a sound system, I took the plunge and started purchasing audio equipment. Unfortunately, I was a terribly uninformed audio buyer and dove in with some purchases that were not terribly well considered. Oh well.
So here we are today... I have a pair of Dynaudio Heritage Special speakers that I was considering selling.
The Dynaudio Heritage Special speakers require power to open up. Driven at 100 watts, they sound a little anemic and the treble dominates at lower levels. So they ended up in the closet for the last year with plans to sell them. In retrospect, the dealer I purchased them suggested a lower wattage amp than was advisable.
For my primary system, I'm now running QLN Prestige Three speakers with a Conrad Johnson Classic 120 EL34 amp, LTA Microzotl preamp, Merason DAC1 and Innuos Zenith. The sound of this system is wonderful - ethereal, nuanced, great soundstage and imaging. Very relaxing combo.
I'm thinking of cycling the Dynaudio into circulation for a few months a year to change things up. I'm looking for a 200 Watt Solid State Amp. But here's the thing, I'm getting older and lugging heavy things around - especially when stairs are part of the equation - is terribly unappealing. 50-55 pounds is pretty much my limit right now.
I had some Pass Labs amps in for home demos and the thing was a back breaker. I think it was 80 pounds or so. My days of pseudo body building are over... so lugging that thing up and down stairs is something I NEVER want to do again.
QUESTION FOR THE FORUM
Can anyone suggest a reasonably priced solid state 200 watt SS amp - no more than 50-55 pounds - that I can use to enjoy these Dynaudio Heritage Speakers? Class AB or Class D, obviously. For weight considerations, I'm really open to a Class D amp, assuming it sounds good.
Budget is $5K or under - new or used.
In terms of what I'm looking for - and given my weight requirements - I'd say the primary thing I'm looking to avoid is overt brightness. Otherwise, I'm pretty open to what suggestions the forum might have. Thanks in advance!
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- 72 posts total
Your comment in the OP is probably the reason they were not recommended, because they are only rated at 100 wpc into 8Ω. @mitch2 The speakers in question are 4 Ohms. | ||||
Yeah, I see that now, that they are rated at 4 ohms. However, the OP wasn’t clear about which 100 watt amplifier made them sound "a little anemic", which is what caused him to be looking at amplifiers offering twice the power. Owning relatively insensitive speakers myself (sensitivity of 86 dB at 2.83 Vrms and 1.0 meter on axis) that also have a low’ish impedance (4 Ω nominal, 3 Ω minimum, low reactance), but a high power handling capability, has led me to appreciate how more power (650 wpc/8 ohms/side in my case) can bring them to life in a way that results in a weightier, more tonally rich delivery that increases my overall sonic enjoyment. Below is the impedance curve from the measurements performed for this linked review. The reviewer did say they got "stupid loud" and another reviewer said he had success driving them with the 25 wpc Pass INT-25. Surprisingly, several reviews never discussed which amplifier was used to drive them during the review, like this one, and this one, although they are specified/rated at 200W. Considering the OP already experienced the pitfalls of underpowering these speakers, and based on my own experience owning speakers with similar sensitivity and impedance specifications, my comment regarding amplifiers below 200wpc/8ohms would remain, try before you buy.
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How about 300 watts? This should do the trick ;) Fosi Audio V3 Stereo Amplifier Home Audio 300 Watts x2 Power
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@mitch2 Just a few items to point out here. The first is that the more power you need, the harder it is to find electronics that also sound like music. To that end, if you really need 650 Watts for your speaker to sing, they are next door to criminally inefficient, since you’re likely to never really get them to sound real. As speakers become less efficient, a common problem is thermal compression, where the voice coils (in particular that or those of the woofer(s)) heat up with musical notes, thereby dynamically reducing current flow with those notes. The more efficiency you have, in general the less you deal with this problem and of course its far easier to find electronics for them that are musical. Also FWIW there is no need for higher efficiency speakers to have less resolution or bandwidth. My speakers at home are 98dB and are flat to 20Hz; they are some of the most resolving speakers I've heard. People have asked us why our class D is only 100 Watts (into 8 Ohms; clips at 125Watts and 250 into 4) and the answer is above. If you really need more power than that you need 1000 Watts, as 10x more power is needed to sound twice as loud. Simply doubling power is only 3dB, hardly audible. So this is really far more about how the amp behaves with a musical signal than it is power! Even with a speaker of 86dB, the first 5 Watts are still the most important. |
- 72 posts total