Amp suggestions from experts please
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Bronze Member Username: WaryCalgary, Alberta Canada Post Number: 28 Registered: Jul-05 | I have a set of Focal Utopia 165's and Focal Utopia 38wx 15" sub and I was wondering which amps would be the best for them? Reasonably priced, I'm not putting an audiobahn amp to a set of Focals.... I hear the Sinfoni amp is one of the best matchups, also Brax but they seem to be hard to find a deal on. I was looking more into the Audison VRX series of amps. Also the TRU 03's and Helix, xtant, McIntosh... hard to find especially for the power I want. Any real suggestions on amps would be much appreciated, not people telling me JL, JBL, Alpine, Pioneer, MTX are the best :P TY! |
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Bronze Member Username: SuicidejackPost Number: 22 Registered: Jul-05 | if i were you try for a treo ssx amp or usamps bet they would have that power your looking for the price. treos baybe harder to find but there great amps oh also try for an MMATS there really good too and afordable campared to xtant, brax, zapco amps |
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Bronze Member Username: WaryCalgary, Alberta Canada Post Number: 29 Registered: Jul-05 | price isn't a real big concern to me. i mean if i'm going to use utopia's i'm probably going to want to same type of calibur of amp to power them. haven't heard of MMATS, i'll look into that, thanks typically trying to look for something that i could get off ebay and zapco seems to be the only abundant choice :\ C2K's of course |
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Silver Member Username: ScubasteveAnnapolis, MD Post Number: 500 Registered: May-05 | Good luck finding Helix and its bigger brother Brax on this side of the pond. Your focals are a little bright so I'd recommend going with a US tube amp or Mac. They're both a little on the warm side so you should end up with very true sound. If you go solid state, TRU would be an excellent choice, they're also fairly easy to come by. |
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Bronze Member Username: WaryCalgary, Alberta Canada Post Number: 30 Registered: Jul-05 | heh yeah i've been looking for brax or sonfini but so far no luck on good deals. i've found some good deals on TRU but they are still running a bit expensive. why exactly would you recommend a tube amp? just for the fronts'er rears? and mac's are hard to come by too and sorta expensive. my friend is selling a Audison VRX 6.420 for cheap, but these are the specs http://www.audison-america.com/Products/VRX/VRX%206.420.2/64202.html it seems like the fronts would get more than 100% more power and the sub woudl get 20 less watts than the rms'er would that still be fine? what would be better than the Audison VRX line other than Brax or Sinfoni? guess it would depend if i'm talking about my sub or speakers? well both... sorta |
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Silver Member Username: ScubasteveAnnapolis, MD Post Number: 503 Registered: May-05 | The reason I recommended a tube amp (I only meant it for the components) was because focals produce a very bright and sometimes harsh sound (however only rarely in the utopias), but especially In the upper midrange and the warm buttery sound of tube amps would help offset that giving you a more transparent sound. As for the audison, I've never heard them in action before so I can't say anything about them. The amp for the sub isn't as crucial and you definately wouldn't want to spend the money associated with tube amps for reproducing the lowest bass. Your best bet on this would be to talk to Jonathan on this forum, he has the most experience with high-end equiptment. |
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Bronze Member Username: WaryCalgary, Alberta Canada Post Number: 32 Registered: Jul-05 | someone else had recommended the same thing. tube amp, but i'm sure there are some disadvantages other than space associated with a tube amp? i had an old roommate who had tube amps for his home stereo and hand made front tower speakers, the thing sounded amazing. just wasn't as easy to wire, ect. how does someone get Jonathan's attention to give an expert opinion?  it mostly comes down to the deals, the vrx 6.420 i can get a really good deal, but then again, i can on some zapco 6.0 c2k's... i'd probably spend less time shopping for a house, actually i know i would. then you got your us amps tube amps, your TRU's... yar, utopia 33wx 450rms with utopia 6.5 2 way fronts 100rms |
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Silver Member Username: ScubasteveAnnapolis, MD Post Number: 504 Registered: May-05 | If he doesn't see this thread soon, send him a PM (private message) I guess the main disadvantages of Tubes would be their cost, the dificulty of finding one big enough to deliver huge amounts of power and their warm sound, but others believe this to be a strenght. In your case, I believe this would compliment your speakers nicely. But you'll find hundreds of pages dedicated to solid state vs. tube wars. Really your best bet would be to test out all of the amps you're considering with your speakers in your setup, but thats often not an option. Also deals are good, by all means take your friend up on the offer, atleast for a trial and see what you think. |
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Silver Member Username: ScubasteveAnnapolis, MD Post Number: 505 Registered: May-05 | also, by the way, your audio equiptment has a far greater impact on your percieved quality of life than your house so enjoy shopping and be totally satisfied with your decision. Maybe our priorities are mixed up, but it doesn't seem to bother me. Thats just my 2 cents, now back to dif. eq. at 1:00 am...damn |
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Bronze Member Username: WaryCalgary, Alberta Canada Post Number: 33 Registered: Jul-05 | lol us necrophiliacts really appreciate your input i've spent all my money on my car and not my home stereo mostly because everything is hooked up to my computer not in the living room and i wonder why i'd spend thousands on speakers in my car when i don't even drive to work and not even consider buying a big screen :\ opinions for this madness would also welcome |
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Silver Member Username: RovinTrinidad & T... Post Number: 345 Registered: Jul-05 | Beats me - my excellent Logitec Z5500 500wrms S sound PC speakers costs only about $260 & here i'm about to plunk down over $1500 on car music (though its a mid-budget system) & my home radio is a little cheap @$$ thing . I guess its the pleasurable combination of riding in your car & good audio is the catchy bug ..... |
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