Topic: NEED MORE POWER!!! (Stero Amplifier WTB)

[slightlys]

I have a pair of Mitsubishi floor tower speakers. They call for a recomended 150W at 4 ohm min/250W max power at 4 ohm. I problem is that my Yamaha receiver only puts out 100W at 4 ohm. I need something to put in between my receiver and the speakers to give them more juice. Not looking to spend much money. Any suggestions?

[Tim]

have you tried them to confirm that they need more power?

I should expound on that. What size room are you running them in? How loud do you listen? What's the efficiency of the speakers? Specs on watts can be gamed by the manufacturers of amps. I don't know about your receiver but maybe it will work just fine.

beyond that what sort of inputs does it have in the back? It's possible that you could find a cheap power amp to hook the speakers to and run the power amp into your receiver like a pre-amp.

[Jimna]

Adcom GFA-545, sell for 150$ on ebay maybe cheaper.  pushes 150w @4ohms and was made to be stable w/ heavy loads.  im using one now and it does fine with mine. (they are 4ohms too)  thats about as cheap as it gets with those specs and still be a reference amp, not a DJ amp.

[jlykos]

What is the desired effect that you are looking for?  More volume?  Going from 100 watts to 150 watts won't achieve that; you need to increase the wattage 10 times to achieve a doubling of volume.  Are you worried that your speakers will blow out if you don't feed them enough power?  If your speakers can handle 150 watts, they can probably handle 100 watts just fine; its going below (say) 30 watts that you will run into problems.  The "max" wattage on the speakers won't serve as a guide; don't look at that at all and just concentrate on the RMS.

If you just want to feed your speakers 150 watts instead of 100 watts because they say that they are rated for 150 watts, you are likely throwing your money away by purchasing a new amplifier.  If you really want to invest in your home stereo, I would look first at getting some new speakers with a more accurate sonic signature, keeping your amplifier (100 watts per channel will drive a lot of different brands and types of speakers) and go from there.

[jmz93]

Like others have said, I doubt you need more power.  How efficient are your speakers?
If they are, for example rated at 88 DB at 1 watt/meter, that means they can produce roughly 88 DB with 1 watt input, at 1 meter (3 feet) distance. 

With 94 DB efficient speakers, I use a 2-watt amp! 

What happens when you just crank your receiver up? Does it start clipping harshly at some point? 

Are you honestly listening to it with the volume past halfway up? 

More efficient speakers will get you a larger volume increase than a bigger amp will.  "If you compare the maximum volume of a 50-watt amplifier with a 100-watt amplifier the difference is only 3 dB, barely greater than the ability of the human ear to hear the difference. It would take an amplifier with 10 times more power (500 watts!) to be perceived as being twice as loud (a +10 dB increase). Keep this in mind when purchasing an amplifier or receiver. 2X the power output = +3 dB increase, 10X the power output = +10 dB increase, or twice as loud."

[Scooter123]

Adcom GFA-545, sell for 150$ on ebay maybe cheaper.  pushes 150w @4ohms and was made to be stable w/ heavy loads.  im using one now and it does fine with mine. (they are 4ohms too)  thats about as cheap as it gets with those specs and still be a reference amp, not a DJ amp.

May I say, I own two of these rascals.  My towers are bi-amped.  I like this amp.  Very good, not great sound. 

[twatts (pants are so over-rated...)]

just concentrate on the RMS.

yep...

But if you are sluttin' out, check your local craigslist...  There's always a ton of cheap lo-end audiophile stuff on ours, you might have the same luck...  Oooo, look what I found today:

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/ele/1624993277.html

Little out of my price range though...

Terry