Stereo receiver as power amp?

[bassmac]

Does anybody use a regular old stereo receiver (Kenwood) with passive near field speakers for your monitoring. Would there be a "huge" difference in buying a dedicated power amp instead.

[unclemurray]

bassmac, I used to use an old (1970s) technics receiver (300Watts) as my power amp. It all depends on how flat sounding your receiver is. Some receivers color the sound alot; others are more clean. My old technics was very clean and had very fast transient power; it could amplify peaks cleanly with very little coloration. Your monitors will also affect this tremendously. If you have a flat efficient monitor, it will require a lot less work from your receiver than poor speakers.

The only way to tell if your system is flat or not is to do a frrequency analysis of your environment with a spectrum analyzer. A simple 31 band graphic EQ can help flatten out speakers, amps, and inherent room sound.

The shape of your room has a lot do with the sound too. I recently discovered that the room I was mixing in had a huge bass bump. I put in a couple of bass traps and some sonic foam to kill osme early reflectins and it sounds much better now.

Good luck!

[MattStrat]

Very interesting topic here:

Anyone know of a place to REALLY study or get knowledge about fixing up a (bed)room for the best acoustics. I've seen articles on this topic in mags before. But just wondering if there are STANDARD acouctic procedures that should be done in ANY room? Lots of possibilities, I'm sure.

YGR
Matt

[mfym]

This is too funny.

I'm currently using a consumer level Kenwood amplifier, also with PSB consumer level monitors.

The general rule is, if that's all you have, why not use it. Just remember that consumer level is manufactured to enhance sound, and professional will provide flat response for reference.

BTW: I'm purchasing professional monitors this weekend, active ones. From my research, most people as using monitors with active amplification.

[ThomCat]

Actives in general do have some inherent advantages over passives. For one thing, the drivers are matched to the amps so you get a consistent predictable sound from setup to setup and from one speaker to another, and no coloration that would be due to impedance mismatch since the components are designed to work together. The wires that connect amp to speaker are also significantly shorter and therefore won't compromise the damping factor of the amp the way cheap or long (significantly resistive or reactive) speaker wires can.

I'm currently using a Hafler power amp and passives with good results, but When I can afford it I think I'll get a pair of Mackie HR824's. I also heard some Tannoy actives's the other day that sounded really good for significantly less money.

[Shawn Parr]

I used to run my Tannoy SBM's off a Kenwood reciever. Since then I have upgraded to a Crown DC-300A Series II amp.

If you can afford one, a dedicated high current amp with strong power rails will give you significantly better punch and bass response, because of braking issues and such. The DC-300A has HUGE caps on the back that keep the rails increadibly stiff, so even out of cheap-a** little passive monitors I get rather powerful clean bass with plenty of punch for my studio.

Good actives have the same story, if well designed they have high current potential, and strong rails (power rails stay charged during heavy transients or low bass, or recharge very quickly). They are also typically better matched and use better components.

Cheap actives are about as good as decent passives with a stereo receiver. . .
JBL 4206's come to mind . . .

[Sardi]

Plugging passive speakers into a 003 is going to yield no sound. There is no amplification.

You don’t mention what speakers you currently have or what your budget is. You could spend a hundred dollars or thousands!

If you don’t have a big budget, look at getting a second hand power amp. They’ll more than likely, if modern, have speakon outputs. Just run them to bare wire or add the ‘banana plugs’ to the other end. Also look for one that doesn’t have a fan.

But yeah, some more info will yield better advice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[albee1952]

Hmmm, this is getting a bit confusing so I will give some generic info.
1-to run passive(unpowered) speakers from the 003R, you need a stereo( or 2-channel) power amp. While a hifi receiver will work, it may not work well because of 2 things: it may not have a truly flat response(coloring the sound) and, more importantly, the RCA inputs are designed for a -10 signal while the 003 is designed to deliver a +4 signal(much hotter).
2-any PA power amp is likely to work and there are some budget-friendly options like Behringer iNuke series or look on the used market, maybe for an amp from Hafler or Alesis. Get something with higher output(watts) than your speakers as clipping a low power amp will fry speakers faster than a clean signal.
3-powered studio monitors are an alternative(and probably a better one) but do some research and try not to buy on price alone. Some good budget speakers include the JBL 306mk II, Presonus Eris 7 and the Kali Audio LP6(?).

[gives]

Hah,Hah! So fun to read this! I had an old JVC receiver 35 years ago that I used in college that got me thru a tough time with ESS speakers.
When I got some dough, I got some good near fields and bought a Bryston 3B Amp until I upgraded again. Those were the days-:)

Greg