Advise on Power Amp

[Sunderpalanivel]

Hi Guys,

Any of you using power amp for the tower speakers ? If so is there any significant difference in the quality of music by using power amp instead of connecting the speakers to receiver ?

Currently I am using Denon 1912 to power my Tsi400 fronts, I am just thinking if using a power amp would give significant improvement in sound quality as I think the speakers are capable of much more (Even though it sounds good now).

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sunder

 

[Flash]

The Tsi400 are pretty efficient speakers (91db) and wont need a lot of power to open up. The Denon 1912 should be adequate to drive it.

Yes adding a good power amp into the equation would help the speakers open up

However the Denon 1912 does not have preouts, So you will not be able to add a Power amp into the equation.

 

[Sunderpalanivel]

The Tsi400 are pretty efficient speakers (91db) and wont need a lot of power to open up. The Denon 1912 should be adequate to drive it.

Yes adding a good power amp into the equation would help the speakers open up

However the Denon 1912 does not have preouts, So you will not be able to add a Power amp into the equation.

Yes, I am selling my Denon 1912 to buy a model that has pre out. I would either go for Denon higher model or Harman Kardan. Any advise on which one of these could be better ? Also for power amp I m thinking of Rotel or NAD or perreaux.

 

[Flash]

Yes, I am selling my Denon 1912 to buy a model that has pre out. I would either go for Denon higher model or Harman Kardan. Any advise on which one of these could be better ? Also for power amp I m thinking of Rotel or NAD or perreaux.

All the 3 power amps that you mentioned are good, Although I have not personally heard Perreaux. I use Rotels and I have heard NAD PA's

However each of them have their own sound signature. Rotels are neutral and clinical, NAD's are warm and LF biased
So it depends on the sound signature you are looking for,
However with a higher end Denon like the 3312, 4312 etc. I still feel a Power amp for the TSI 400 is not going to give u major added benefit.
So not really worth the spend.

 

[Kittu]

Better sell TSI's and get RTI series drive them with Denon , you may find the results you are expecting.

 

[Sunderpalanivel]

All the 3 power amps that you mentioned are good, Although I have not personally heard Perreaux. I use Rotels and I have heard NAD PA's

However each of them have their own sound signature. Rotels are neutral and clinical, NAD's are warm and LF biased
So it depends on the sound signature you are looking for,
However with a higher end Denon like the 3312, 4312 etc. I still feel a Power amp for the TSI 400 is not going to give u major added benefit.
So not really worth the spend.

Thanks for the response

I thought as much, because the Denon is 90 Watts per channel and I have bi-amped the speakers, but when I see these power amp, just a stereo power amps are so heavy with some donut shaped thing inside it, makes me think a power amp with same amount of watts as my receiver would produce more quality sound.

Do you think it won't much difference with Tsi 400 ? Do you say that because the speakers or efficient to work with receivers or are you saying, no matter what quality power amps produce, the speakers are not capable of using it ?

Between, how is the Rotel you are using ? what speakers do you use ? do you see significant difference between when you use PA and when you don't ?

 

[Sunderpalanivel]

Better sell TSI's and get RTI series drive them with Denon , you may find the results you are expecting.

Tsi400 is is big enough to tire Denon :lol:

RTI would definitely need a power amp to work at its best !!

 

[Kittu]

125Watts @ 6 ohms AVR is falling short of driving the high sensitive TSI's :indifferent14: .... Some thing wrong. Then better go for Pre-power setup from Emotiva or Rotel.

 

[s_sachin]

I have the tsi 300 connected to a pioneer avr for 5.1 and they do the job well. Personally having tried connecting to an amp from my music set up, i dont think the tsi series will excel in music.
So i agree with Kittu if you have music on your mind then go for RTI series.

 

[vprasad84]

Better sell TSI's and get RTI series drive them with Denon , you may find the results you are expecting.

hi kittu,

seeing you praising for the polk rti's here & other threads as well though polk doesnt seems to be much recommended in hfv

have you auditioned the rti's...if yes pls share your exp & to which amp it was connected...i am planning to get a5 or a7 with my denon 1611

 

[Kittu]

I only recommended the RTI's in comparison with TSI's. Better sound quality and the bass is tight and punchy compare to TSI series. Anything +ve to the RTI series will sound -ve for TSI and the OP will hit me from far far away.

 

[kaadye]

basically any amp can drive any speakers. the problem comes with the room size to get the same db levels that you would accept when sitting at a distance of 1 meter. the speakers with 91db are pretty efficient but the polks really dont mention the correct minimum power required to drive their speakers to the mentioned sensitivity. so generally in my experience the polks require a little more power to achive the said sensitivity. so now the problem arises after supplying the minimum power what is left in the amp to cover the room , i.e your listening position at the same db levels.
please post your room size so we could calculate whether you need the extra amp or not.

 

[Flash]

Thanks for the response

I thought as much, because the Denon is 90 Watts per channel and I have bi-amped the speakers, but when I see these power amp, just a stereo power amps are so heavy with some donut shaped thing inside it, makes me think a power amp with same amount of watts as my receiver would produce more quality sound.

The donut shaped thingy is called a toroidal transformer. Yes at the same x watts when compared to a receiver with the same x watts would have a much better sound quality.

Do you think it won't much difference with Tsi 400 ? Do you say that because the speakers or efficient to work with receivers or are you saying, no matter what quality power amps produce, the speakers are not capable of using it ?

Well the TSi 400 is not been known to need a lot of power to open up. One because of efficiency of 91 db as well as a very easy 8 ohm load.
Yes adding a power amp into the equation would help in the SQ department but not by leaps and bounds. So it would not justify the amount spent.
IMO it makes more sense to upgrade the speakers to a higher end Polk series or other brands using the same amount that you would spend on a Power amp.
With this you would see a considerable change in SQ as you move up the speaker chain.

Between, how is the Rotel you are using ? what speakers do you use ? do you see significant difference between when you use PA and when you don't ?

Well i use 2 Rotel power amps bridged as Monoblocks, so one power amp for left channel and one for right. each producing 180watts.
I use it with the B&W 685 bookshelves as well as with Wharfedale 9.6 .

Since we are talking about FS. i'll skip the B&W experience. With the Wharfedale floorstander yes a considerable amount of difference using the Rotels when compared to my Denon receiver especially at lower volumes.

However I am looking at keeping the Rotel/ B&W setup different and plan on buying a Emotiva Power Amp for the Wharfedale and most probably replace the Wharfedale down the line to something else.

 

[Sunderpalanivel]

I only recommended the RTI's in comparison with TSI's. Better sound quality and the bass is tight and punchy compare to TSI series. Anything +ve to the RTI series will sound -ve for TSI and the OP will hit me from far far away.

I agree RTIs are much larger, but still Tsi 400 is not that small a speaker, its still huge with three 5 1/2 inch drivers. It can get very louder too. Its actually very nice sounding speakers especially with my velodyne sub my intention is to provide more fuller power to extract the best out of the speakers, because its a 200 watts speaker and my receiver is 90 watts..

 

[Sunderpalanivel]

I have the tsi 300 connected to a pioneer avr for 5.1 and they do the job well. Personally having tried connecting to an amp from my music set up, i dont think the tsi series will excel in music.
So i agree with Kittu if you have music on your mind then go for RTI series.

Do you use a sub as well ?

 

[Sunderpalanivel]

With the Wharfedale floorstander yes a considerable amount of difference using the Rotels when compared to my Denon receiver especially at lower volumes.
.

Yeah ! This is what exactly I am after, low volume sound quality

 

[Flash]

Yeah ! This is what exactly I am after, low volume sound quality

Ah I see .. Well do you listen to music in 2 channel or 2.1 using the velodyne into the equation.
If you do use the Velodyne then in that case I am pretty sure that you have the subwoofer crossed at 80hz or lower.
So anything above 80 hz in this case would be going into your Polks - considering thet you set the Polks as small on the receiver
Am I correct ?

If I am correct with the assumption then :

Now the TSI 400 I guess is a 2 way design with a crossover at 2500hz so the 3 - 5 1/2 drivers are playing from 44hz (-3db) to 2500hz.
The most power hungry frequencies are bass and sub bass frequencies.i.e 100hz - 20hz, although most music material does not dip below 40hz

Now with any amplification its these very frequencies that causes stress. However when you take that out of the equation since a powered sub is in the equation. A 90 watt amp, goes about doing its business without any difficult loads. Plus the speaker itself will play a lot cleaner. Since the bass drivers does not have to push out a lot of air so basically less excursion.
the subwoofer here is doing all the hard work

When adding a Power amp into the equation, it again does not have to deal with these difficult loads. So I don't foresee any improvement with the TSI 400.

In my case I use the power amps in 2 channel stereo and the Wharf has 2x 8" drivers, 1 midrange drive and a tweeter . Its a 4 way design with each driver playing different frequencies.

The biggest difference I noticed with a PA into the equation is bass response at low-mid volumes. Not much has changed in upper mid / and high frequencies. However changing the Preamps / Receiver changes the sonic signature of the speakers

Before going ahead and picking up a power amp. try to get it home and see if you see a major difference with your existing setup.

 

[Sunderpalanivel]

Ah I see .. Well do you listen to music in 2 channel or 2.1 using the velodyne into the equation.
If you do use the Velodyne then in that case I am pretty sure that you have the subwoofer crossed at 80hz or lower.
So anything above 80 hz in this case would be going into your Polks - considering thet you set the Polks as small on the receiver
Am I correct ?

Yeah, I listen to music at 2.1 involving the sub.

And yes, I too think its a good idea to get a demo amp and see if its making any difference at all. However, I think I will sell my Denon 1912 and get something with pre-amp and video up conversion , if I dont have to buy power amp, then I could go for a performance blu ray like Oppo, I now have a Sony 170$ BR player I hear, a good player could make huge difference, given that I have a 55 inch TV hyeah:

 

[Sunderpalanivel]

Any more advise ? Between, I am still trying to sell my devon 1912

 

[saurabh0073]

How much are you selling 1912 for. Is it a U.S model or indian??