What's a home stereo amp good enough for these big, fancy speakers?
June 20, 2017 8:07 PM Subscribe
I have inherited a pair of IMF Reference Standard Mk IV speakers. Apparently, these were/are very high-end audiophile speakers in the 1970s. What’s a home stereo amp that could run them effectively for home listening at moderate volume?
More details on my gear and preferences inside.
I’m obviously not an audiophile but I don’t want to pass up this opportunity to upgrade my home sound experience or whatever. Normally, I’m an obsessive researcher, but without descending into rant territory, the audio equipment rabbit hole is too deep. I’m not chasing the perfect sound, I’ve heard that there’s a lot of woo and money pits of diminishing returns in the hi-fi audio world and I’m frankly just intimidated and overwhelmed. The small amount of research I have done so far indicates that these speakers sound good but are fairly inefficient and will need a relatively high-output amp. But I don’t know what the baseline output for an amp is.
Basically, I just want someone to tell me a model so I can buy it.
I have a growing vinyl record collection and I would like to upgrade from the Crosley all-in-one turntable I’m currently using (yes it’s terrible, I know). I’ll probably also run my 5-year old plasma TV through this system. It would be a plus if the amp you suggest were (readily available) vintage, for two reasons: 1. Even though I’m not obsessive about this stuff, since the speakers are vintage it would be kind of cool if the rest of the equipment were of the same era, and 2. I assume that, as with other kinds of consumer goods, this stuff will is cheaper used? Or does audio equipment get collector’s value? See? I need your help. I know nothing.
Although the tone of this post so may imply otherwise, I’m not ready to just dump a lot of money into this. I’m willing to spend what it takes to drive the speakers adequately, but I know that in the audio world, the difference between “adequate” and “ideal” can be thousands of dollars. I’m sort of keeping my fingers crossed that I can get this put together for sub-$200, but I don’t really have any frame of reference. Am I totally off base? If I'm approaching this whole thing the wrong way and there are other considerations I'm missing, I'm open to it. But basically I just want to buy a thing and listen to Skinny Puppy records on these fancy speakers.
I’m obviously not an audiophile but I don’t want to pass up this opportunity to upgrade my home sound experience or whatever. Normally, I’m an obsessive researcher, but without descending into rant territory, the audio equipment rabbit hole is too deep. I’m not chasing the perfect sound, I’ve heard that there’s a lot of woo and money pits of diminishing returns in the hi-fi audio world and I’m frankly just intimidated and overwhelmed. The small amount of research I have done so far indicates that these speakers sound good but are fairly inefficient and will need a relatively high-output amp. But I don’t know what the baseline output for an amp is.
Basically, I just want someone to tell me a model so I can buy it.
I have a growing vinyl record collection and I would like to upgrade from the Crosley all-in-one turntable I’m currently using (yes it’s terrible, I know). I’ll probably also run my 5-year old plasma TV through this system. It would be a plus if the amp you suggest were (readily available) vintage, for two reasons: 1. Even though I’m not obsessive about this stuff, since the speakers are vintage it would be kind of cool if the rest of the equipment were of the same era, and 2. I assume that, as with other kinds of consumer goods, this stuff will is cheaper used? Or does audio equipment get collector’s value? See? I need your help. I know nothing.
Although the tone of this post so may imply otherwise, I’m not ready to just dump a lot of money into this. I’m willing to spend what it takes to drive the speakers adequately, but I know that in the audio world, the difference between “adequate” and “ideal” can be thousands of dollars. I’m sort of keeping my fingers crossed that I can get this put together for sub-$200, but I don’t really have any frame of reference. Am I totally off base? If I'm approaching this whole thing the wrong way and there are other considerations I'm missing, I'm open to it. But basically I just want to buy a thing and listen to Skinny Puppy records on these fancy speakers.
You don't need to over think it, imo. This Dayton APA class D looks good.
posted by Sebmojo at 9:43 PM on June 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Sebmojo at 9:43 PM on June 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
Lorin, that Onkyo link is broken for me.
posted by Sebmojo at 9:44 PM on June 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Sebmojo at 9:44 PM on June 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Krawczak, if you aren't interested in becoming an audiophile, these may be way more technical speakers than you want. It takes a lot of amplifier to properly drive this type of speaker.
I recommend reading the wikipedia article on transmission line speakers to get an idea of what type of equipment is required.
If you live in California, and you want some expert advice, I know a long-time audiophile who used to own an audio store. MeMail me if you like.
posted by Altomentis at 9:45 PM on June 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
I recommend reading the wikipedia article on transmission line speakers to get an idea of what type of equipment is required.
If you live in California, and you want some expert advice, I know a long-time audiophile who used to own an audio store. MeMail me if you like.
posted by Altomentis at 9:45 PM on June 20, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Oh, to clarify, I definitely will be upgrading my turntable at the same time, so the preamp is definitely a plus. I just feel more confident in my ability to figure that out on my own.
posted by Krawczak at 9:46 PM on June 20, 2017
posted by Krawczak at 9:46 PM on June 20, 2017
Whoops. Mobile fail, here's a fixed link to the Onkyo TX-8020.
Reading the question more clearly I see you commented on the power issue. I think it's safe to say the 50w end of that recommendation will be more than enough to blow the doors off.
posted by Lorin at 9:48 PM on June 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
Reading the question more clearly I see you commented on the power issue. I think it's safe to say the 50w end of that recommendation will be more than enough to blow the doors off.
posted by Lorin at 9:48 PM on June 20, 2017 [2 favorites]
I used to own speakers that were 6 feet tall, 4 feet wide and 3/4" thick. They were black. They sounded extremely good with all the right equipment hooked up to them. With a lot of power, i.e., 500 watts, they produced incredible sound at very low volume.
I sold them back to my ex and he was able to have Magnapan ship him new ribbons and was also able to have the midrange and bass sections revamped.
posted by Altomentis at 9:56 PM on June 20, 2017
I sold them back to my ex and he was able to have Magnapan ship him new ribbons and was also able to have the midrange and bass sections revamped.
posted by Altomentis at 9:56 PM on June 20, 2017
Even though I’m not obsessive about this stuff, since the speakers are vintage it would be kind of cool if the rest of the equipment were of the same era
You may not want a vintage amp. Capacitors (AKA the things that let out the magic smoke in electronics) dry out with time, which leads to degraded sound or outright failure. It is possible to replace the capacitors (known as recapping) but the amount of time/effort/money it would take to recap something from the 70s isn't necessarily worth it for the units in your price range.
You might be able to find something decent in your price range from the era but it's kind of a crap shoot IMO.
posted by Candleman at 10:02 PM on June 20, 2017 [4 favorites]
You may not want a vintage amp. Capacitors (AKA the things that let out the magic smoke in electronics) dry out with time, which leads to degraded sound or outright failure. It is possible to replace the capacitors (known as recapping) but the amount of time/effort/money it would take to recap something from the 70s isn't necessarily worth it for the units in your price range.
You might be able to find something decent in your price range from the era but it's kind of a crap shoot IMO.
posted by Candleman at 10:02 PM on June 20, 2017 [4 favorites]
I am the furthest thing from an audiophile (aside from shying away from Beats and Bose), but in your position I'd probably just check out stereo receivers on Crutchfield and get the one with the fewest bells and whistles, assuming that a higher percentage of the cost is going into quality components and power instead of bluetooth receivers, etc.
posted by supercres at 7:40 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by supercres at 7:40 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: You mention that you'd also like to run your tv through this thing--do you want to just have two stereo speakers, or do you want some kind of surround-sound setup?
If it's the former, you could do worse than this Yamaha. Along with Onkyo, it's a generally well-regarded brand that makes stuff in your price range.
posted by box at 7:47 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
If it's the former, you could do worse than this Yamaha. Along with Onkyo, it's a generally well-regarded brand that makes stuff in your price range.
posted by box at 7:47 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Altomentis, reading the article you suggested has actually made me more enthusiastic about using these specific monitors. The need to dampen bass vibrations coming from the back of the drivers/keep them in phase makes perfect sense to me. I may have overstated how lamb-in-the-woods I am about this stuff; I am excited about having really good sound with these things.
Box, despite what others have said about bells and whistles, the bluetooth feature on the Yamaha you linked to is intriguing. With hi-fi equipment like this, how noticeable would the compression be when streaming or playing mp3s, etc. to the untrained ear? For digital media am I gaining much over a shelf top thingie from Target?
posted by Krawczak at 8:54 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Box, despite what others have said about bells and whistles, the bluetooth feature on the Yamaha you linked to is intriguing. With hi-fi equipment like this, how noticeable would the compression be when streaming or playing mp3s, etc. to the untrained ear? For digital media am I gaining much over a shelf top thingie from Target?
posted by Krawczak at 8:54 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Oops, forgot to mention that I am not interested in surround sound.
posted by Krawczak at 8:54 AM on June 21, 2017
posted by Krawczak at 8:54 AM on June 21, 2017
Conventional wisdom about Bluetooth vs. a wired connection is that it depends on the quality of the source material. FLACs? You'd probably notice. Youtube audio? You probably wouldn't.
posted by box at 9:24 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 9:24 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Oh, I do like that Yamaha. Especially as it's 100W vs the Onkyo's 50W. I admittedly know nothing about these speakers but more power = better seems to be the rule. I mean, I take that to be a general rule :) The fact that people on vintage forums etc are discussing how to get the most out of these tells me they probably don't suck.
Bluetooth is a great convenience feature and, to channel my inner audiophile, most music is already so compressed these days it doesn't even matter. A friend comes over and they can drive the stereo with whatever's on their phone, with basically zero setup? Awesome. If you get bit by the computer audio bug, there's all kinds of higher quality outboard stuff, and the amp is more than good enough to justify it; ditto the phono stage when you want to upgrade.
Let us know how it sounds when you get set up!
posted by Lorin at 10:26 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Bluetooth is a great convenience feature and, to channel my inner audiophile, most music is already so compressed these days it doesn't even matter. A friend comes over and they can drive the stereo with whatever's on their phone, with basically zero setup? Awesome. If you get bit by the computer audio bug, there's all kinds of higher quality outboard stuff, and the amp is more than good enough to justify it; ditto the phono stage when you want to upgrade.
Let us know how it sounds when you get set up!
posted by Lorin at 10:26 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
Since you mention preamps: Bellari Rolls for about fifty bucks, or U-Turn Pluto or Schiit Mani for around a hundred.
posted by box at 11:08 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 11:08 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]
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No doubt you could find something used, Goodwill is a common suggestion, but man that is a lot of amp for under $200. The linked spec sheet says these speakers want 50-150 watts, something to keep in mind if looking used. My favourite vintage NAD amps are in the 25-40 watt range.
posted by Lorin at 9:40 PM on June 20, 2017 [2 favorites]