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Topic: Amplifier help (Read 6950 times) previous topic - next topic
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Amplifier help

I found a pair of Aiwa hi-fi speakers at my parents house which wasnt in use, and decided to try and hook it up to my computer, but obviously I need an amp. I know absolutely nothing about amps, and after a quick look on ebay im totally lost (all so expensive and complicated). I dont know what would be suitable, I dont need anything fancy just something cheap that I can hook up for my speakers and has a volume control on it. Would anyone kindly suggest anything I can get?

Thx in advance!

Amplifier help

Reply #1 –
Here's an inexpensive one at J&R.  I tried RadioShack website, but it shows nothing which is surprising.  Maybe if you went into one of their stores.  That said, I see a cheap "Realistic" (RadioShack brand) amp on eBay for $20 + $10 shipping.  Good luck.

Amplifier help

Reply #2 –
Why not get a cheap vintage integrated amp from ebay? With your speakers you might not have to worry about getting the best amplification and vintage amps look cool.

Amplifier help

Reply #3 –
Well, you should make sure that your amp is 'stronger' then your speakers together (2x 120W -> amp 250W or more), at least if you want to use it a little longer.

Amplifier help

Reply #4 –
I got a Pioneer A-109 and it's great, nice entry level stereo amp.
I wouldn't go for anything below that, great deal for ~120 Euro.

Oh and used amps are a gamble. Often they have problems like crackling when you turn the volume knob or one of the channels defunct.

Amplifier help

Reply #5 –
Quote from: Hollunder on
Well, you should make sure that your amp is 'stronger' then your speakers together (2x 120W -> amp 250W or more), at least if you want to use it a little longer.

That should be the other way round.

Amplifier help

Reply #6 –
Quote from: CSMR on
Quote from: Hollunder on

Well, you should make sure that your amp is 'stronger' then your speakers together (2x 120W -> amp 250W or more), at least if you want to use it a little longer.

That should be the other way round.


It should. You don't want to drive speakers too hard, you can damage them.

Also, noisy controls can be fixed with an electrical lubricant such as electrolube switch and contact cleaner, works wonders on noisy volume knobs!

Amplifier help

Reply #7 –
Quote from: Mike Fife on
Quote from: CSMR on

Quote from: Hollunder on

Well, you should make sure that your amp is 'stronger' then your speakers together (2x 120W -> amp 250W or more), at least if you want to use it a little longer.

That should be the other way round.


It should. You don't want to drive speakers too hard, you can damage them.

Also, noisy controls can be fixed with an electrical lubricant such as electrolube switch and contact cleaner, works wonders on noisy volume knobs!



well, therefore you have a volume control
if you drive speakers with a too weak amp over some time it gets witch means the resistance goes up witch means it gets even hotter which means it will say 'goodbye' sooner or later.
That's why you should take an amp thats at least as strong as the speakers.
You shouldn't overdrive them of course.
(the one or other word may be slightly misused, english isn't my tongue )

Amplifier help

Reply #8 –
thx for the replies. Unfortunatly im in the UK so some of the suggestions i cant get. One thing that im puzzled about are the watts. Im looking through alot on ebay and many are 60W or less (except the ridiculously expensive ones). Even the one ApesBrain suggested is 60W. Is this enough or not since Hollunder gave an example of 250. I'm using bookshelf speakers (but I haev no idea wat Wattage as the manuals and boxes are thrown away).

PS: sony666 do you know what 120 Euro's is in pounds and where did you get your amp?
 

Amplifier help

Reply #9 –
Quote from: Psyphre on
PS: sony666 do you know what 120 Euro's is in pounds and where did you get your amp?


search for "pioneer a-109" on amazon.co.uk, it should be around 80 or 90 pounds
of course, check the power requirement (and impedance) for the speakers first

the power numbers are confusing sometimes.. the 2x40W of the A-109 is "sustained sinus power" (dunno the English term), that 250 You mentioned sounds like  a peak power number that is oftem used for marketing and less relevant. 40 to 60 W per channel are pretty standard, anything above that is setting you back some real money.

Amplifier help

Reply #10 –
[quote name='Psyphre' date='Jun 16 2006, 22:36' post='403714']
thx for the replies. Unfortunatly im in the UK so some of the suggestions i cant get. One thing that im puzzled about are the watts. Im looking through alot on ebay and many are 60W or less (except the ridiculously expensive ones). Even the one ApesBrain suggested is 60W. Is this enough or not since Hollunder gave an example of 250. I'm using bookshelf speakers (but I haev no idea wat Wattage as the manuals and boxes are thrown away).


If you look for the RMS power, in watts, you will see it's about half of the PMPO, which is sometimes used by the 'cheaper' end to make their products look better. 20 watts RMS is quite loud. certainly enough to fill an average front room.

Try car boot sales, sometimes there is a NAD or a Cambridge audio amp going. I saw a NAD 2030 in the waste recycling site a few weeks ago.

Amplifier help

Reply #11 –
the example was taken out of the air, so it has nothing to say

and that stuff about the watts is a 'might' not a 'must'
it might happen if you drive too 'big' speakers with a too small amp over a certain time. Usually amps automatically turn off if they get too hot but this depends on the amp (well but if it doesn't turn off it might burn down^^)
Well, it could depend on the difference between speakers and amp, the duration, the amp, the cables and the speakers.

The part I am not sure about is the impedance (usually 'ohm'), should the impedance of the amp be equal to the impedance of the speakers or double (at two speakers)?

Amplifier help

Reply #12 –
Quote from: CSMR on
Quote from: Hollunder on

Well, you should make sure that your amp is 'stronger' then your speakers together (2x 120W -> amp 250W or more), at least if you want to use it a little longer.

That should be the other way round.


It doesn't matter. Anyway, the power ratings do not mean much.

Quote from: Hollunder on
if you drive speakers with a too weak amp over some time it gets witch means the resistance goes up witch means it gets even hotter which means it will say 'goodbye' sooner or later.


Before this, you will have to stand listening to 100 % distorded sounds for minutes. Or get very low impedance speakers.

Quote from: Hollunder on
The part I am not sure about is the impedance (usually 'ohm'), should the impedance of the amp be equal to the impedance of the speakers or double (at two speakers)?


Usually, amplifiers are rated for one pair of 4 Ohms speakers or two pairs of 8 Ohms speakers.

Amplifier help

Reply #13 –
thx, im starting to understand it a bit more. I think im going to go for a really cheap amp to experiment on, since im a real noob. Once im more comfortable and buy better speakers I'll invest in a better one.

Some last questions. Will all amps be able to connect to a PC? (the only reason im getting an amp).
Secondly, the wires for these speakers are just 2 golden wires, do all amps support this?
Lastly, does this look decent?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acoustic-Solutions-S...1QQcmdZViewItem

Amplifier help

Reply #14 –
Quote from: Psyphre on
thx, im starting to understand it a bit more. I think im going to go for a really cheap amp to experiment on, since im a real noob. Once im more comfortable and buy better speakers I'll invest in a better one.

Some last questions. Will all amps be able to connect to a PC? (the only reason im getting an amp).
Secondly, the wires for these speakers are just 2 golden wires, do all amps support this?
Lastly, does this look decent?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acoustic-Solutions-S...1QQcmdZViewItem

Acoustic solutions are a bit of an Argos thing. That's not to say they are not any good, but don't take it at the face value. It's a cheap amp, don't expect the world from it. It's a bit 'Elizabeth Duke' if you know what I mean..... If you don't, try some Goldie lookin' Chain

Amplifier help

Reply #15 –
Quote from: sony666 on
Oh and used amps are a gamble. Often they have problems like crackling when you turn the volume knob or one of the channels defunct.

Audio forums (head fi, audio circles) may be safer places than ebay in this regard.

Quote from: Psyphre on
thx for the replies. Unfortunatly im in the UK so some of the suggestions i cant get. One thing that im puzzled about are the watts. Im looking through alot on ebay and many are 60W or less (except the ridiculously expensive ones). Even the one ApesBrain suggested is 60W. Is this enough or not since Hollunder gave an example of 250. I'm using bookshelf speakers (but I haev no idea wat Wattage as the manuals and boxes are thrown away).

PS: sony666 do you know what 120 Euro's is in pounds and where did you get your amp?

60w should be enough even if your speakers are not sensitive unless you want things very loud indeed. Doubling power corresponds to a 3db increase in volume and speaker measurements generally give the db level at 1W at a certain distance from the speaker.

Amplifier help

Reply #16 –
Quote from: Psyphre on
thx, im starting to understand it a bit more. I think im going to go for a really cheap amp to experiment on, since im a real noob. Once im more comfortable and buy better speakers I'll invest in a better one.

Some last questions. Will all amps be able to connect to a PC? (the only reason im getting an amp).
Secondly, the wires for these speakers are just 2 golden wires, do all amps support this?
Lastly, does this look decent?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acoustic-Solutions-S...1QQcmdZViewItem


Not really. Pop down to Richer Sounds and buy yourself a Cambridge Audio A3 MKIII which they currently have on offer for £80 inc vat. This is about the cheapest worthwhile amp in existence and will sit comfortably beside most £100-200 pound bookshelf speakers that you are likely to buy later on.

The reason for "over amplifying" is mostly to do with clipping which is when the amplifer hits its power limits and effectively outputs a square wave into the speaker. You are far more likely to damage speakers by driving them with an amp that is clipping at under their power rating than you are by slightly over driving them with a clean signal from a more powerful amp.

You can easily connect any HiFi amp to a PC. The built sound on most PCs have line outputs on a 3.5mm stereo jacks. All you need is a cable to go from one 3.5mm jack to two RCA Phono or "Cinch" connectors which are what the connectors on the amp are called. Such cables can be bought from most electrical retailers or more cheaply from your local Maplin.

However you will amost certainly get better sound quality by buying one of the many external USB or FireWire audio interfaces which have phono outputs on them. One of the cheapest ones in the market is the Edirol UA-1EX.

Amplifier help

Reply #17 –
No need for external soundcards. There are some good internal ones.
The problem with built-in computer audio outputs is the background noise. The problem with 3.5 mm jacks is that they do not always plug in properly. Sometime one channel is missing.

Amplifier help

Reply #18 –
Quote from: Pio2001 on
No need for external soundcards. There are some good internal ones.
The problem with built-in computer audio outputs is the background noise. The problem with 3.5 mm jacks is that they do not always plug in properly. Sometime one channel is missing.


The thing with the UA-1EX is that it can do 24/96 and ASIO drivers for 65UKP. If we write off Creative labs cards on general principle then It's actually quite hard to get a cheap Envy24 or other chipset card in the UK.

Consumer Cards:

Chaintech AV-710
Envy24PT
No longer in UK distribution

AudioTrack Prodigy 7.1
Envy24HT
No longer in UK distribution

Terratec Aureon Space
Envy24HT
About 60UKP

M-Audio Revolution 5.1
Envy24HT
About 50UKP

M-Audio Revolution 7.1
Envy24HT
About 85UKP

However the major problem with the both the Terratec and M-Audio cards is that the drivers suck, they managed to take the VIA reference code and somehow break functionality in both cases. The UA-1EX works either with the standard USB audio class driver or with its own ASIO driver (for 24/96) and "just works".

Pro Cards:

M-Audio Audiophile 2496
Envy24
About 50UKP

M-Audio Audiophile 192
Envy24 + External DACs
About 90UKP

Echo MIA MIDI
Motorola 56361
About 85UKP

I don't know what the derver quality is like for these cards.

Amplifier help

Reply #19 –
What sucks so badly in Terratec Aureon Space drivers?

Everything works just fine after you disable Sensaura.
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