Poweramp for MA GR60s?

[xavk1]

Guys,

I just got myself some GR60s (to replace some stolen Kef XQ5s). I have a Denon 3805 amp and I am wondering if it is powerful enough to actually do the GR60s justice.

I would appreciate it if some of you could provide a view on how much of an improvement adding a power amp would help? If i decided to take the plunge, my budget would likely be £300ish (as I also need to obtain some rears speakers).

I guess my main usage will be for film (70%), but also a bit of music (typically flac from my pc).

Thanks!

Xav

[Mentally]

IMO adding an integrated amp will help musically too. I recommend checking some NAD power and integrated amps at this budget.

[Crustyloafer]

I would really suggest spending a lot more on the amplification for those speakers to do them justice. The Arcam P7 would be a good start although it is well outside your budget.

[Knyght_byte]

at brand new prices you need to be looking at amps aorund £800 just to power these speakers effectively......tbh you want to be using amps (whether int or power) around £1,500 to actually do the speakers justice.......they are very power hungry and if you want them to sing as sweetly as they are capable of you got to give them as much continuous, unflappable power as possible....

obviously if you go secondhand you can get stuff cheaper, but even £300 isnt likely to get what these speakers really need......

my advice would be to let the 3805 power them for now, it has enough current to make them do their stuff for home cinema, altho i'd advise cutting them at 80hz and let your sub do the lower stuff....then when you got more like £800 available either go second hand for something like a Musical Fidelity A5 power amp or integrated (the int has HT inputs so it acts like a power amp with movies but u can plug a CD player direct in to it) or perhaps a Arcam A90/P90 combo, Primare, etc.......you want more muscular amps, the speakers can lean towards bright, so a more muscular amp thats heavier towards the bass end will do them marvellous justice.......there are plenty others out there, once you got the money it'd certainly be worth a demo.....

just so you know, i spent a good couple months listening the MA GR/GS ranges on various kit, so i'm talking from experience and i remember hearing them hooked up to a Roksan Kandy at one point, and as good an amp as it is with speakers in its price range, it just couldnt control these beasts properly, it had quite a bit of power on tap, but it didnt seem to have control over the power and you could feel things going a bit awry.......

my own opinion would be to try and get an A5 cheap as you can, or the £1,500 Primare (keep forgetting the model name) as cheap as you can.....either of those two will work best out of what i've heard, Arcam FMJ's probably next, but you'd need to biamp them and the A90 combo was almost as good for around half the cash....lol.....but do consider other makes as well, theres quite a few amp manufactures around...

but i wouldnt waste £300 now on an amp.....it might sound a bit better than the 3805, but these speakers should sound A LOT better than what the 3805 is doing to them.....you wanna hear them on MF's KW500 £4,000 amp....ooooowwwweeeeeeeee as the kat from Red Dwarf would say...heh

[xavk1]

Guys,

Thanks for all the advise - you pretty much confirmed my thoughts. I think I will start saving for a few more months and invest in something a little more powerful further down the line rather than waste my money on something that wont properly do the job now.

Xav

[Knightshade]

If you were feeling a little adventurous and wished to go against the grain of all the magazines. You could look into the 'Gainclone' or 'inverted gainclone' power amps. They are mostly homemade but come up on ebay occasionally where some industrious person is trying to market them. They are a VERY simple design. However, this does mean all of the components are high quality.
A friend of mine has 4 monoblock inverted gainclones powering a pair of MA GA60s and the sound is of the highest quality. To give some idea what they are capable of he uses them with a Sugden CD21 and an Audia Flight Pre.
You could probably get them for around your budget.

[Goonerman]

Originally Posted by Knightshade

If you were feeling a little adventurous and wished to go against the grain of all the magazines. You could look into the 'Gainclone' or 'inverted gainclone' power amps. They are mostly homemade but come up on ebay occasionally where some industrious person is trying to market them. They are a VERY simple design. However, this does mean all of the components are high quality.
A friend of mine has 4 monoblock inverted gainclones powering a pair of MA GA60s and the sound is of the highest quality. To give some idea what they are capable of he uses them with a Sugden CD21 and an Audia Flight Pre.
You could probably get them for around your budget.

I can personally testify to the quality of the above setup as I have an identical one. I was very sceptical at first when a friend of mine brought them round for me to try (he's a gainclone nut) I had previously used a Musical Fidelity A3.2 pre and power combo and all I can say is that the gainclones just blew them away in every respect. I now use 4 as monoblocks into a Gamut C2 Pre amp. I have been using this setup for 2 years now and not even considered changing it, regardless of cost they really are that good.
I bought some nice black ally enclosures for mine, so they don't look like naff diy kit. Another friend of mine is even partnering some with a Linn CD12.

Total cost for 4 inc ally enclosures was about 75 quid each.

[xavk1]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have been reading about these Gainclones and they look really interesting.

Can some please provide me with the details of the version they chose to make as there seem to lots of options (inverted or not, multiple options for components etc). Also, as a relative noob when it comes to soldering etc, is this something that i should be able to pick up with a few weekends practise?

I guess an idiots guide is what I am looking for

Xav

[Goonerman]

Here is a link to my mates site, it has all the info you need to build them. I just went for the basic IGC and never looked back. I didn't put them together myself as like you, I'm not great with a soldering iron but I'm led to believe it's a very simple process putting one together.

My very first impression of them when I heard just a stereo pair partnered with my GR60's in comparison with the MF A3.2 pre-power combo, it was like someone had lifted blankets off the front of the speakers. The soundstage just opened up and even the most demanding passages were not muddled at all, they just never seem to lose grip.

I use them partnered with a MF A3.2 CD player and a Pink Triangle PT TOO Turntable for vinyl.

Hope this helps

[Goonerman]

Originally Posted by Goonerman

Here is a link to my mates site, it has all the info you need to build them. I just went for the basic IGC and never looked back. I didn't put them together myself as like you, I'm not great with a soldering iron but I'm led to believe it's a very simple process putting one together.

My very first impression of them when I heard just a stereo pair partnered with my GR60's in comparison with the MF A3.2 pre-power combo, it was like someone had lifted blankets off the front of the speakers. The soundstage just opened up and even the most demanding passages were not muddled at all, they just never seem to lose grip.

I use them partnered with a MF A3.2 CD player and a Pink Triangle PT TOO Turntable for vinyl.

Hope this helps

Sorry, here's the link http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/nuukspot/...ndex.html#top1

[andymc]

Hi mate... dont know if this helps but I run a set of GR60's in my hifi set up and they are the BEST speakers I have ever owned... I have them triamped with Cyrus Smart Powers and they sound sensational... just make sure they have room to breath and let them run in for a while....

Originally Posted by Knyght_byte

at brand new prices you need to be looking at amps aorund £800 just to power these speakers effectively......tbh you want to be using amps (whether int or power) around £1,500 to actually do the speakers justice.......they are very power hungry and if you want them to sing as sweetly as they are capable of you got to give them as much continuous, unflappable power as possible....

obviously if you go secondhand you can get stuff cheaper, but even £300 isnt likely to get what these speakers really need......

my advice would be to let the 3805 power them for now, it has enough current to make them do their stuff for home cinema, altho i'd advise cutting them at 80hz and let your sub do the lower stuff....then when you got more like £800 available either go second hand for something like a Musical Fidelity A5 power amp or integrated (the int has HT inputs so it acts like a power amp with movies but u can plug a CD player direct in to it) or perhaps a Arcam A90/P90 combo, Primare, etc.......you want more muscular amps, the speakers can lean towards bright, so a more muscular amp thats heavier towards the bass end will do them marvellous justice.......there are plenty others out there, once you got the money it'd certainly be worth a demo.....

just so you know, i spent a good couple months listening the MA GR/GS ranges on various kit, so i'm talking from experience and i remember hearing them hooked up to a Roksan Kandy at one point, and as good an amp as it is with speakers in its price range, it just couldnt control these beasts properly, it had quite a bit of power on tap, but it didnt seem to have control over the power and you could feel things going a bit awry.......

my own opinion would be to try and get an A5 cheap as you can, or the £1,500 Primare (keep forgetting the model name) as cheap as you can.....either of those two will work best out of what i've heard, Arcam FMJ's probably next, but you'd need to biamp them and the A90 combo was almost as good for around half the cash....lol.....but do consider other makes as well, theres quite a few amp manufactures around...

but i wouldnt waste £300 now on an amp.....it might sound a bit better than the 3805, but these speakers should sound A LOT better than what the 3805 is doing to them.....you wanna hear them on MF's KW500 £4,000 amp....ooooowwwweeeeeeeee as the kat from Red Dwarf would say...heh

What about Nad's C272 for price/power/performance ?

At about £350 I think it could have a sporting chance. Also as an upgradable system. Buy one now and further down the line get another, using them in mono mode, one per stereo channel, would obviously give more power .

Still (relatively!) cheap at £700 and 300watts per channel.

[Knyght_byte]

i sadly dont know the NAD amps that well......all i can say is if that power is proven as being continuous at closer to peak levels, then they will power the speakers....i wouldnt like to comment on whether they can do it with quality tho......but only because i dont know that amp......i'm aware NAD have a good name for musicality tho, so you could be quite happy :-)

at £700 tho, i'd be inclined to say find another £300 first, grab a Musical Fidelity A5 second hand or an A3.5 new.....their amps definitely provide good continuous current, and also work well with MA speakers........and regardless which one you get, eventually look to biamp it further down the line.........but power and quality wise they will match up better quite likely than the NAD's.......but dont quote me on that as i havnt heard the NAD's, i just know what i've heard with MF/MA.......(my A5 and GR10's keeps me in 6th heaven.....when i get a decent CDplayer or DAC for my 3910 then i'll be in 7th heaven...lol...sadly just been made redudant so that may be on the back burner unless i win the MF compo....if you wanna help me out, visit Musical Fidelitys website, i'm Robert from Middlesex, rate my review please and help a guy who needs a matching CD player...lol)

Originally Posted by Knyght_byte

i sadly dont know the NAD amps that well......all i can say is if that power is proven as being continuous at closer to peak levels, then they will power the speakers....i wouldnt like to comment on whether they can do it with quality tho......but only because i dont know that amp......i'm aware NAD have a good name for musicality tho, so you could be quite happy :-)

at £700 tho, i'd be inclined to say find another £300 first, grab a Musical Fidelity A5 second hand or an A3.5 new.....their amps definitely provide good continuous current, and also work well with MA speakers........and regardless which one you get, eventually look to biamp it further down the line.........but power and quality wise they will match up better quite likely than the NAD's.......but dont quote me on that as i havnt heard the NAD's, i just know what i've heard with MF/MA.......(my A5 and GR10's keeps me in 6th heaven.....when i get a decent CDplayer or DAC for my 3910 then i'll be in 7th heaven...lol...sadly just been made redudant so that may be on the back burner unless i win the MF compo....if you wanna help me out, visit Musical Fidelitys website, i'm Robert from Middlesex, rate my review please and help a guy who needs a matching CD player...lol)

Sorry to hear bout the job situation. Having no money is ****. Can see you're a good writer regardless of the competition outcome. So hopefully you'll find something soon.

Regarding CD players you can get the Arcam Alpha's for amazing prices nowadays. I got the 5 for £75. Have seen the original go for £35(both analogue and digi coaxial outputs) and the 1 for £40. Still fantastic quality. I'll keep my eyes open for ya.