Advice on new reQuests!

[Lyonsno]

Hey everyone! I just became the proud owner of a pair of reQuests! Original owner vacuumed them twice a month and they seem to be in excellent condition. I’m really loving them so far.

I’m wondering if anyone has any general tips or advice on these babies but I also have a few specific questions..

1) I’m currently running them on a Marantz SR6007. I know this is not supposed to be ideal but so far I have no issues with getting enough volume or with overheating. I’m wondering How much I would benefit from getting a more powerful amp and how much more powerful with the amp need to be for me to see a significant difference. I only buy used but I’m willing to sit on craigslist for months if necessary. I’m guessing one thing this might help with would be transients, do you think there would be a big difference in sound quality?

2) these are dated 1996 so at this point the panels are like 24 years old. From everything I’ve read they should barely be working at all but to me they seem to be in excellent condition and sound fantastic. There’s very little signs of dirt or wear on them, is there anyway to tell how much sound quality I might be missing? I’m tempted to give them a shower after reading through that thread but I’m curious whether anyone has had a bad experience doing that. New panels cost over $2000 and since I pick these guys up for only 600 I don’t think that’s a reasonable option.

Any advice?

 

[Lyonsno]

Sorry for the bump, but one of the amps I've been looking at is the Parasound Halo 23. I'm a bit concerned, because unlike the 23+ (too expensive) the 23 is not rated stable at 2 ohms. Despite this, do you think it would be a significant improvement over the SR6007? How would it compare to a sunfire cinema grande?

 

[twich54]

are you using the Marantz in a seven channel configuration along with other speakers or just 2 channel with the Requests ?

 

[Lyonsno]

Thanks for the response! I'm using it in 4 channel for movies, but 2 channel performance is my main concern. I care more about music quality than movie quality. Also, another amp came up, what do you think about the NAD c-375bee? specs here: https://nadelectronics.com/product/c-375bee-integrated-amplifier/

[EDIT]: Also, if anyone could provide an impedance graph for the reQuests I'd be very appreciative. All I can find is one for the Quest Z. Does anyone know if the reQuest is easier or harder to drive than the Quest Z?

 

[R.I.P]

Hey everyone! I just became the proud owner of a pair of reQuests! Original owner vacuumed them twice a month and they seem to be in excellent condition. I’m really loving them so far.

I’m wondering if anyone has any general tips or advice on these babies but I also have a few specific questions..

1) I’m currently running them on a Marantz SR6007. I know this is not supposed to be ideal but so far I have no issues with getting enough volume or with overheating. I’m wondering How much I would benefit from getting a more powerful amp and how much more powerful with the amp need to be for me to see a significant difference. I only buy used but I’m willing to sit on craigslist for months if necessary. I’m guessing one thing this might help with would be transients, do you think there would be a big difference in sound quality?

2) these are dated 1996 so at this point the panels are like 24 years old. From everything I’ve read they should barely be working at all but to me they seem to be in excellent condition and sound fantastic. There’s very little signs of dirt or wear on them, is there anyway to tell how much sound quality I might be missing? I’m tempted to give them a shower after reading through that thread but I’m curious whether anyone has had a bad experience doing that. New panels cost over $2000 and since I pick these guys up for only 600 I don’t think that’s a reasonable option.

Any advice?

Few signs of dirt. The original owner may have washed the panels before offering for sale. If you wash panels second time they may or may not come apart. No need to wash panels if they are clean and transparent. Parasound 2 channel amp may be the best choice near the dollar 2500 price point.

 

[Lyonsno]

Few signs of dirt. The original owner may have washed the panels before offering for sale. If you wash panels second time they may or may not come apart. No need to wash panels if they are clean and transparent. Parasound 2 channel amp may be the best choice near the usd 2500 price point.

Sorry, what do you mean by "Few signs of dirt"?

When you say Parasound 2 channel amp are you referring to the Halo 23 or a different model?

Ideally my budget for amplification is < $500, but that's on the used market. I'm willing to spend more if $500 used is not enough to provide a significant improvement.

 

[twich54]

Ideally my budget for amplification is < $500, but that's on the used market. I'm willing to spend more if $500 used is not enough to provide a significant improvement.

in that case stick with the Marantz and save your $$, I can't imagine a budget of less than $500 being any better than what you have

 

[Lyonsno]

I could stretch up to $800 in the short term if that's really necessary, that would let me pick up a parasound Halo A23. Do you think that would be an improvement?
If not, what used budget do you think it would take?

Do you have the ability to audition the A23 before buying ?

If everything is A-Ok with the amp then given it's 2 channel specs I'd suspect it would 'spec' better than your Marantz. Will it sound and perform better ? That's another question. As for the inverse impedance cure with stats, while true little music / energy content up there to begin with.

 

[R.I.P]

Sorry, what do you mean by "Few signs of dirt"?

When you say Parasound 2 channel amp are you referring to the Halo 23 or a different model?

Ideally my budget for amplification is < $500, but that's on the used market. I'm willing to spend more if $500 used is not enough to provide a significant improvement.

Parasound A 21. If I am not mistaken around 2500 new. But if your seller of used parasound gear is reliable and you get a fault free amp. Then all is good.

You can determine high frequency impedance and power ratings of all Quest iterations at Martin Logan product museum. The lower the high frequency impedance, lower sensitivity and greater power requirement greater difficulty in driving. Meaning greater amperes produced by amp is required to drive loudspeaker at high level without clipping or distorting.

 

[TomDac]

a strong amp will make a HUGE difference to your reQuests. I bought a used Pass X250 and the difference compared to the Carver TFM35x was like night and day. Totally different speaker.

 

[Lyonsno]

a strong amp will make a HUGE difference to your reQuests. I bought a used Pass X250 and the difference compared to the Carver TFM35x was like night and day. Totally different speaker.

Ok I'm definitely going to find something then! Do you have any idea how I can tell if a given amp is powerful enough to be an improvement without auditioning? Due to budget constraints I have to look on the used market, and with the COVID-19 situation any kind of auditioning is very difficult now.

 

[ttocs]

Ok I'm definitely going to find something then! Do you have any idea how I can tell if a given amp is powerful enough to be an improvement without auditioning? Due to budget constraints I have to look on the used market, and with the COVID-19 situation any kind of auditioning is very difficult now.

Do you know anyone personally who could loan you an amp? Even if it's not an ideal amp, it could simply be a learning experience to hear something different from what you're used to. Over the years I've been able to borrow amps and preamps, even from dealers, to try out for a few days to see what direction I needed to go. Unfortunately, there are a lot of amps which can "work", but when you find THE ONE - it's simply wonderful. And also unfortunately, it's not really about how loud you want the volume to go up to, it's about finding a match that can put a smile on your face.

Further, a little story which applies. When I went to the stereo shop, Schaack Electronics, to pickup my first really great stereo setup I was also selling my Advent speakers to the store manager. I learned a great lesson in what power can do. I was used to the sound I got using a 35 watt RMS receiver, but was blown away at how they sounded, even at low volume, when he hooked them up to 120 watt amp! Those speakers came alive!! I was still happy with what I ended up with for the next 32 years (re-cone every 10 years) - JBL-L110 and Sansui 717 integrated - but it made me think real hard about things after that.