Amp Overkill?

[tegan512]

I'm looking at a couple of new/used amps to upgrade my system with to ensure I can get the full potential out of my Vista & Stage speakers. After reading the forums here I know that Sunfire is the way I want to go. I'm looking at either a Cinema Grand 5x200 or a Cinema Grand Signature 5x405. I plan on bi-ampping the Vista's with 4 of the 5 available channels and use the 5th for the Stage (surround and rears will be handled by my Pre/Receiver Denon 3805). The question I have is with the Vista's being rated at 200w/channel and the Stage at 250w is the CG Signature a waste of money offering 405w/channel? A second question is will I run the risk of damaging the Logans if I have too much power driving them? Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks

Tegan512

 

[C.A.P]

Sunfire is a good choice for their cost. NO such a thing as to much power. Good clean power will never damage your speakers. !

 

[Burke]

The Sunfire is a great choice, and as CAP has said there is no such thing as too much power. You will not do any harm with the bigger amp. Since you are going to bi amp any way I would tell that for a given amount of money. The best sound will be had from using the 200 wpc Cinema Grand and spending the difference on acoustic treatments. just my two cents.

 

[TomD]

I was in your situation not long ago and also decided on the Sunfire 5200. The aeon i are bi-amped and the fifth channel drives a cinema i. I used the money saved on the bigger amp to purchase badly needed speaker cables.

Absolutely no complaints with this configuration. Sunfire was affordable for me, and provided for some fine listening. that said, if you can go for more power, why not; it can only get better.

 

[OneLiterPeter]

You might also want to look into Emotiva. They make some really nice stuff and you have 30 days to decide whether you like em or not.

 

[Gordon]

Is the Vista a 8 Ohm speaker? I honestly do not know. The reason I ask is I've read that some people have experienced difficulty driving a 4 Ohm speaker with the Emotiva but not a lick of trouble with 8 Ohm.

Gordon

 

[Cherian]

In my opinion, no such thing as amp overkill. I have 740 watts per channel on tap at 4 ohms and I think it sounds amazing. Get the best you can swing. It will bring out the best in MLs.

 

[Brian_74]

I have the Sunfire 5200 as well and honestly, I wish I had the 5400, though my neighbors probably thank me.

 

[Rich]

I highly recommend the 5400. That is what I have running my center and surrounds (stage and clarities/frescos). The higher wattage will not damage your ML's. It will just give you cleaner, distortion-free transients and incredible dynamics. You will never clip the amp or run out of juice on loud, complex passages. That is a good thing. While the 5200 would work, I think you will end up wishing you had gotten the 5400. So my suggestion is to do it right from the beginning and not wonder later whether it could be better if you had just gotten that more powerful amp.

 

[Webinattor]

As Oneliter Peter said about Emotiva...here's a pic of the amp I have of theirs. On the Emotiva forum they talk that this amp is very similar to the sunfire. There is some sort of engineering partnership they have to other manufacturers but It isn't clear what the relationship is or how it works to me.

 

[Gordon]

It is interesting that you mention this relationship with another manufacturer. Every time I see one I can't help but think that they are related to McIntosh based on appearance alone. That black front with aluminum rails is almost identical to the Mac and the blue lights.......?

Gordon

As Oneliter Peter said about Emotiva...here's a pic of the amp I have of theirs. On the Emotiva forum they talk that this amp is very similar to the sunfire. There is some sort of engineering partnership they have to other manufacturers but It isn't clear what the relationship is or how it works to me.

 

[Bernard]

As Oneliter Peter said about Emotiva...here's a pic of the amp I have of theirs.

Do you really have a plant sitting on the amp?

 

[Webinattor]

Yep. It's a fake plant though, so I'm golden. No watering of the circuit boards.

 

[Bernard]

Yep. It's a fake plant though, so I'm golden. No watering of the circuit boards.

No ventilation of the circuit boards, either.

 

[MiTT]

No ventilation of the circuit boards, either.

Yeah, I'm with Bernard on this one. I've designed a lot of electronic equipment over the years, and when we add vents to the casework it's very deliberate and purposefull. The open vent area relates directly to the amount of heat one is trying to dissipate, so impeding the convective activity there will have an effect. Even if it is not demonstrated as a catastrophic failure it is likely to reduce the MTBF or life of the amp.

 

[OneLiterPeter]

Is the Vista a 8 Ohm speaker? I honestly do not know. The reason I ask is I've read that some people have experienced difficulty driving a 4 Ohm speaker with the Emotiva but not a lick of trouble with 8 Ohm.

Gordon

Vista's are rated at 4 ohm. I have mine hooked up to an Emotiva XPA-2 amp (bi-wire) and it easily drives them. Even at loud volumes the sound is crisp and clear and the amp is barely warm to the touch.

It may be possible that the people you read about were using older Emotiva amps. The XPA series is brand new.

I got a chance to speak with one of the founders of Emotiva and he asked me what speakers I had. When I told him... He mentioned that they were selling quite a lot of XPA amps to ML owners. Can't really say if that's a good thing one way or the other but I got the feeling that he was the kind of guy that wouldn't mention it if people weren't getting good results.

 

[gordonmenninger]

Tegan512
I also have the sunfire cinema grand that I am using to bi amp my SL3's and the third channel is powering my cinema center speaker. The sound is amazing and this amp truly is a beast! Highly recommended especially with ML speakers. You can never have too much clean power imo. Do a search online - you will find nothing but praise for this amp!

I live very close to you by the way in West Chester! Hello neighbor!

gordon

 

[FISH_MAN]

I almost bought some pass 700wat mono blocks for my spires. I really think the more power the better ! you can use your own judgement while jamming :music:

 

[User211]

I almost bought some pass 700wat mono blocks for my spires. I really think the more power the better ! you can use your own judgement while jamming :music:

Almost? Chicken!

Buy them immediately!:rocker::devil:

 

[miljac]

At one point I had Ascents biamped with 200wpc on panels and 200wpc on bass. No damage - tried it out quite loud and gave up when it was way too loud for normal listening. No distortion, no problems - very clean and loud sound. I assume that the power ratings given by ML are on a very safe side.