AV receiver for Vantage

[audiorichard]

Hi, I am new here too. Just bought a used Vantage and plan to use it with Marantz 8001 AV receiver. The receiver gives 140 Watts x 7 - All Discrete Amplifier Stages, does it give enought power for Vantages? Any other suggestion? mostly, I will use my system for gaming and music.
Thx

 

[Kaboomnash]

Richard, I am with you there. I have some recently acquired vantages and I am using a Sony AVR (120 watts per channel). It is doing the trick for now, but there is always room for improvement. I am leaning toward a tube amp to power the ESL stators and keep the AVR to get the signal to the internal bass amps.
For now the AVR is fine though in my house.
Lee

 

[kcl]

First off, :welcome: to the forum.

I think you'll love the Vantages, and I believe the Marantz will do a fine job for you.

 

[coolcobramatt]

a quality receiver will power em modestly but if you want to get the most out of them, go seperates or a good integrated amp.

 

[Caerus]

Yes welcome to this site.

You have a very nice AVR. It actually has 125 wpc x7 into 8 ohms or 160 wpc x7 into 6 ohms. The op manual does not indicate use of speakers into 4 ohms. My experience when I researched AVRs is that Marantz probably does not recommend use into 4 ohm speakers. Denon and Pioneer were the same way and would not allow use into 4 ohms. My Yamaha AVR did indicate it was ok to use 4 ohm speakers. Also there is an input to change the impedance based on the ohms the speakers are. I did not see an impedance input in the Marantz op manual. There is only a reference to use into 6 ohm speakers but no adjustment input.

Even though Yamaha said it was ok to use 4 ohm speakers, I noticed when running HT into 5 speakers the AVR ran rather to hot for my tastes. For two channel music it was ok. I recognized right a way I needed a separate two channel amp using the pre-outs of the AVR. So I got a separate high current amp that is rated to use 4 ohm speakers and below. The Vantages are nomimal 4 ohms and keep in mind the xstat panels can dip to 2 ohms or lower for high frequencies. Most typical AVR amps don’t like this. I at first got a Rotel RB1080 (200 wpc 8 ohms and 400 wpc 4 ohms) that would perform to these requirements. Then I upgraded to my PS Audio amp (500 wpc 4 ohms).

Cool is right on. To get the true performance out of the Vantages you need a separate amp as a slave amp integrated into your AVR using the pre-out-puts. You will notice a better sonic output of the Vantages the way they were designed to be used.

Good luck and enjoy those Vantages. They are most excellent speakers.

Brad

OBTW, I got to take the opportunity for a cheap plug and mention my Rotel RB1080 is for sale. I will put it in the classifieds soon.

 

[Thai]

Brad, Yamahas run hot...that is their thing i guess. They run hotter than Denon and Cambridge Audio AVRs.

Audiorichard, my Denon 4306 does good with the Vantages, Stage, and Vignettes. According to a review, the 4306 puts out 235 watts x 2 at 4-ohms...180 watts x 5 at 4-ohms (all channels driven). So, if your Marantz is similar (or better) than my Denon, then you should be good with the Vantages...more than enough for 2-channel listening.

 

[ralflar]

Hi Richard,

Like Caerus I initially used a Yammy HT receiver (1600) to drive my Logans. In my experience the pre-amp makes a much bigger difference than the power amp.

My own observations may not apply to your Marantz. When I replaced the power amp part of my Yammy with a pair of mono blocks the sound quality did improve. But only when the Yammy pre-amp part was replaced by a decent line stage did the sound quality improve in leaps and bounds! Watts alone don't matter. Recently I replaced the power amp part of my Yammy with a separate multi-channel receiver. The sound is still the same. But, the new amp hardly gets warm, while the Yammy is cooking!

 

[JONERVI]

Hi Richard,

Like Caerus I initially used a Yammy HT receiver (1600) to drive my Logans. In my experience the pre-amp makes a much bigger difference than the power amp.

My own observations may not apply to your Marantz. When I replaced the power amp part of my Yammy with a pair of mono blocks the sound quality did improve. But only when the Yammy pre-amp part was replaced by a decent line stage did the sound quality improve in leaps and bounds! Watts alone don't matter. Recently I replaced the power amp part of my Yammy with a separate multi-channel receiver. The sound is still the same. But, the new amp hardly gets warm, while the Yammy is cooking!

I agree.......my experience with Vantages as shown below:

Started with:

Pioneer Elite (VSX-74TXi) = Good

Changed to:

Quad 909 (power amp) plus Pioneer as a pre = Better

Now enjoying:

Musical Fidelity a 3.2CR power and A 3.2CR pre = Best

Hope this helps!!