Double Advent receiver/integrated amplifier advice

[TejasRichard]

Hi Folks!
As of this coming saturday, I will be the proud owner of a beautiful set of double advents. Let me tell you, I couldn't be happier! Unfortunately, i have never owned anything but the single ola's, and really don't know what I need to drive a set of doubles. I am currently using a yammie htr rated 85 wpc @ 8ohms, but I don't know how stable it'll be into 4 ohms. Also, after all the reading I've done over the past couple of months, I get the feeling I'm missing a few things, sonically, which could be improved with the addition of a dedicated stereo receiver or integrated amp. (regardless, i'll need one to use my tt, as my yammie has no phono input)

info:

I like to listen to a wide variety of music, but mostly stick to good rock (ie
floyd, zep and of course The Doors), and country/rock stuff like The Band or The Flying Burrito Bros., with the occasional addition of acoustic stuff like Iron and Wine...

I have a fairly large room, say 2500' sqr w/ vaulted ceilings, and i like to crank it when the wife's not home....

shooting for an under $300 budget....


not as half as important, but cosmetically, I'd like to go with the vintage silver faced, wood sided look (love the twin meters!)

also not as important, but preouts would be a plus, for future expansion etc.

Whew! There's the laundry list...
anyone have any suggestions?
i'm all ears :D

thanks for your time and patience w/ a sooper nOOb!

Richard

[KentTeffeteller]

Hi,

How about some Pioneer. The SX 850 and 950 are excellent with Stacked Advents. Are your Advents large or Smaller Advents? The Large Advents are more efficient and can play louder. If money wasn't a problem, I would say get thee a McIntosh MAC 4100 for the job. It wouldn't even flinch at the job.

[Kelvin]

I have an SX-850 and 4 utility Advents. I can vouch for this as a good setup. Currently, however, I am running them in series on my Kenwood KA-8006 (The Kenwood is smaller and fits on my TV bench). It's not a bad option either. Your Yamaha HTR might be able to keep you running until you find the amp you like.

[basite]

I first drove my stacked advents with a 50 watt Denon integrated, which worked fine.

Then I bought a Mcintosh MA6400 amp, 100watt @4ohm and never looked back.

double advents are great, but get an amp that is stable in 4 ohms and lower.
You can run them in series, but it's better in parallel IMO...

Keep them spinning,
Bert.

[avguytx]

I have a fairly large room, say 2500' sqr w/ vaulted ceilings, and i like to crank it when the wife's not home....

You have a 2500 square foot family room???? Man, that's bigger than my entire house!

How about some sort of integrated amp around the 100wpc range? A nice Yammie, Sansui, Pioneer, etc, would do nice or are you looking for something newer?

Edit: Nevermind....you DID mention an integrated. :D

[TejasRichard]

OOPS! Lol! That should have red 250' sqr...man that would have been a huge family room!

richard

[TejasRichard]

I would love an integrated! Any suggestions as to models that fall in that wpc range? I read the posts on the 100-130 wpc and 160+ receivers, but haven't found anything similar for integrated...
i must admit i've been drooling over the pretty blue meters of the mc's, but I know they're out of my price range for now....
anyone have any experience with MCS? Or technics? I've heard both good and bad things about the technics, but haven't heard anything about MCS at all

[ejman]

My Marantz 1200 integrated is rated at 100 w/ch 8 ohms and 125 w/ch 4 ohms ( it actually tested at 140 w/ch 4 ohms at less than .15% distortion at my techs bench). It sounds magnificent with my advents.

[stuwee]

OOPS! Lol! That should have red 250' sqr...man that would have been a huge family room!

richard

Richard, dayum, I was thinkin' you had yourself a ballroom,I was gonna tell ya to hire one of those great band's ya'll got in Austin, and invite myself over, I'll bring beer:guitar::beerchug:
Craig

[KentTeffeteller]

Hi,

Technics amps tend to have weak switches and don't cope well with loads below 8 ohms. Most MCS amps aren't good bets for this job except for the top model they made which was a NEC in drag. The Pioneer units I mention are superior. Since you like it loud on occasion, conservative amps are best.

[TejasRichard]

I was gonna tell ya to hire one of those great band's ya'll got in Austin, and invite myself over, I'll bring beer:guitar::beerchug:
Craig

nothin better on a saturday night!

[Eric Clark]

A Pioneer SA-9900 would drive those Advents nicely. I imagine a Yamaha CA-2010 would as well. I ran a CA-1000 with single Advents, it is a heck of an integrated.

[pmsummer]

I just sold a quad of those along with a solid 60 wpc JVC receiver. Does a nice job. Get 'em off the floor about 8-10".

Don't forget to put those AGC-3 fuses inline!

[classic carl]

I drove my Double Advents with a Pioneer SA-9100 integrated for years...sounded pretty good with 70wpc @ 4 ohms. I now use the Pioneer as my pre-amp and drive the Advents with a Crown DC-300A with 240 wpc @ 4 ohms. I read long ago that the Advents don't come to life until they are driven with at least 200 wpc. I have to agree. There is a huge difference in the sound with the Crown. The Pioneer was adequate, but the Crown blows me away every day. :D

[geiman]

I drove my Double Advents with a Pioneer SA-9100 integrated for years...sounded pretty good with 70wpc @ 4 ohms. I now use the Pioneer as my pre-amp and drive the Advents with a Crown DC-300A with 240 wpc @ 4 ohms. I read long ago that the Advents don't come to life until they are driven with at least 200 wpc. I have to agree. There is a huge difference in the sound with the Crown. The Pioneer was adequate, but the Crown blows me away every day. :D

Crown Amplifiers are really stable with low impedence loads.

[SpruceMoose]

the double advents should really be rated about 3 ohms, wired in parallel. there is an impedance dip to 6 ohms on the large advents, mid-bass, IIRC. the pioneer, crown, or maybe a carver would be good. i have been running my 3 double advents (HT rig) for several years with a kenwood VR6070 a/v receiver. they are all set to "large", so the kenny is shoving full-range info at them. never a hiccup! the side and rear surrounds (double minimus-7s) are set to "small", and i also run 2 subs. all those 4-ohm (and lower) loads and it doesn't care.

[Whitehall]

Why not a quad integrated amp like the Marantz 4100? It's 25 wpc but each channel has its own power amp and nice blue meter. I used one on a pair Original Advents and they sounded fine.

Here's a link to one of the series:

http://www.classic-audio.com/marantz/4100.html

Note that other brands made quad amps too.

[Stuart Pedaso]

Here's a different approach: how about running a PAIR of receivers?

Use matching receivers that have pre-out and power-in jacks, such as the previously mentioned Pioneer SX-850 or 950 (Realistic STA-2000 also comes to mind). Connect all source devices into one receiver and use it for your control amp. One of its pre-outs connects through a Y-adapter to both its own power-ins. The other pre-out connects to the other receiver's power-inputs through a Y. Each receiver powers a stack of Advents.

This way you'd get about 130 to 170 watts per side at less cost than a TOTL receiver of similar power. And with the added advantage that each Advent shows a comfortable 8 Ohm impedance (or 6 Ohm, worst case) to its own individual amp.

Receivers cited above all sport desirable vintage features: silver face, lit meters, wood sides. Others to consider: Pioneer SX-8x8 and SX-9x9. I'll bet a pair could readily be found within your budget.

[TejasRichard]

After carefull consideration, and a ton of research, I've decided to go the crown route...hopefully with a nice tube preamp (heard a few nice things about hafler, and the prices aren't bad either!) While I'm sure that this setup will leave something to be desired, everything I've read says that it will be leaps and bounds above what I'm listening to now. Besides, isn't half the fun of this hobby about finding new gear to try? If I build a perfect system now, what will i do with myself in the years ahead?

On a seperate note, can anyone point me in the right direction to find the fuses and holders that people use with these? I've heard several different reccomendations, and I really don't know enough about it to decipher what I've read....

thanks again for all the help!

[westend]

Parts express has These (http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=070-800). I've forgotten the value specified but 3 amp comes to mind. Good luck with the Advents.

[jackfish]

The fuses are AGC-3 fast blow and I used the following fuse holder:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062257&cp

However, this will only protect the tweeter. For more discussion on complete protection for the Large Advent search: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showforum=5