Infinity noobie Q: driving the Crescendo CS3009?

[desmoto]

Powering the Crescendo CS3009? *Pics Attached*

*more pics added*

Hello Infinity aficionados!

I'm new to the forum, new to audiophilia and new to Infinitys, so please bear with me.

I just bought my first proper set of main speakers, a beautiful pair of CS-3009s from the original owner. The mids on both need refoamed but apart from that they are both in excellent and (as best i can tell) fully-functional condition. I'm pretty happy to have found them. I already received the new foams and will be replacing them this weekend with the help of a more woofer-savvy friend.

My question for you guys: what's the best way to power these? Not much info available, but I've read from some that they should be bi-amped, others say it's not worthwhile and they just need big wattage.

I know I will need more juice than the claimed 100wpc my Pioneer VSX-D812 can offer, but I'd really appreciate some recommended wattage/configuration from someone familiar with these big Infinitys.

Should I just find the biggest output standalone amp I can and run from the pre-outs on my receiver? Can I wire a standalone amp to the lows from my receiver and use the line level outputs on the same channel to run the highs (I've done a ton of reading on biamping but I'm unclear on wether this can/should be done)? If not, do I need to go for a 4-channel standalone to biamp with sufficient power?

Thanks for any and all advice. I'm really looking forward to getting these up and running!

 

[jameswei]

I been running mine with MC2200 which is a 200 watts per channel amp and it sounds fine to me.

 

[srb02]

Those are supposed to be big awesome sounding speakers.
I don't have any experience w/ Crescendo's. I do have their smaller cousin: Reference Six's. (4 way)

I think you might benifit from some of the info in this
post: http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=538272

All Infinity's like clean high-current low Ohm power.
Beg, borrow, steal, (well maybe not steal) different amps to try, until you find one "you like".

my two cents Stu

 

[jazzmans]

They are great speakers, and the better your gear, the more you'll like them.
They are also really quite efficient, even more so then the kappa .1 series, so yu can drive them with just about anything, it all depends on how loud you want to play cleanly.

I drive my 3009's with either a Carver PM 1.5 or a Carver M 1.5t, 350-400 wpc @ 8 ohm, stable to a 2 ohm load.
I've driven them with anything from a Rotel 200WPC amp to a Yamaha 120WPC, and one day soon I'm going to play with one of my lepai amps, see how clean it sounds.

jaz

 

[desmoto]

Thanks for the input guys.

I think I'm going to pickup something in the 200wpc 8ohm range for now and stay on the lookout for a 300+ solution.

Jaz and James:
what are you playing alongside your 3009s?

I intend to use these in a few different configurations for music and 5.1 HT. I have a Kappa center channel on the way from fleabay and my only other speakers are a set of Polk Series 2 M4 bookshelfs. I've been eyeing other Infiniti models: smaller CS (may be able to convince the PO to sell me his 3006s), Kappa, RS... what's my next move to assemble a nice system around these big Crescendos?

 

[jazzmans]

pure two channel here. Movies sound just fine.

 

[7.62]

I ran mine with an Adcom 555-11 amp and it was a nice combo. The best sound came from a Denon 3805 paired with the 3009's.

Congrats on finding them.

 

[icanskate]

I run a set of crescendo 3008 with an hk795i 70wpc very clean& I can push them loud and crystal clear... Sound great hooked to my outlaw rr2150 as well... play with their position to get them to image...I don't believe you need really big power, just clean power...