Receiver for Adire 281s

Brandon-K · 06-11-2004, 04:05 PM

I know I don't post here (I lurk mainly), but I was hoping to get some input regardless.
I have the Adire Kit 281's, and I love them. They are 4 ohm and I currently have the Pioneer SX-255r receiver now, but I want something that is at least 5.1 w/ audio and video switching, not just audio. I've looked and it seems really hard to find 4 ohm stable receivers. What can I do? What does everyone recommend I get? I haven't decided what my price limit is yet, but definately only a couple hundred. Thx guys.

Brandon Kahre

Michael R Price · 06-11-2004, 04:20 PM

Brandon,

I don't know too much about receivers, but since I'm a Kit281 owner I have one piece of advice. Don't go out of your way trying to find a receiver with high power output, just find a nice little one that's OK with 4 ohm loads. These speakers are inefficient, can handle huge amounts of power and it's not worth trying to get the most of them with a low cost receiver. They will actually be loud enough for most music and movies with 20 watt peaks but you won't get the awe inspiring loud music capability. Some time down the line it will be easy to buy a stereo amplifier of 200 wpc or more, relatively cheaply.

See, I first had a 100 watt integrated amplifier when I built my Kit281s. It went really loud, and sounded fine. But then I got new amplifiers (actually built them) which are much stronger. And I can't get much louder sound, but at high volumes it just sounds better and it feels like there's much more force behind the sound. I hadn't realized how unfulfilling it was to get relatively weak and distorted, loud music from a small and cheap amplifier. So don't worry about finding a receiver that has the power to get very loud, because I'm betting that the sound quality would be compromised and using it at those power levels would be pointless.

Brandon-K · 06-11-2004, 09:51 PM

hmm, so your recommendation is to get a receiver w/out amp and buying or building my own? How much do stereo home amplifiers cost? I've only dealt with car audio until now so I'm totally new to what's available and what's not.

Michael R Price · 06-12-2004, 01:16 AM

Well, I kind of meant to buy a low powered receiver (with its own amplifiers) to get by for now, and be able to add a separate, more powerful amp later. A "receiver" without built in amplifiers is usually called a preamp/processor and those are mostly used in very expensive systems. The kind of amplifier you'd want to really push the 281s would be necessarily large, probably costing $400 or more. In fact the parts cost for the amplifier I'm using is $400 although if you're willing to build an amp yourself it could be done much cheaper.

Brandon-K · 06-13-2004, 12:07 AM

ouch, don't think I can afford a $400 amplifier so I'd rather get one that would be cheap and still suffice. My Pioneer right now suffices as far as power goes (IMO), but I need video switching and sub preouts. Can anyone recommend anything?

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Michael R Price · 06-13-2004, 09:07 AM

Right! I wish I could help you with picking receivers... just wanted to let you know that any power rating 30 watts or more will be "good enough."

Brandon-K · 06-13-2004, 01:24 PM

good to know. So far other boards have recommended:
Harman Kardon AVR 320-Z (the one I'm leaning towards currently)
Denon AVR-1803 (can't find too much good info on it)
and a few thousand dollar + ones

Perhaps I should start asking about the AVR 320-z then?

Wayne Ernst · 06-13-2004, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Perhaps I should start asking about the AVR 320-z then?

Since the H/K AVR-320 is now 2 generations behind, you might consider looking for the AVR-325 or AVR-325Z instead.

Brandon-K · 06-13-2004, 08:23 PM

the reason I was going towards the 320-z is because it can be had refirbed on HarmanKardon's site (under specials) for $300 instead of $700. I imagine that the 325's would be closer to the 700, right? What's the difference in the two really? Are you hinting that the 320-z may be oudated now?

Brandon

Wayne Ernst · 06-14-2004, 01:43 AM

Quote:

I imagine that the 325's would be closer to the 700, right? What's the difference in the two really? Are you hinting that the 320-z may be oudated now?

The AVR-320 is a 7.1 receiver, but only has "5" amplified channels. Should you ever desire to run speakers #6 and #7 in the future, you would need to connect a separate 2-channel power amp to do so. The AVR-325 is a 7.1 receiver, with 7 channels of amplified power. Additionally, there are some other differences, too.

The AVR-325 should be nowhere near $700 at this point in time. It should only be $50 - $75 more than the AVR-320.

Yes, I'd be willing to stick my neck out and indicate that the AVR-320 is getting a little out-dated at this point in time.

[Edit]: I found an AVR-325 on eBay for a "buy it now" price of $300 - and the seller is throwing in some Sony speakers, too. Also, I found refurbed AVR-325s for $344 and $359.