What receivers/amplifiers do you use to drive you Arendal setups?

[Kristoffer Svendsen]

I’m curious, What receiver/preamp/source and/or amplifiers do you use with your Arendal speakers? Have you tested brands that worked better than others? I’m curious to know what you guys are using!

I’m using a Yamaha RX-A2060 to power a pair of 1961 Monitors and a 1723 Sub 1v and it sounds great! I might add a dedicated amplifier down the line if I get something bigger, but I definitely don’t feel like I’m missing much with my current setup.

[Lukas]

Hehe yes, most of the time it is not the “I need” but the “I want” :)

[JR Williams]

I have a Yamaha question if anyone knows.  Arendal lists Yamaha’s A2A and up for use with the 1961s.  I looked up the manual for both the A2A and A4A and sound this in both manuals

 

Speakers and subwoofers to be connected to the unit must meet the following requirements:

Use following speakers.

the front speakers: with an impedance of at least 4-ohm

other speakers: with an impedance of at least 6-ohm

 

I’m looking to buy a receiver and some 1961 bookshelves. I know the 1961’s are 4 ohm.  Am I just misinterpreting what Yamaha said? Because it reads like for any speakers besides the front 2, all other speakers need to be 6ohm or higher.  So I’m wondering if an A4A would a good choice if I wanted to run surround?  I know Arendal lists the A2A on their receiver list, but what Yamaha wrote has me wondering.

 

One other question, has anyone used the Onkyo RZ-50 with the 1961s?  That’s another receiver that’s on my list.

 

 

 

 

[Lukas]

Hey JR,

The problem is that some counties have extremely strict (and stupid) rules about heat on amplifiers.
That is why a lot of manufacturers write stuff like that in the manual.
The AVR will have no problem driving a complete 1961 system.
But yes, the A4A is a much better AVR, as it has a completely different amplifier layout and design.

No experience with Onkyo. I am surprised that they are still alive at this point.

[Michael-B]

I’ve had a few Onkyo receivers over the years and I think it’s a pretty good unit. Before I got the Marantz cinema 50 and the Arendal 1723 S towers, I was using an Onkyo 656, and infinity alpha 50 speakers. I thought it sounded pretty good, but I wanted to step up to real audiophile quality. The way the Arendal speakers and Marantz receiver sound with movies now just blows away my old system. Even though I had a pretty good experience with Onkyo equipment, I still didn’t go with the onkyo rz50. I just don’t think it’s up to the quality of Marantz. My wife hates tech, and for the most part would be fine, listening to an a.m. radio, but she had to admit the new setup sounds amazing. For her to say that is a real testament to the quality of the Arendal speakers. When I told her how much they cost, she looked like she was going to throw up. Then she heard them and said, “no, these are worth it”

[Michael-B]

Do you think the Emotiva XPA-DR3 Differential Amp is too much power for my 1723 S Towers?  I know it doesn’t really put out the max power at any given time, but it’s 600 watts RMS, per channel, into 4 Ohms, at <0.1% THD.

https://emotiva.com/collections/amps/products/xpa-dr3

[Francis Farrugia]

Michael, I have an Emotiva XPA-DR2 driving the 1723 Centre by itself, one channel to the HF, and the other channel the LF (bi-amp). I have never had any problems with excess amplification but on the contrary, problems arise when an amp is driven harder than it’s supposed to be.

[Lukas]

There is no such thing as too much power. The amp can have 5000 watts per channel, but the speaker will only draw as much as it needs. As Francis mentioned it is much more dangerous to not have enough power as it is harder to hear when it is at the limit.

You have to remember that we do not have any limiters (typically) in Hifi/HomeCinema so you can destroy every system, no matter how big or expensive.

You just have to use common sense and turn it down when you reach the mechanical limit of the speaker.

 

[neil-h]

Not enough power and your going to create distortion, that will cause heat build up that it especially destructive in the tweeters. Keep in mind, if a speaker had a 90 dB sensitivity, that’s at 1 watt of power. That’s relatively loud. Having power on demand for loud passages/high dynamic passages is needed. However, so often, so many people get hung up on power, say 100 watt per channel vs 150 watt per channel. Won’t go into it here, but a 200 watt amp is no where twice as loud as a 100 watt amp, doesn’t work that way. Only a handful of decibels louder. Personally, my view is look for and amp with good headroom. If you buy an amp rated higher than the Arendals, you not going to hurt them unless running your amp at full output. Can your ears really stand extremely loud sound for long periods of time? Can’t see damaging my ears as their needed for the purpose I’m using them for.

 

[Michael-B]

Thanks everybody for all the input, I really do appreciate it.

[Luis]

@Michael B it’s a journey… regardless of decision, please keep us posted.