decent amp to go with AR 162 Spirit cabinets

[JayTheSnork]

All-

Need some advice here. I am working with the local high school band director, and have found a source to replace all the drivers in a pair of AR 162 Spirit cabinets. I suspect the reason why the speakers are blown is age and due to overdriven signal amplitude. The present amp he has is a Pioneer SX-3800. Having read about that amp, it has some serious shortcomings, and likely underpowered for these AR cabinets.

What I am looking for is a decent amplifier to buy to drive these speaker cabinets. I think this is the laundry list of what we are looking for:

1. around 120 W/ch (I'd prefer to have a little overhead);

2. seperate pre-amp outputs, to drive an active subwoofer;

3. the potential to drive aditional satellite speakers (so, 4 channels maybe);

4. good clean reproduction of most concert instruments - including bass drums, tympany drums, cymbals, horns, woodwinds, et al; and,

5. a reasonable price.

It doesn't have to be new. What suggestions do you have?

[JKent]

This may be an economical choice. It has been praised in these forums:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=245-500

Kent

[dynaco_dan]

Hi there

After all these years of hifi enjoyment, I see this topic.

Spec's are super great.

Price is unreal.

Size is unbelievablely small and light.

I am unable to audition the amp but it appears to be the magic amp of the century for us.

Possibly made offshore for the low dollar?

Certainly appears to be what our inefficient speakers need.

Have any members with golden ears given a good listening session and are willing to write their own review here?

[JKent]

Hi Vern

It wasn't my find--Tom Tyson likes these amps and I would certainly trust his judgment on such things.

Here's a thread: http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=7059

Kent

[JayTheSnork]

Wow... good reviews, and the price can not be beat right now - most places have those Crown amps for $299! It also looks like Guitar Center may have them also at $100 off if we buy two...

I was looking at a used Onkyo M-205 here on craigslist locally, but this really sounds like a great deal. The band music director is going to check them out this afternoon.

Thanks to all for recommendations.

[HarryM]

I have an Crown XLS 1000, I highly recommend it. The most important thing with these is having a good preamp because that's the sound that you hear amplified. The amp doesn't have a sound of it's own. I use a Marantz 2252b as my preamp which has a great sound by it's self which is the sound I want to hear. I hope this makes sense to you because I don't know how else to explain it. LOL. I think Tom Tyson explains it better then me.

[JKent]

Wow... good reviews, and the price can not be beat right now - most places have those Crown amps for $299! It also looks like Guitar Center may have them also at $100 off if we buy two...

I was looking at a used Onkyo M-205 here on craigslist locally, but this really sounds like a great deal. The band music director is going to check them out this afternoon.

Thanks to all for recommendations.

I think you can sometimes find the Crowns factory reconditioned at a further savings.

Onkyo gives tremendous bang for the buck IMHO although buying used is always a crapshoot. I googled Onkyo M-205 and found nothing. Is that the correct model number?

btw--I understand Harry's point but if you are using only a single input there will be no need for a preamp because the Crown has level controls.

Kent

[JayTheSnork]

mea culpa, Kent - it is an Onkyo M-504. craigslist ad: http://newlondon.craigslist.org/ele/3381157964.html

the band director dug into the web and found this site, and after seeing this discussion here and conferring with me, bought a Crown yesterday. the replacement speakers for the AR 162s are on the way. hopefully, we'll rebuild the cabinets by this weekend, and it will work. we've got plenty of music to test the crossovers...if not, I can rebuild/replace components in the crossovers as necessary.

the last piece of the puzzle is making sure the kids don't bugger the speakers again. the band director plays lots of music via his computer, and the jack is plugged into the sound card on it. the kids pop the jack out and plug it into their iPods so they can play their music in the bandroom sometimes - with the resulting transients. is there any way to make sure those transients don't damage the speakers? perhaps I should put an inline fuse on each of the speaker connections?

[JKent]

That Onkyo is a super nice amp, but it's vintage and used. Not something that can be counted on to hold up in your environment. I think the Crown was a good choice.

As for the kids popping the jack out... when do the beatings begin?

Fusing may be a good idea but you'd have to use fast-blow. Maybe one of the more technically minded members can suggest a fix. Possibly something like this: http://greenplanetaudio.com/product_info.php?products_id=100 (but this device costs more than the amp!)

Kent

[JayTheSnork]

the transient suppressor is a non-starter due to price - jeebus, that thing is almost $600! I'm thinking a 3A fast-blow fuse on each speaker output might be in order.