Best amp for small Advent Loudspeakers

[Guest Chizzler]

Hello All,

I just joined this forum because I have a set of smaller Advent loudspeakers on their way to me that I scored off of ebay. My question is which of my amps would be best for them? Right now I use the amps soley for headphone use, or in the case of the Luxmans, I don't use at all. Here's what I have and the approximate wattage of each amp. I may be a little off on the power output of a couple of the amps as I'm not positive about all of them.

Marantz 2220 30wpc solid state

Marantz 1060 35 wpc Solid state

Fisher 400 25 wpc tube

HH Scott LK72 75 wpc tube

HH scott 222-b 13 wpc tube

Luxman B-12 Monoblocks 150 wpc solid state

I'd like to use the HH Scott 222-b since that amp isn't being used for anything else and it sounds great. I'm a little concerned that it may not be powerful enough and the Luxman's I'd assume is too powerful. Anybody else use any of these? What's my best bet?

Thanks,

Nick

[dynaco_dan]

Hi Nick

Welcome with your question.

I believe that The Smaller Advents are 4 ohms.

Check out your manuals to see what the 4 ohm output is of each amp.

If I remember correctly Advent recommended a 1 amp slow blow fuse in-line.

I would suggest soldering an in-line fuseholder and a use 1 amp fast blow fuse.

You can't have enough spare fuses on hand for the inevitable.

If you find that the volume controls are past the 1 - 2 o'clock position you are too loud, generally speaking.

I assume that the volume control swings from off at 6'oclock CW to about 4 - 5 o'clock full position.

I would say off hand that the Luxman may sound the cleanest with the most reserve power.

You certainly don't have a lack of choices.

Most of us may have one extra amp, not their own stereo warehouse. lol

You should sit back with each amp and give each a long relaxing listening session with your new speakers using a broad selection of music.

They may surprise you as each will most certainly have their own unique sound.

Let us know your decision if you would please, sort of a follow-up.

Maybe you can be " Mr Stereophile 2004 " and can give a commentary on your tests and report your results here.

Good luck, Nick.

>Hello All,

>I just joined this forum because I have a set of smaller

>Advent loudspeakers on their way to me that I scored off of

>ebay. My question is which of my amps would be best for them?

>Right now I use the amps soley for headphone use, or in the

>case of the Luxmans, I don't use at all. Here's what I have

>and the approximate wattage of each amp. I may be a little off

>on the power output of a couple of the amps as I'm not

>positive about all of them.

>

>Marantz 2220 30wpc solid state

>Marantz 1060 35 wpc Solid state

>Fisher 400 25 wpc tube

>HH Scott LK72 75 wpc tube

>HH scott 222-b 13 wpc tube

>Luxman B-12 Monoblocks 150 wpc solid state

>

>I'd like to use the HH Scott 222-b since that amp isn't being

>used for anything else and it sounds great. I'm a little

>concerned that it may not be powerful enough and the Luxman's

>I'd assume is too powerful. Anybody else use any of these?

>What's my best bet?

>

>Thanks,

>Nick

>

[Guest Chizzler]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the reply and warm welcome. I got the speakers today and am listening to them now. I can't hook them up to the Luxmans because I need a preamp for them. I haven't found a nice vintage tube one I like yet. Besides, I'm saving them for when I shoot the big money gun for a real nice set of speakers. I'm thinking of a set of Von Shweikerts. So far I tried the 2 Scott amps. I tried the higher powered LK-72 first and man was I impressed!! Maybe I've been listening to my headphones too long, but for the price I paid these things can't be beat!! I have an old set of really big pioneer speakers with 15" woofers that I never listen to anymore but the Advents blow them away clarity wise. The LK powered them great and they sound awesome. I also hooked up the 222-b and so far I'm not quite as impressed but it still sounds great. The LK gives them much better bass, I guess because of the extra power.I think I'm going to leave it hooked to the 222 for now because I need the LK for one of my sets of headphones. I guess I have a thing for old amps and audio equipment, that's why I have so much stuff. Believe me, I'm no Mr. Streophile when it comes to forming opinions on this stuff. I know what I ilke to hear but everyone is different. I have a bunch of tubes so maybe I'll try doing some swapping and see what I come up with.

Also, How far apart should the speakers be? Right now they're on top of my entertainment center about 3 feet away from each other and the tops of them are at about eye level.

Thanks,

Nick

[dynaco_dan]

Hi Nick

Vern's the name and hifi is the game.

The best average height of a speaker is with the woofer on the bottom and the tweeter approximately ear height.

Don't sit the speakers on the floor or right next to a wall.

They should be along the long wall of your room, away from side walls, curtains and doorways.

Walls reflect, curtains and carpeting absorbs.

Doorways don't reflect, but the music may reflect off something beyond the doorway and come back delayed.

I guess that may make it difficult to locate them, but it's only a suggestion.

You should sit somewhat near the center of the two speakers but maybe six to ten feet back from the speakers.

Depending on your room dimensions your speakers will be about 6 - 8' apart.

Turn the speakers slightly towards you.

If you have a stand about 12 - 18" high, with a sloping top this will allow the speakers to lean back and still look at you.

This is a simple time delay of small importance, maybe.

The can be parallel to the rear wall but toeing them in towards you will help the imaging.

Do fuse them.

Tone controls should be left centered or if available switched out of the circuit.

No loudness or bass boost.

More woofers have been fried or blown with small power amps than not, so be careful.

I am not an expert by any means, but I feel the tube equipment projects a softer, warmer sound rather than the transparent and tight bass of solid state equipment.

A tube pre-amp Dyna PAS3x if found in mint condition, would be a nice find.

You may have better luck finding a solid state pre-amp, maybe a Dynaco PAT4 or PAT5 or PAT5 BI-FET off ebay.

There may be an abundance of inexpensive pre-amps on ebay or higher end if you have a budget.

Thank for writing back..

Enjoy and good luck, Nick.

Vern

>Hi Dan,

>Thanks for the reply and warm welcome. I got the speakers

>today and am listening to them now. I can't hook them up to

>the Luxmans because I need a preamp for them. I haven't found

>a nice vintage tube one I like yet. Besides, I'm saving them

>for when I shoot the big money gun for a real nice set of

>speakers. I'm thinking of a set of Von Shweikerts. So far I

>tried the 2 Scott amps. I tried the higher powered LK-72 first

>and man was I impressed!! Maybe I've been listening to my

>headphones too long, but for the price I paid these things

>can't be beat!! I have an old set of really big pioneer

>speakers with 15" woofers that I never listen to anymore but

>the Advents blow them away clarity wise. The LK powered them

>great and they sound awesome. I also hooked up the 222-b and

>so far I'm not quite as impressed but it still sounds great.

>The LK gives them much better bass, I guess because of the

>extra power.I think I'm going to leave it hooked to the 222

>for now because I need the LK for one of my sets of

>headphones. I guess I have a thing for old amps and audio

>equipment, that's why I have so much stuff. Believe me, I'm no

>Mr. Streophile when it comes to forming opinions on this

>stuff. I know what I ilke to hear but everyone is different. I

>have a bunch of tubes so maybe I'll try doing some swapping

>and see what I come up with.

>

>Also, How far apart should the speakers be? Right now they're

>on top of my entertainment center about 3 feet away from each

>other and the tops of them are at about eye level.

>

>Thanks,

>Nick

[ToastedAlmond]

Get a preamp and use those Luxmans.

If you haven't had much experience with anything but headphones, and clunker Pioneer speakers with worthless 15" woofers, you have a whole new world of listening ahead of you regarding Advent, AR, KLH, EPI and Allison. There is virtually no comparison. Other websites are rife with people who feel the big offerings from Sansui and Pioneer were the cats whiskers. I can only imagine these people never listened to anything but electric guitar, and were happy with no low end response whatsoever. Those big Pioneers could actually have a down 3db point at about 50-55 cycles. Absolutely pathetic for a 15" woofer based system in a large cabinet.

Welcome to the world of REAL hi-fi.

[dynaco_dan]

I'm sure you are aware of the east coast and west coast sound.

This was how you could generally describe the type of sound coming out of the speaker.

The east coast sound is Advent, Acoustic Research, Allison, KLH, Dynaco, Bostic Acoustics, EPI and I know there is more brands.

The music is treble shy, and bass heavy. This is my opinion.

The west coast sound is JBL, Altec, Sansui, Pioneer and many more.

This music is bright, and bass shy. This is my opinion.

Now that I have made my opinion known I will disect my thoughts a little more.

If you have an oportunity to sit, relaxed, in a " perfect soundroom " with the finest of equipment and recorded music source, driving the finest of the east coast brands and models of old, for example AR-LST speaker system.

There is probably lots of you now saying that's not the best speaker, but this is only an example, so there.

The music starts and it sounds like there is no bass or highs.

We would normally turn up the treble and bass when we were teenagers, but now we don't turn up anything but leave it flat.

As the music progresses we feel the trembling of of our stomachs as the bass, and I mean 30 hertz bass massages our tummys.

I have had feelings of nausea when too loud or deep.

And now a violin, flutes or piccolo comes forth or piano or harp or whatever and you realize there is highs as well.

You usually consider this smooth sound.

If you switch from a west coast speaker to this LST, the LST would sound very lacking, initialy. But not long term.

Now we move to the west coast sound and Maybe JBL as a well known brand.

There tended to be more dominant midrange or projected midrange than the softer, less deep bass and the highs sounded brighter that the east coast. This is my opinion after having heard JBL's.

This does not mean that either coast sound is better or worse it is a perceived difference. Just as there are Advent lovers, there is also those that hate or dislike Advents and on and on. Look at the selection of stereo equipment offered, and cars and motorcycles, etc.

You have fans of every brand and product and I have met JBL owners that think they are the only brand on earth worth talking about.

Same goes for AR, Advent and the rest.

You may like a person with blond hair and green eyes.,

Wouldn't it boring to all have the same tastes.

Good luck and enjoy life.

Vern

> Get a preamp and use those Luxmans.

>

> If you haven't had much experience with anything but

>headphones, and clunker Pioneer speakers with worthless 15"

>woofers, you have a whole new world of listening ahead of you

>regarding Advent, AR, KLH, EPI and Allison. There is virtually

>no comparison. Other websites are rife with people who feel

>the big offerings from Sansui and Pioneer were the cats

>whiskers. I can only imagine these people never listened to

>anything but electric guitar, and were happy with no low end

>response whatsoever. Those big Pioneers could actually have a

>down 3db point at about 50-55 cycles. Absolutely pathetic for

>a 15" woofer based system in a large cabinet.

>

> Welcome to the world of REAL hi-fi.

[ToastedAlmond]

I appreciate seeing my own words in print more than once.

Well aware of East vs West.

The big Kabuki offerings from the major ELECTRONICS manufacturers (Pioneer, Sansui, Kenwood) didn't fit into either category. They had a category all their own. The category of big, REALLY BAD SOUNDING SPEAKERS.

[dynaco_dan]

>I appreciate seeing my own words in print more than once.

>

> Well aware of East vs West.

>

> The big Kabuki offerings from the major ELECTRONICS

>manufacturers (Pioneer, Sansui, Kenwood) didn't fit into

>either category. They had a category all their own. The

>category of big, REALLY BAD SOUNDING SPEAKERS.

Sorry but I won't label a product on this site as such.

I am sure there is many happy owners of the brands you are knocking around the world.

This is not the place to trash brands but hopefully encourage support of the brands listed on this site.

We should support interests and encourage those that may want to improve the sound of their speaker by modification.

I believe that I read somewhere that NHT is now made in China.

If this is so, do we now knock NHT as a brand?

I think not.

We will be seeing more products coming here from China and other countries as the labour of manufacturing products remains lower there.

I'll get down off my grandstand now.

Have a good one.

[Guest Chizzler]

Hello All,

Thanks for the replies. Sorry Vern, I didn't see your name down there at the bottom of your post, I assumed your name was Dan because of your screen name. I tried the Advents with the Fisher 400 and was pretty disappointed. The Scott amps, as with the headphones, sound much better. I think I'm going to use that LK-72 for now since it sounds best by far. It may be because of the Tung Sol 5751 tubes I put in place of the 12AX7's that were in there. Those tubes sound sweet. The Fisher doesn't take to those tubes nearly as well. I agree about the Pioneer speakers. They sound awful compared to the Advents. I had bought them years ago and haven't listened to them much. I tried to give them to my brother but he didn't want them.I'll try the soild state Marantz amps just for fun, but they really don't compare to the wonderful tube sound. This really causes a problem now because the K1000 headphones I have don't use a headphone jack. They have to be connected right to the outputs of a good high powered, perferably tube amp. The LK was the best for those cans. So now I either have to sell the cans, buy that preamp for the Luxmans, or buy another high powered tube amp. Jeez.... it NEVER ENDS!!! LOl!!

See ya,

Nick

[ToastedAlmond]

Hey Vern,

I'm sure there's a lot of very content Soundesign owners out there as well.

I'm also pretty sure Baskin-Robbins hasn't introduced broccoli, lima bean, or cod liver oil flavored ice cream for a reason.

I don't care if NHT is made on Pluto. If they sound good, they're good. If they sound bad, they're bad. Not really very hard.

I reserve the right to state my opinion, just as you have yours.

Those big Kabuki speakers just suck all day long.

[dynaco_dan]

Hi Nick

You can call me anything you want as long as you don't call me late for supper. lol

Very interesting reading you commentary on the tubes.

I have no experience with tube equipment to speak of but I have read many articles about the swapping of tubes and the different sound.

I'm happy to hear that you have tried various pieces with your Advents.

Many of us don't have the luxury of extra pieces to swap in and out.

Then again there is those that have many, many toys to play with.

All in the search for hifi.

Sounds like you are having fun.

Good luck in your quest, Nick.

Hello All,

So now I either have to sell the cans, buy that preamp for the Luxmans, or buy another high powered tube amp. Jeez.... it NEVER ENDS!!!

>LOl!!

>

>See ya,

>Nick

[Guest Chizzler]

Hi Vern,

Well, you know the saying, he who dies with the most toys is still dead! Truth is, I have no life and spend a retarded amount of time surfing the internet for good deals on old audio gear. Also I've been able to make a few nice finds in pawn shops and garage sales. Seems that most normal people have no regard for old audio equipment. I guess they figure if it's old it can't be any good. It's sad that we live in a disposable world nowadays and if it's not new and made out of plastic it's no good. Lol. I really like old tube stuff. I don't know if it's just that I find the warm up time and glow novel or what, but finding old relics is a fun hobby. Tubes themselves is the same thing. If you look around, especially in friends and family memebers basements, you can usually find a dust covered box of tubes. Usually if you ask nice enough they'll fork them over too. Just be prepared for that odd look and a "What the hell are you going to do with them?"

I have a good customer that comes to my shop that I've made pretty good friends with. He's a super high end audio dealer who sells Goldmund products among many others. If I was looking to drop $60K on a set of speakers, he's the man to see, however I don't see that in my near future. He has a very high regard for the old stuff. He claims that the new stuff can't come close to touching even the best of todays equipment. He says in his personal collection he doesn't have anything (except for CD players) newer than 20 years old. He has $250K worth of stereo gear in his house that he uses as a showroom. He keeps inviting me over to give it a listen but I haven't gotten there yet. I'm afraid of what it will do to my wallet. Lol! He's a super nice guy. One day, after picking his brain about interconnect cables, he came in and handed me a set of 2 NBS cables and said "Here, do me a favor and break these in for me, but don't lose them, they're $7500." Yep, you read that right, $7500 for 3 feet of interconnect cable! So, if you think I'm bad, there's people out there that can afford 7 grand in INTERCONNECT CABLES!!! LOL!!

See ya,

Nick

[dynaco_dan]

Hi Nick

I used to suscribe to Sterophile Magazine about 8 - 10 years ago and I used to laugh at the classified ads.

Obviously someone with money bought cables at $3 - 6k a few months ago and now wants 1/2 price for them.

I must be living wrong.

Heaven knows what the rest of their system is worth.

I have met many people over the years who would think we are nuts paying more than $250.00 for a complete stereo system.

Does Seabreeze ring a bell?

Yet I have met over the years Krell, Mcintosh, JBL and Quad owners who think nothing of having a variety of cartridges, stylus' and cables.

I used drugstore phono cable for years.

When an opportunity to upgrade came along I went to the PBJ phono cables and I never a - b'd them. lol

>Hi Vern,

>Well, you know the saying, he who dies with the most toys is

>still dead! Truth is, I have no life and spend a retarded

>amount of time surfing the internet for good deals on old

>audio gear.

That is a nice life to have, obviously you don't have a WF ( wife factor ).

Years ago I heard a man in a second hand store say, " I wonder how I'll get this by the wife ".

There is tremendous source of " old stuff " Dynaco, AR, Advent, just to name a few at junk stores " exclusive shops ", and the internet.

Good hunting to us all.

Wonder how I'll get this by the wife. Eh. lol

Have a good one.

Also I've been able to make a few nice finds in

>pawn shops and garage sales. Seems that most normal people

>have no regard for old audio equipment. I guess they figure if

>it's old it can't be any good. It's sad that we live in a

>disposable world nowadays and if it's not new and made out of

>plastic it's no good. Lol.

I really like old tube stuff. I

>don't know if it's just that I find the warm up time and glow

>novel or what, but finding old relics is a fun hobby. Tubes

>themselves is the same thing. If you look around, especially

>in friends and family memebers basements, you can usually find

>a dust covered box of tubes. Usually if you ask nice enough

>they'll fork them over too. Just be prepared for that odd look

>and a "What the hell are you going to do with them?"

>

>I have a good customer that comes to my shop that I've made

>pretty good friends with. He's a super high end audio dealer

>who sells Goldmund products among many others. If I was

>looking to drop $60K on a set of speakers, he's the man to

>see, however I don't see that in my near future. He has a very

>high regard for the old stuff. He claims that the new stuff

>can't come close to touching even the best of todays

>equipment. He says in his personal collection he doesn't have

>anything (except for CD players) newer than 20 years old. He

>has $250K worth of stereo gear in his house that he uses as a

>showroom. He keeps inviting me over to give it a listen but I

>haven't gotten there yet. I'm afraid of what it will do to my

>wallet. Lol! He's a super nice guy. One day, after picking his

>brain about interconnect cables, he came in and handed me a

>set of 2 NBS cables and said "Here, do me a favor and break

>these in for me, but don't lose them, they're $7500." Yep, you

>read that right, $7500 for 3 feet of interconnect cable! So,

>if you think I'm bad, there's people out there that can afford

>7 grand in INTERCONNECT CABLES!!! LOL!!

>

>See ya,

>Nick

[Guest klossdisciple]

The question was what amp to use. I'm sure any of those you named will sound great. I wish I had that many amps to play with. An inexpensive amp that I like a lot is the Adcom 5200. It's 50 wpc, I think, with mosfet outputs. You see them on ebay now and then, for next to nothing. I bought one new several years ago. A couple of audiophile magazines reviewed it very favorably. I like mine, for what it is. It reminds me of tubes, but with a better top and bottom than is typical of tubes. If you're collecting amps, it would be a nice one to try ;-)

[Guest Chizzler]

Well, I'm hooked. After listening to the small Advents with all my amps and loving the sound, I found a good deal on a large set. As of right now I've been using the HH Scott LK-72 with the smalls and a Marantz 1060 as a preamp into the Luxman monoblocks with the large ones. I've been switching my CD playerback and forth between the two. Both setups sound great! Thanks for all the replies!!

See ya,

Nick