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Powering up AR-3as


Guest OldRelayer

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Guest OldRelayer

I have a pair of 3as now being powered by a 100 w/c Onkyo, which does a reasonable job, but i am not looking for reasonable, I am looking for outstanding. But as always money is an issue, if not I would just buy the biggest baddest Crown or Bryston. I will be using my Harmon/Kardon as a preamp, it does a very good job. I don't' really know for sure, but I am thinking a nice clean and real 150w/c would do a good job and the more the better. Most amps that are bridgeable will not work with less than 8 ohms, which would be an economical way to go. It would be easy to find a vintage Power Amp, but I am getting away from that, too many repair headaches, but I do think they are better amps.

Ok, so here is the question. What are you using to power your 3as? What have you tried that didn't work at all or you just hated? Any information would be helpful.

Thanks,

Barry

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A Crown PS-400 will throw 330 watts/channel into 4 ohms, and the 3a is a great match.

The amplifier is dead quiet, practically bullet-proof, can be had for very little money, and to the best of my knowledge, Crown will still fix them.

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Using a McIntosh MC2205 (250w/ch). Sounds really wonderful. Plenty of power to spare.

Vintage McIntosh is probably the best way to go for vintage, for many reasons, but, one very good reason is that the company will still repair them. No matter what the age.

-Mike

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Channels Islands D-200 Class-D monoblocks (www.ciaudio.com). At 200wpc you will have plenty of power. I am using these to power AR-94si speakers and absolitely no problems to get the house shaking. If you want even more power, just wait a couple of months until the D-500 is released - I'll let you guess the power output of that one...!

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I have a pair of 3as now being powered by a 100 w/c Onkyo, which does a reasonable job, but i am not looking for reasonable, I am looking for outstanding.

Ok, so here is the question. What are you using to power your 3as? What have you tried that didn't work at all or you just hated? Any information would be helpful.

Thanks,

Barry

Barry, if you want to achieve the ultimate from your AR-3a's, I recommend:

1. keep your Onkyo and use it to drive strickly the power hungry woofers in the AR-3a's

2. purchase a quality mid-power integrated amp to drive the mids/tweeters

With this scheme, you can use the tone controls to gain enormous head room PLUS you make the work of each amp much easier.

My setup is:

170 wpc (rms rated @ 4 ohms) for the woofers

30 wpc (rms rated @ 4 ohms) for the mids/tweeters

Hope this helps ...

Regards,

Jerry

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