I recently bought some b&W 703 speakers. I stretched my budget
a bit, but I think I'll be happy with these.
I'm currently driving them with an adcom 535 amp. Rated 60w
per channel. It is a good solid 60w but may be not enough for the 703.
I don't have much budget left, and don't want to get in debt.
The problem is the 703 are less effecient than my old speakers.
When I turn them up the distortion lights lite up on my little 535.
I don't like that. My old speakers would distort before the amp did,
my new speakers are the other way around.
Clearly I need more power for these speakers for the occasional
times I want to crank them up.
One option is to buy another adcom 535 and use it to passively
biamp the 703's (my thinking is I'd use one amp for the right
channel and another for the left). This would get me 120 watts
per channel, which might be enough. The 535 is old enough
that they can be picked up pretty inexpensively (probably
around $150-200, maybe less if I was lucky).
Another option is to buy a midrange 200w/channel amp used.
Something like an adcom 555, 5550, 5800 or rotel 1080.
This would cost me around $600-800, which I don't have
right now.
The third altenative is to wait even longer and buy a an
even more capable amp (krell,classe, etc) for more than
I spent on my speakers. Not sure if that makes sense. . .
So what do people think? Is one big amp better, or,
is pasively biamping using two smaller amps a good
alternative.
a bit, but I think I'll be happy with these.
I'm currently driving them with an adcom 535 amp. Rated 60w
per channel. It is a good solid 60w but may be not enough for the 703.
I don't have much budget left, and don't want to get in debt.
The problem is the 703 are less effecient than my old speakers.
When I turn them up the distortion lights lite up on my little 535.
I don't like that. My old speakers would distort before the amp did,
my new speakers are the other way around.
Clearly I need more power for these speakers for the occasional
times I want to crank them up.
One option is to buy another adcom 535 and use it to passively
biamp the 703's (my thinking is I'd use one amp for the right
channel and another for the left). This would get me 120 watts
per channel, which might be enough. The 535 is old enough
that they can be picked up pretty inexpensively (probably
around $150-200, maybe less if I was lucky).
Another option is to buy a midrange 200w/channel amp used.
Something like an adcom 555, 5550, 5800 or rotel 1080.
This would cost me around $600-800, which I don't have
right now.
The third altenative is to wait even longer and buy a an
even more capable amp (krell,classe, etc) for more than
I spent on my speakers. Not sure if that makes sense. . .
So what do people think? Is one big amp better, or,
is pasively biamping using two smaller amps a good
alternative.
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