A51 and A21 amplifiers vs. A52 and A23

[Chris D]

This is something I'm hung up on. Of course, I would love to have 7 JC-1 mono amps, one for each home theater channel, (talking 2 rear surround speakers, just to be clear) but just don't have the funds. In choosing whether to go with the A51 and A21 for a total of 7 channels, or the A52 and A23, it's a bit tougher of a choice.

Just as the A51 is perfectly matched to the A21 for home theater solutions, the A23 is perfectly matched to the A52. So it's not like one pair will match better with itself than the other.

The big difference in specs not surprisingly seems to come down to price and power. A23/52 put out 125W continuous RMS, whereas the A21/51 put out 250W. 125W isn't all that much, but is it enough? I would always like to have more power. But I don't know if my budget could fit the A21/51.

I currently have a very nice Klipsch speaker set. Klipsch speakers are very efficient, as a rule, requiring much less power. I think I could probably drive them just fine with only 125W per channel right now. But I always think long term, down the road. If I upgrade the theater speakers in the future to something very high end, most of those speakers are MUCH, much less efficient and require more power. I'd rather not have to buy another set of amps then in addition to the speakers.

The A21/51 set looks cooler, I must say, with the much larger size.

Thoughts?




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[David Meek]

Chris old buddy, let me push you STRONGLY towards the 250 WPC solution!

Since I added the Aerial Acoustics 7B's (86 dB, 4 ohm) in as my mains, I've seen my Yamaha RX-V1 ( I know it's just a receiver) have to work much, much harder to produce "good" volume levels. I've not had to push it to clipping or increased distortion levels or anything like that, but it runs much warmer - even hot at times. Plus, the extra - in this case double - power per channel will generally give you better dynamics, control and low-level detail.

Does your dealer have a Parasound upgrade program? Just thinking out loud. . . .




David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
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[Jariten]

the more power the better

the reasons that David expressed are the ones to take into consideration...
More power is better because you will NEVER clip and will be in a lower distortion range...(you will never get to the gain limit of the output transistors)

Hence ..your speakers will love you for that...since tweeters are usually the first to go when clipping....

I use 1 HCA-2205A (300W into 4 ohm) (M&K speakers are 4Ohm)
and 2 MA-500 to drive the rears B&W DS-6

Amps run fairly cool

=)

=D

[Jariten]

Oh and the sheer size ..it's all eye candy ^^;;

the bigger the better !

no?

^^;;

[Chris D]

(grumble, grumble) I feared as much. (sigh) IF this works out, maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet.

I'm talking directly with Klipsch now, so we'll see what they say. I can take a guess though.

One more question that's coming up--my Klipsch (main) speakers have the following rating:

"Power Handling - 200 Watts maximum continuous, 800 watts peak"

Just to make sure, this means that the maximum power that it can take without blowing up and bursting into glorious flames is 200 watts continuous, right? Not that with a 250WPC amp you'll be using above 200 at any time, much less continuous. FWIW, my Klipsch surround speakers have 150 watts rated "power handling".




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[David Meek]

Not to worry big guy, a little judicious control on the volume knob and you never have to worry about exceeding your speakers handling capabilities. In my case, the Aerials are rated at 50 to 250 watts, but that's NOT going to stop me from paring them with a couple of JC-1s. I'm quite certain my ears would let go before the drivers would. :

With the efficiency ratings on the Klipsch's you'll most likely have plaster falling down around you before you get anywhere near their wattage limit.

Plus, the A-51 or A-21 may be all the amp you ever need. Those are quite the horses in themselves!

1. Parasound A-51
   Parasound A-21

David - HTGuide flunky
Our "Theater"
Our DVDs on DVD Tracker

[gd]

If I upgrade the theater speakers in the future to something very high end, most of those speakers are MUCH, much less efficient and require more power.

I think you answered your own question right there... if you knew you were going to stand pat with the Klipsch's, the 52/23 would be plenty... power amp is the one component you should be able to buy once and let it sit; they don't change over time... but speakers vary greatly in sonic characteristics and are probably the most intriguing component to upgrade / experiment with... no sense in limiting your future speaker choices because of an underpowered amp.

And, oh yeah, the A51/21 looks cooler...

[Chris D]

(more grumble, grumble) I thought you all would say these things. But a part of me was hoping to hear "oh, yeah... you should be plenty fine with 125 WPC for many speakers.

Well, nothing is definite yet. Stay tuned for possibilities.




CHRIS
Luke: "Hey, I'm not such a bad pilot myself, you know"

[Nick V]

Have you considered going with the A51 for your 5 main channels, along with the A23 for your Surround-back L/R to save yourself some money? The surround back channels (especially if they're set to small) will centainly almost never need more than 125W. I hesitate to say never, but I mean how often do the surround-back channels get a real workout?




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