[Audio-Me]

http://www.klhaudio.com/rave12.htm

I purchased my dad a pair of KLH Rave-12 speakers because he loves karaoke and loves to turn the volume up when his friends visit. These sound like something you would hear at a club where their sound system is known to be good by the regulars. They were too hot in the treble to me but my dad thinks they sound great, plenty of midrange detail. Anyway, which affordable stereo amps are good for driving loudspeakers of this type? I'm pretty sure he wants a receiver, in which case DTS is a must I told him. Our current Kenwood receiver only has Dolby Digital.

I used to have a nice Harman Kardon receiver that could be bridged for stereo playback, I may just get him a newer version of it.

 

[Tuberoller]

hey brother,

I like the Hafler DH-500 amp for driving big speakers to loud volumes.These things are incredible and they are about the most dynamic and impactful amps I have ever owned.I built mine from kits a while back.I later updated them with Van Alstine Omega power-supply and input circuit mods.I am using them now with my new Maggie 3.6s and they just rock.These can be found on ebay for around $250.00 to $400.00.Buy the ones that were factory built.They will most certailnly outlast you and me and they can handle any speaker load.

 

[zowie]

Yep. Hafler or Crown.

 

[Orpheus]

how much power do you want man? like zowie said, crown and hafler have some good deals (i use a Halfer p7000 myself... it's 500watts/channel and costs about $1500.) if you don't mind sacrificing some quality for raw power, samson has a new line of ultra-powerful amps ranging from the 500 watt model that's $300 at sam ash to a 2000watt version for $540!!! that's enough power to blow up every eardrum that walks into your house! but i seriously doubt your speaker can handle that kind of power...

 

[Orpheus]

hmm just read your description on the speakers. they say 300 watts. that's probably a bloated rating, or perhaps "peak" power, not true RMS. i wouln't use more than 200 watts on those speakers. so.... if i were you, i'd just get that samson 500 watt model, or the 800 watt model.... i think both are $300 at Sam Ash.

 

[rickcr42]

B&W , Crown , Bryston and if you can find one of the old cerwin vega amps on ebay they are "clones" of the GAS Ampzilla

i should mention for what your use is you want an amp with protection circuits and fans ,something usually NOT wanted for home high fidelity use

 

[Orpheus]

well, i don't think you want a bryston amp.... they would be overkill for your speakers, quality wise. they also cost 5-10x more than your speakers.

but crown would be nice, but isn't "cheap" either. but they are decently priced for their lower range models..... i still think samson is the greatest deal if you want raw power, and don't care all that much about audiophile quality. ...though that is not to say the samson has bad fidelity, cause it doesn't.... i'm sure it's not bad... just not as good as amps costing 10x more.

 

[drewski]

If we're just talking amps, then the Adcom GFA 555 would do the trick... should be able to drive these to very high levels without any problem.

But you mentioned you were looking for a receiver- if you could gather together about $1250, you can get a decent Adcom setup that should outperform any receiver out there-

Adcom GTP 830- about $650 used - tuner processor
Adcom GFA 555- about $350 used - 2 channel amp for fronts
Adcom GFA 2535- about $250 used - bridge 2 channels for center and use the other two for the rears.

The GTP 830 also has 7.1 inputs that bypass the surround processor- using this for the front two channels actually makes it sound decent even for 2 channel music.

 

[Orpheus]

oh oops..... i didn't know you wanted a receiver. then forget all the amps i told you about.