Four channel intergrated amp?

Brad,

As Tls49 mentioned, your Onkyo is a two channel receiver. I believe that you have mistaken the fact that is has two sets of speaker terminals for each side to mean that it is a four channel amp.

The specs for your receiver, as published on Onkyo's website, indicate that your receiver is rated at 100wpc, but they also indicate that your receiver is neither 6 or 4 ohm capable.

From what I gather based on the specs, your current receiver doesn't have a very robust amp section.

What I'm saying is that if your current amp was driving your present speakers, all at once, and it wasn't over heating, then your speakers must not present too much of a load. Either that, or you didn't play them very loud.

Just about any quality two channel integrated should be able to, at the very least, match the performance of your current receiver.

I've been a long time fan of NAD equipment because I think it offers a very good bang for the buck in terms of sound quality and power.

It should drive two pairs of speakers, with a nominal impedance of 8 ohms without problems. It's also going to sound better. What ever you check out, just be sure that it is rated to supply power at the impedance load that your speakers are going to present.

If your speakers have a nominal 8 ohm rating, then running a pair in parallel is going to present a nominal 4 ohm load to the amplifier. I do believe that NAD equipment is rated to at least 4 ohms.

If you just have your heart set on spending the whole $2500, then shop around. There's lots of good stuff out there for the money that you can spend. I'd suggest checking out the classifieds here to see if anything sparks your interest.

For $2500, you could get yourself into something that retails for $4K or more.

Brad, is an integrated what you need due to space or is it just what you're used to?

First of all, Paradigm Monitor speakers aren't bad at all. My first pair of speakers were Monitors. What I remember the most about them, though, is that they are the reason that I went from a receiver to a separate amp. They sounded MUCH better with a more robust amp with a good supply of power, which I believe your current amp is lacking. When I went from using the 100wpc internal amp of my Denon receiver to an 80wpc Harman Kardon dedicated amplifier, I remember thinking, "wow" I have bass now.

The point I'm trying to make is that you are searching for a unit to drive all four speakers and you may find that with a good amplifier, you might actually prefer a two speaker setup. I say this because with two speakers, you'll actually start to enjoy things like sound staging and depth, rather than sort of feeling like the sound is just coming from all around the way it does at a restaurant, rather than the way it might sound at a concert or live show.

In any case, just to give you an idea of what's possible, I also have a very modest system. I am now running a Marsh P2000 pre amp with an Aragon 2004 amplifier.

I recently got the Marsh as an upgrade to my former NAD C162 pre amp, and the step up definitely moved my little system into another league. I got the Marsh here on Agon for $400 and it retailed for around $1200 when new.

The Aragon 2004 is an old amp from the early 90s. Still, it is a very good sounding amp and is a beast of an amp, as far as 100 wpc amps go. It weighs over 40lbs. It's been able to drive any speaker I've thrown at it with detail, smoothness, authority and control. This particular amp is rated to 200wpc at 4 ohms and will drive a 2 ohm load. Mondial actually said (in an ad) that it will drive a dead short.

I feel that I've gotten myself into the lower end of hi fi for under $1K for the pre amp and amp.

Oh, if running four speakers is just your thing and it's what you want to do, keep in mind that you don't NEED A/B switching, if you're always going to be running four speakers. The switching is only handy if you want to be able to choose to run either A or B or both.

If you just want to run four speakers, you can connect a pair to each side using the single sets of binding posts. You just connect two wires to each post. The only trick is making sure that your amp can drive the load without over heating and cooking itself.

If you have a speaker that presents an 8 ohm load and you connect two of those speakers to the same set of binding posts (parallel connection), you are halving the impedance and the pair will present a 4 ohm load to the amp. With less impedance, your amp is going to want to put out more power and you have to have an amp with a power supply that can keep up.

This is necessary information and the reason why manufacturers of better equipment rate their amps into an 8 ohm load, a 4 ohm load and sometimes a 2 ohm load.

Generally speaking, an amplifiers ratings at differing impedances gives a pretty good representation of an amplifiers ability to provide juice as it is needed. Amplifiers with very healthy power sections will typically be able to double (or almost double) their watts per channel output as the impedance is halved.

Take a look in the classified here. Lots of good stuff there.

Brad, I understand your situation with regard to who to buy it from.

I would whole heartedly recommend listening to the unit (and an in home audition if possible) before buying, because $5K is a lot of money.

I've never dealt with those guys in N.Y. so I can't comment; but I will say this. I have bought gear, mostly speakers, knowing that I was paying too much just to be able to give the business to the local guy that took the time to help me out, when it involved more than just a phone call.

As for the Marantz unit, I've never heard that one either, so again, can't comment. I'd just urge you to check out the classifieds here, before making a final decision.

Not that I'm arguing against the Marantz, I'd just like to see you get the biggest bang for the buck, especially since you are saving up to make the purchase. I sounds like you don't have lots of disposable income laying around.

A couple of things that I've come across lately really gives me pause when it comes to buying stuff new. The first was when I was researching Aragon 28K pre amps. I found that they were selling for over $1K new when they were mainstream, then were selling for around half price when they were discontinued.

Another example is the price at which Jaton was selling some of their equipment, in what I believe was an inventory reduction sale, again at half price.

I just think it kind of reflects how much mark up there is in the gear.