LS50 + Amp Power

Youd be much better off with something like Elac debuts with that avr.  The LS50’s will not sound good on that avr.  The Elacs will sound better and work better for you I believe. The LS50’s sound good with about $5,000 in front end electronics driving them

Best amp I had on the LS50 is the Benchmark AHB2 amp.

The Peachtree Nova 150 with the LS50 was rather good but not great.
The cost of that unit made me happy for the given sound quality. Check out the $1500 amp500 from Underwodhifi. That should be excellent with the LS50.
https://www.underwoodhifi.com/products/peachtree-audio

I say excellent because for a few months I used the amp section of the Peachtree Nova 150 (not the preamp part) with a Benchmark HPA4 preamp. It was much better than the Nova 150 alone. So I figure the new amp500 (no preamp) will also be a big winner for $1500.

At the end of this month I should get delivery of a Krell K-300i. I will be pairing that with the LS50 and that should be a little nuts.

Jon Atkinson used Parasound JC-1 monoblocks (800 watts @ 4 Ω) with LS50 Metas for his review in Stereophile. But LS50s sound very good with my Ayre A7e integrated (120 watts @ 4Ω).  I haven't tried pairing my JC-1s with the LS50s.

These are great recommendations, but my budget isn't quite there.  Emotiva or Outlaw are under 1k which is where i'd like to stay.  This includes possibly even going with a new AVR (stretching the budget a bit).

I'm mostly happy with the AVR I have now, but like most upgrades, I'm wondering what I'm missing.  The LS50s in a HT config, so I'm thinking of just offloading L/R to a separate amp.  

I have a 6ohm impedence on my amp, wondering if I could use that with the LS50s?

Continuous Power Output (1 kHz, 6 Ω, 1.0 %) Front . . 150 W + 150 W

The Pioneer will be fine with those speakers!

LS50’s sound good on a $300 avr?  Thats news to me

I never got my LS50s to sound good hooked up to cheaper gear. 

LoL.  Is this where we're headed?!  Nose down to "$300 AVR"  "cheaper gear", "You need to spend atleast $5k in gear".  

C'mon this isn't in the spirit of why were all here... 

Seriously though, just looking for a budget minded solution to a problem I think I might have.  I don't need a $5k 2 channel power amp.

I have a pair of LS50's.  They should sound good with one of the Music Hall integrated amps.  Both are under $1000 iirc.

Dude, read the reviews of ls50’s.  
I gave sound advice.  Elac debuts or something similar are going to sound better than ls50’s with your avr.

I had LS50’s hooked to a B&K Reference amp and McCormack pre and they sounded awful with rock music.

There are many better options out there for the same or less $ as the ls50’s in regards to pairing well or having some type of synergy with your gear.

Theres quite a few people that believe the wireless versions sound better than the passives until you spend $10k on front end gear to drive the passives.


You’d be better offwith a pair of wireless ls50’s and a bluesound node to get around that horrible app ($1800 all in) or the ls50w metas at $2500.


Do you already have the LS50’s and I missed that?

b_limo -- ur right, sorry man. I didn’t point out earlier that I have the Ls50s now. I’ve run them through the pioneer for the last 4 years.

Truth is, ur right again -- the reviews tell the story. I’ve read most of them always wondering if my AVR was up to snuff. I tend to think that I’m missing something which is why I’m looking for a low cost solution to try things out. I was headed toward purchasing a 2 channel amp - like an emotiva, outlaw, etc.

Ideally, i’d like separates for pre / power. I thought a low cost solution would be to use the pre out on the pioneer and send to a more capable power amp. I also use this same setup for HT, so I’m a bit limited in my choices (and budget).

Anyway, that's everything. Apologies for the confusing initial post. Peace. :)

For a while I used LS50s with a Parasound A21 and was pleased with the sound. Then I tired them a lesser A23 and was less pleased with the sound. They seem sensitive to the amp that drives them.  Strangely though, I really liked the sound with vintage 20-watt Cary SE tube monoblocks.

Op, no worries at all my man.  What we need to di is find you the best 2 channel integrated around $1k to pair with your ls50’s

Maybe look at a Preowned Rogue Sphinx?  I got a Belles Aria for not much more than a Sphinx and its great too.  

Do you have a Dac yet?  Whats your main source?  Streaming Tidal, Amazon, Qobuz?  Ard you using a dedicated streamer?  A laptop?

Just asking to see what your source and dac situation look like.


Something from Rega, Creek, Hegel etc would be nice.

I had a Peachtree Nova 220se and they are pretty sweet for around $1k, a Nova 150 might be cool...

Just for reference too, I’d bet that the Rega IO at 50 watts is as strong as the Pioneer at 110 watts so keep in mind that peak horsepower doesn’t mean anything with power under the curve.  I’ve heard 75 watts sound as strong as 225 watts too so it depends on other things too, not just max wattage at a certain frequency for a short period of time.

I think reputable companies rate RMS continuous throughout the pass band with both channels driven simultaneously, not maximum wattage at a certain frequency for a short period of time.

I think reputable companies rate RMS continuous throughout the pass band with both channels driven simultaneously, not maximum wattage at a certain frequency for a short period of time. There is a difference between watts and gain. IIRC, both Dynaco and McIntosh amps were rated at 60 watts, but the Dynacos required triple the input voltage to reach those 60 watts. I don’t recall if the MC-60s were three times heavier, but they were much more massive.

@dbphd , I was under the impression that wattage was usually measured at a single frequency, between 50-150hz.  I’ve read that on numerous sites...

And are you perhaps talking about current and not gain?

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/watts-versus-current

@b_limo :  the signal chain is kind of complicated as i'm trying to optimize for several inputs and outputs:

Use: 
HT/Gaming: 50%
Vinyl: 45%
Digital: 5%

Input: 
TT: Fully KAB modded technics 1200
Phono:  Parks' Puffin
DAC:  ToneBoard
Gaming box / streamer / etc. = HDMI digital sources.  

TT and Dac are sent to an A/B splitter to route RCA to:
+ Bottlehead Crack Headphone Amp
+ VSX1120k

Digital sources for gaming are sent directly to the Pioneer.

Front 3 channels are LS50s w/ a PSA 15" Sub.

I'd love to have a separate setup for vinyl & dac, but I don't have the room or budget.  Ideally, I'd like to use the 1120k as a preamp of sorts and use preamp/out to run into a separate power amp for the LS50s.  Only need 3 channels (or really only 2 technically for L/R). 

Not sure what my other alternatives might be, that's why I was headed in the direction of separates.     

I have ls50s running off a $80 Fosi bluetooth Class D integrated amp bought via Amazon, about 40w/ch, size of a pack of cigarettes. Sound surprisingly good! VEry good even I would say! I was a little shocked when I heard.

They ran very well off a pair of $6000 list price 500w/ch Bel Canto ref1000m monoblocks prior. I have newer ls50 MEtas there now. Was going to sell the original ls50s but they work so well in their new place off a modern amp that cost so little I decided to keep them.

So you just never know. I would not choose to use most affordable tube amps with ls50s. Have yet to hear them sound good that way.

No matter what, you should add a sub capable of filling in below 60 hz or so to as far down to 20 hz as possible always with ls50s for complete results. They are small and cannot deliver muscle in the low bass no matter what. Use white noise (available to stream off internet) and a sound meter app on a smartphone to blend the sub in well. Need not be anything fancy to do that...tools available to most for little or even nothing these days.

The OP might do well to checkout the new LS50 Wireless IIs and matching sub.  $2500 plus sub -- don't know cost of sub -- could eliminate concern about matching electronics and speakers.  Darko's review suggests KEF has done it well.  It makes a neat looking setup that's ready for streaming and Roon.  I'm going to try it for our living room.

Re crossovers:  I was pleased with the result of raising a pair of Velodyne HGS-15s that supplement KEF Reference 1s from 40 to 80 Hz.  I'd recommend OP try 80 Hz with the LS50s.

New KEF subwoofer technology recently announced:

KEF's KC62 Subwoofer Packs 1,000 Watts Into A Tiny Cube | Digital Trends

I told a dealer to order me the KC62 yesterday whenever that is possible. I am thinking of using the wireless connectivity kit from KEF for this.

So Krell K-300i + LS50 + KC62 sub (maybe wireless)

"KW1 Wireless Subwoofer Adapter Kit | kef" https://us.kef.com/kw1-wireless-subwoofer-kit.htm