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Need help choosing my first amp for my first speakers

Hi, I am completely new to this world of hi-fi audio and I would like some help from the collective intelligence. Please bear with me even if I sound like someone who has no idea because I am.

I have just purchased my first set of speakers. I bought a used Boenicke W5 SE+. And I am looking for an amp to go with it. The speakers were a good deal but still not cheap and Im already mostly hitting my budget limit. 

I don't have any gear right now (I really mean 0), so my initial thought was to buy a Wiim amp to start off and then start changing to a more serious amp later on. (I like that it has everything including a streamer for me to get going right away)

So my questions are 
1. will the Wiim amp be able to power Boenicke W5 SE+?

2. What do you think of the plan to start with all integrated cheap amp and then changing later?

2. Any other amp suggestions for the speakers in a similar price range?($500 ish)

3. Can I just get Audio cables from Amazon?

4. How do you calculate wattage for the speakers from the speaker specs below?

5. Any other tips for a complete beginner would be appreciated.
 

Specs for Wiim Amp
https://wiimhome.com/wiimamp/specs
Specs for Boenicke W5 SE+

-

Sensitivity: 83-86 dB / watt / m depending on frequency

Nom. impedance: 4 ohms

Weight: 3.5 kg / piece (speaker only)

Standard Version

  • 5″ long throw (X-max = 9,25mm) bass driver, tuned to 50 Hz, no crossover
  • 3″ widebander made to spec, 1st order high pass filter, unique electromechanical 8-cm parallel spiral resonator installed
  • Internal wiring orientation-optimised silk-wrapped high-frequency stranded litz
  • WBT NextGen binding posts
  • Rear ambient tweeter
  • Harmonisation included

 

SE+ Version

  • 2-cm copper / 2-cm copper gold straight resonator combination installed at both widebander and bass driver in series, in addition to the parallel device
  • Mundorf Silver-Gold-Oil capacitor for widebander, added Duelund Tinned Copper Foil 0.01 uF bypass capacitor
  • Harmonix RF-5700 tuning bases at widebander’s magnet
  • Added proprietary acoustic phase linearisation network
  • Harmonisation included

 

Thanks for all the help!

 

jcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjc
jcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjc OP
5 posts
 

Sorry, what does that have to do with anything?

soix
9,456 posts
 

Congrats on some great speakers!  That’s the good news.  The less good news is at 83-86dB sensitivity and 4 Ohm nominal impedance you’d want an amp that puts out at least 100 Watts per channel into 8 Ohms and basically double that into 4 Ohms.  Suffice it to say the Wiim Amp underpowered for the task.  In a perfect world you’d save for a more powerful amp, but I understand you really wanna at least hear the speakers with something.  The Wiim will probably work just to get some sound going, but you should avoid turning it up loud because the amp could produce clipping distortion that will at the least won’t sound good and at worst could damage your nice speakers.  In terms of cables, you could start with these as they’ve gotten some nice feedback here for the price and like the Wiim will at least let you get started.  You’ll probably also need an Ethernet cable to run from your router to the Wiim, and maybe someone else here will chime in with a cheap but decent option for that as well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ5HCTM?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&amp=undefined&th=1

Positioning will be critical with these speakers, and these guys don’t like to be near walls to produce the imaging/soundstage magic they’re capable of so I hope you have the space/flexibility for that.  I’d have the backs of the speakers at least around four feet from the front wall and a similar distance from the side walls, and I think the designer prefers no toe in but you should check that.  Ok, hope this is a little helpful, and best of luck pulling this together.

jcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjcjc OP
5 posts
 

Thank you so much for your detailed response @soix. Really helps me a lot! One question, is there a reason why you are calculating for 8 ohms when the spec is Nom. impedance: 4 ohms? And would the calculation be that the amp needs to supply 200 watts per channel at 4 ohms (This speaker)?

mesch
3,481 posts
 

There is an AG add from Listen up Audio for a Cambridge Audio 851 integrated amplifier at $650 with free shipping.  You may want to check this out. A review from Steriophile is available online. Use the Wiim as a source only. 

Take care of those Speakers, don't drive the amp too hard.

soix
9,456 posts
 

One question, is there a reason why you are calculating for 8 ohms when the spec is Nom. impedance: 4 ohms?

Personally I’d want at least 200Wpc at 4 Ohms to handle the W5’s impedance dip(s), and to get that you’re gonna need to look at amps that are at least 100Wpc @ 8 Ohms as that’s the number you’ll more readily see without having to dig deeper into the specs. 
 

Here’s another all-in-one idea that if you can stretch for would likely serve you better than the Wiim Amp as it likely has a much better DAC and power supply and probably sounds better overall.  The USB input is limited to 24/96 but that should be more than fine for now.  Just another option FWIW.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649987921-bel-canto-c5i-integrated-amplifier/

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