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What is a good power amplifier?

I wanted to ask what would be a good warm sounding 150 to 200
watt five channel power amp to pre amp out of my Onkyo TX-NR818? I am using paradigm monitor 11 v6 in the front and monitor 9 V6 in the rear. I know that these speakers are efficient,but wanting something that won't make my tweeters
explode my ear drums. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, I wanted to thank you all for the previous
questions I had before..
Regards, Rich
rich66
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,633 posts
 
Unless its really overbuilt, if you want it to sound nice you will be better off getting separate amplifiers rather than all in one box.

You say the speakers are efficient and you are "wanting something that won't make my tweeters explode my ear drums".

In that case get a tube amp(s) for the front channels. That will tone things down (without loosing highs).
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,888 posts
 
TAD Hibachi monoblocks can be had used for under $1000 a pair if/when they still come up. 180 w/ch, sound leans just slightly to the warm side perhaps like a good tube amp.

Caveat is that TAD is no longer around in that the owner/designer passed away recently unfortunately. Great gear at an excellent price point though still if you can find it and in good working order.

You can see a pair bottom right corner in my system listing photo.
yahoochaz
67 posts
 
I've had great luck with the Marantz MM7055 for HT, but that's all I use it for. No ear bleeds either. Marantz house sound is relatively "warm" for SS. For 2 channel, I run a separate system with a Parasound power amp. Neither should break the bank and both sound great. Best of luck and cheers!!
soix
8,838 posts
 
Is your priority stereo or HT? If stereo is more important I'd consider a good integrated stereo amp to get both the Onkyo's preamp and amp sections out of the stereo signal path completely (and it can still be incorporated into your existing setup relatively seamlessly). The Onkyo's preamp section will continue to be a bottleneck if you just add another amp.
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