WATTS do I need (to do)?

[knucklehead]

David - how about trying some class d amps with those 901's? Watt for watt class d amps are cheaper than class a/b and perform very well IMO. And class d IS the wave of the future in home theater amps.

FWIW the 901's were the party animal of the speaker world when I was young. A decent receiver or integrated amp could drive them quite well. Any receiver with 80wpc or more was considered a 'monster' back then. And 80wpc could drive the 901's just fine. I don't think you need 500wpc to make them sound good.

[509Paul]

My SVS SB-13 Ultra sub has a Class D amp and that thing is a monster when you set it loose! 

[DavidR]

Mar 23, 2016 18:10:25 GMT -5 Gary Cook said:

After having an XPA-2 I've gone done the monoblock route for my stereo listening so the SA-250 has never really hit my radar. From memory the SA-250 test data showed 252 watts @ 8 ohms and 510 watts @ 4 ohms;

emotiva.com/resources/media/SA-250_4ohm.pdf
emotiva.com/resources/media/SA-250_8ohm.pdf

Again I wouldn't be too concerned with watts, it's the damping factor of >500 that will make all the difference compared to the M500t.


Cheers
Gary

I was reading the pdf for the Sherbourn SA-2-250 which evolved into the Emotiva SA-250.

-Copy and Paste from the pdf>
The PA 2-250
The PA 2-250 delivers 300 watts/channel into 8 ohms and over 500 watts/channel into 4 ohms
with very low noise and vanishingly low distortion, and is ruler flat over the audio band. A massive
toroidal power supply and discrete fully symmetrical circuit design enable the PA 2-250 to run even
difficult loads with ease and gives it the ability to reproduce music with the full dynamic range it
needs to sound its best. The PA 2-250, simply put, is a clean, powerful, truly outstanding power
amp.
The PA 2-250 is also quite flexible and includes both balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (RCA) inputs,
a Trigger Input, a Trigger Output, a rear panel switch to disable the Status LEDs, full-sized five way
binding posts for speaker connection, and audiophile grade RCA input connectors. The PA 2-250 is
rack mountable and can run from either 115 VAC or 230 VAC via a convenient removable IEC power
cord. And, of course, you’re protected by the Sherbourn 5-year warranty.

Then a few pages later on the specs page:
Power output:
500 watts RMS per channel (x2); into 4 ohms; two channels driven
250 watts RMS per channel (x2); into 8 ohms; two channels driven
S/N ratio:
> 110 dB (A-weighted; 8 ohms)
> 105 dB (A-weighted; 4 ohms)
THD:
< 1% at rated power
< 0.05% from 1 watt to 350 watts / channel into 4 ohms
< 0.02% from 1 watt to 200 watts / channel into 8 ohms

[DavidR]

I finally got a chance to pull the Carver M500t MkII out of the HT/stereo system as the wife and son left for a week at our timeshare in Newport, RI.

The Emotiva Pro SA-250 is now powering my Bose 901_II with modified EQ.

OMG !!!!! playing DSOM

Absolutely loving it.
The wife will not like the non-matched gear look and no big blue VU meters.
SO WHAT, IT SOUNDS INCREDIBLE !!!!!

[audiobill]

Gar, I had an AR amplifier, AR tuner, AR Receiver, AR4s, AR2ax and an AR turntable all at once.

In 1970.

[leonski]

Mar 23, 2016 18:00:19 GMT -5 DavidR said:

Gary Cook and mfeust Thanks for the input. I did hook up the series 6 with my Rotel pre and the XPA-2. All the muffled sound was gone. Dramatic control and difference. I kind of want another SA-250 for the AR91s which I have played on my 2-channel system with the SA-250 and an XSP-1 G2. I could do what you suggest but OMG what a PITA lugging that 73 lb. beast around.

I wish I knew the real wattage output that Lonnie eluded to that the SA-250 produces. He stated it was very under-rated at 250 watts RMS into 8 ohms.

Unless it is about 2x (3db) it probably doesn't matter how much over 'spec' it produces, and at what real distortion.  

How much power do you Think you really need?

I had the Carver M400t and that was nice and lasted me 2 decades and change.