Amp is too good for speakers?

I have energy rc-70's and cerwin vega d-9's (modded very good)

I have my plans on buying a a sanders Magtech amp and the sanders preamp.

I also posted this on another forum. I was told it's too good, that I should buy a cheaper amp,

My dilemma is: I have bought and used numerous amps throughout the past 30 years, ALL have had problems, and I hate dealing with shipping, etc etc. with the Magtech, it is so reliable, I may not need to worry. I know it's a worldclass amp, I will buy it. I guess I'm wanting more insight as to. The matchup for the energy rc-70's to me seems like heaven, time will tell, I don't like bright speakers, so these are the best I've heard in a very long time. What do you guys think? Too good for the speakers.?? Or just buy it, hook it up and enjoy sweet music!

My signature sunfire sounds amazing also, probably not much difference between the carver and the Magtech is sound quality. As the old carver warhorse is from 1999, it is getting a wee up there in age.

Help

 

Buy what you want to buy - don't worry about what others think. You can always upgrade speakers later if you choose to. I took a look at the amp and it is pretty pricey - you certainly do not need to spend 5500$ for a reliable amp - perhaps that is what others were suggesting - but if that is the amp you want - go for it!

 

Food for thought... your whole system will only sound as good as your front end. Spend your cash on higher end speakers first if you are able to. I've been where you are. Be sure you're allowed to try any amp. before final purchase.

 

Whoever said that is a fool. There's no such thing as "too good" in audio if you're willing to pay for it

 

My amp is definitely too good for my speakers.

But the speakers are big box AlNiCo(s) and sound nice too, not the greatest but it's ok for now, and it's ok for me.

Actually, not even looking for new speakers at all.

 

The Energys are superb.But I wouldn't spend over 5K on a amp for them. Have you thought about getting a Yamaha AS series ? That's 2K and a perfect match for your speakers.

 

OTOH I'd keep that Carver till I could have it fixed no more.

 

I dont mind spending if its near the best i can get. Its damn close to the best, specs, sound quality, and reliability !!! RELIABILITY is my main concern. Sanders has the very best warranty/customer support in the nusiness.

Magtech is a beast , capable of driving a 1 ohm load effortlessly. Headroom is also a plus. Do i need it no, but if and when down the road when upgrade hits i will have an amp more than capable of sounding near flawless and able to drive any speaker made regardless of impedance. I think ill get it. As me tioned innpast , horrific luck with amps, so this is the best, and it will sound close to my sunfire signin terms of sound quality

 

I've got to go with this. I can't think it's ever good to buy "down"? Not for me anyway.

 

This point is debatable. Great speakers won't polish a turd (sorry). A great amp however will get as much as possible out of whatever speakers you have.

That said I've found that the sound of the speakers is what defines your system. I believe a surer bet is to find speakers you love, then find a suitable amp for those speakers.

 

So what if your amp outclasses your speakers. If you like your speakers and really want that amp, buy it and enjoy it. Better to spend $5K and love it than $1K and hate it.

 

Yes!! Its on my list this yeat,or very early in 2016

Amp and preamp! Ive never had the oppertunity to buy both at the same time. And if im going to buy new, i might as well go big for once. No its not 60,000$ pass labs flagships, but for ME its the bees knees and im suee it will sound amazing.
Best to you all.

 

I have been saving and researching, auditioning, reading every possible review on so many amps for just under 5 years, yes, its taken me 5 years to save this much, i know i found the best, and for furure save plan, i will trade in my stereo amp for the monoblocks in a few more years, do i really need 1,600 watts at 8 ohm, hell no, but it will be wonderful! Best wishes to you all

\,,/

 

Please tell me about the mod for your D9's. I have D1's and they've always sounded so dead.

 

All 4 mids are sealed. New 139 oz magnet on custom made 4ohm 15" woofer.
Crossover rebuilt with air core copper windings, new capacitors, wired with silver soldered wire. Crossover wire is all 12 awg. They hit very hard.

 

Absolutely.

And if you really like the sound of your speakers, even if they are outclassed by the amp... "Shine on you crazy diamond!"

 

Gawrsh!

 

Seems like an itch that needs to be scratched. I dream of monoblocks myself. What do you have in mind for future speakers ?

 

Let me mention BRYSTON and their 20-year warranty.
Nothing against the amp you want, I really don't know anything about that, but Bryston (McIntosh too) are known for long-lived products.

Having said all that, it is not clear to me why you want to change amps. Your typing was a bit mixed, but it seems you really like your Sunfire and it is running fine despite its age? Or not?

Each amplifier interacts differently with speakers. But the speakers still by far make the most change to the sound. You might say that as a loudspeaker engineer I'm biased, but it is precisely because of that that I can say speakers are orders of magnitude less accurate than amplifiers and sources. So my professional opinion about your speakers:
Cerwin D9: not the most accurate, but those old Cerwins are sure a lot of fun to BLAST. Few substitutes for cranking metal or hard rock. I'd love to hear how they have been modified.
Energy RC70s: These appear to be really good speakers for the price. On the other hand, as you know from your Cerwins, two 6.5" woofers simply cannot kick out huge bass. My prescription for this would be to add a subwoofer however what preamp do you have? You'd need some kind of high pass crossover at like 60-80 Hz to relieve the Energys and the Sunfire of the low bass load and unconstrain the sound.

Frankly, I would highly recommend spending $5k on some REALLY good speaker like B & W 801s* or such level and you will hear a lot more transformation in your sound system. If you're just dying to buy the Magtech go for it and enjoy! But no, it is not the best way to improve your sound, it's just not.

*substitute many other brands/models here, new or recent-vintage used, that's another thread.

 

Indeed, provided you use a really good amp with the speakers you're comparing.

 

Well, even with a crummy amp, most two speaker sets will sound radically different.

As far as human hearing, amplifiers are very close to each other in terms of frequency and time response and even distortion below clipping (tube amps aside, since their high output impedance interacts much more with speakers). That doesn't mean amplifiers all sound the same, but the differences are relatively subtle.* OTOH, speakers vary grossly in terms of on-axis and especially off-axis frequency response; time response; distortion products of many kinds. And even the two speakers in a pair never match exactly.

I think what it comes to is that with cheap or even good speakers, most folks would not be able to notice an obvious difference between a wildly expensive amp and a $30 Chinese Tripath chip job from eBay at moderate volumes. *When you step up to really good speakers, under good listening conditions, then differences between amps (and sometimes speaker cables) can be discerned. Likewise to your point, it's a good idea to audition speakers with amps that can drive them without strain, so you are really hearing the speaker and not the amplifier's clipping characteristics.

It's like changing suspension bushings: you may notice the effect on a new track-prep Porsche, but probably not on your old Pinto

So that's why I think it's rather silly, yet a very frequent and interesting psychological phenomenon, that the tendency is to want to change the amp long before spending the money on better speakers or adding a subwoofer.

 

Agreed !

 

Yup, I'm getting the magtech amp and sanders preamp.

Eventually upgrade to the sanders speakers and trade in the stereo amp for the monoblocks in due time.

May take 3-4 years for the monoblocks upgrade, worth the wait.

Best warranty in the business is roger sanders company. And he is as sharp as be all.

As far as Bryston goes, never liked their sound.

Auditioned the b&w's yuk, new diamond tweeter is harsh and agitating to me.

I'll stick with my energy's, They sound better.

As I mentioned before I auditioned LOTS of speakers, energy's have the best sound out of all. I mentioned the brands I listened to in previous post above.

 

Do you consider your Cerwin Vegas the best you can get?

 

For a pure rock and roll speaker' yes they are the best, especially with the mods I have done, the woofer hits so hard, I can actually feel it like someone is hitting my chest, it is amazing, the p reassure they produce is astonishing. D-9's smoked the many other 15" speakers I auditioned back in 87.

The energy's handle other music, as well as rock, acoustic, 60's , folk, and are as accurate as I have ever heard, with t he smoothest midrange/highs I have heard in a long time with absolutely NO harshness or fatigue, no matter how loud I go. And the point of diminishing returns is true for me, I auditioned quite a few of speakers, for which the energy's bested in more than 1 area. As mentioned, the dynaudio a were only better in the highs, where they were a little brighter, but with no fatigue, harshness, the price jump was seriously not worth the minimal jump in high freq sound. Midrange was a toss up.