What amps you would recommend for the LS50 on a desk setup? Bluetooth would be a plus. I have tought about the AD18 but don’t know if they suit the LS50s.
Edit: Just found out about Toppings MX3 considering that over the AD18. But is 38 wpc enough?
Might also be worth looking at the Creative Sound Blaster X7?
how about the Emotiva A100?
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That was my number one option but Emotiva does not ship to Finland so I’m out of luck.
Well there might be other countries and web-shops that do deliver… and there are local shops in Finland that sell Emotiva gear. They have to get the gear somewhere you know.
Just ask and order one.
If they have something called ‘customer service’ they will get the gear for you. If you want one.
I have ordered many times “gear and accessory’s” that are not on the “normal list”. So i let them do the work and call / email a company that gets the gear in the country or in EU region and delivers the stuff here. Just a matter of picking the stuff and paying. It really is easy.
(or just sell them and get the Wireless pair 
)
KEF LS50 specs are 25W to 100W requirements with 85 dB sensitivity with an 8 ohm impedance. If you want to power them well and have them as loud as possible, then the Emotiva BasX A-300 pushes 150W RMS per channel at 8 ohms (overkill but will power, and you could probably kill the speakers). For this, you’d need a DAC and that could have bluetooth and other features.
The PS Audio Sprout100 has a DAC, AMP, and Bluetooth but only outputs 50W per channel at 8 ohms. This would be similar to the Emotiva BasX A-100 mentioned in other posts but be a more expensive option with a DAC and Bluetooth.
Thank you for the advices. I’ll look into dealers in Finland.
The A-300 would be overkill because I live in an apartment with three other people so I can’t blast my music. The PS audio one sound intresting. Thanks for your recommendation.
Try vintage year. KEF do require good amplifier to sound good. From my experience they sound meh with class D amps. If you can find place for Marantz or Sansui that would be the best.
Great idea. I LOVE my A-100.
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Vintage sounds intresting. I really like the look of Marantz’ 2238 but I still am concerned about the power. Is 38 wpc enough. Got any recommendations for vintage amps?
NAD D3045 is perfect for a desk setup for its small size, plenty of power and has all the bells and whistles you want including bass management if you want to add a sub.
Could also go for Yamaha WXA-50. Should be decent and not much moneys.
I might be the 1% but if you have good speakers that are like +1k$. To begin even looking at ~100$ amps with Bluetooth?
I would look the for cleanest possible amp with power arround 80-100w in same price range with sub-out with today’s streaming options. But that’s just me.
It’s like you buying +2k$ wheels for your car and then wrapping them with shittyest and cheapest china tires there are… well cause that’s whats left.
Hifimesta, Concept Hifi and Kuva ja Ääni are resellers in Finland that are selling Emotiva amps.
If you’re open to using a separate DAC/preamp, I use a Crown XLS1002 for my LS50s in nearfield. ALL of the power you will ever need even if you switch to a full room setup, and while they aren’t 100% silent, I’ve never been bugged by the noise floor. You really have to make out with the speaker in a silent room to even notice that it’s there, in my experience…and an otherwise clean and transparent sound.
Hi there! How much are you willing to spend? LS50 is a power hungry speaker despite the size. On a desktop setup though will be fine with 50 good watts. Look for well built amps with plenty of current and well built power supply instead of class D with hundreds of watts. I would suggest you the Arcam A19 if you can find it second hand 
Or in general to this league of amps. This is my personal opinion, I think that there are good class d amps out there but usually the good ones are quite expensive.
I know I’m late to the party but I’ve recently got a pair driven by the Topping MX3. I have them bunged as I have a tiny room but they sound beautiful to me, they are my first set of expensive (for me!) speakers and chuffed to bits with them 
That’s a negative. You’re more likely to fry a speaker by UNDER powering them. An under powered amp will clip the signal if turned up beyond its capabilities. Clipping = straight DC to your speakers. DC = kablammo.
Also, for sound quality you want more power. An amp’s abilities are not linear - that is, it’s ability to produce a proper signal are not the same at all power levels. All amps have a sweet spot and it’s usually at the lower end of their power spectrum.
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Yes, this. For class ab, more power allows your speakers to stay using pure class a for more volume rather then have to dig into b, and for class d, it’s not as big of a difference, but it can prevent high levels of distortion by moving the threshold forward.
Tube amps can be a little different, but typically more power = good. Although, if your locked for budget, I’d rather get a lower power higher quality amp then a cheap powerful one.
If you are talking about overdriving the amplifier to clipping, then sure you’d damage the speakers. But I was talking about overdriving a speaker by 50W in the bit you choose to cite which would not be a negative. I think you are citing another example of how to damage speakers and not disproving my statement.
But, if you are only talking about powering speakers sufficiently while still getting the desired performance out of them, then there should be no issue. Yes, you have reduced headroom over what the speakers are capable of, but if you do not clip the amp, then there isn’t an issue. In this use case of a sensitivity of 85 dBW, a 50W amp should be able to drive the speakers to 97 dB at 1 meter.
Sonically there would be detriments to not playing music loud enough as in the extremes of the frequency sound rolled off, but again that is different than clipping an amplifier. PS Audio Paul explains this phenomenon well enough here: https://youtu.be/cNZP2E0_RKU
But at most reasonable listening volumes, you can use a less powerful amp on moderately to very efficient speakers without an issue. But you are correct, never clip an amp.
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