Wassup HifiGuides
I’ve been an IEM/Headphone guy first and foremost and can find my way around amps and dacs in that space pretty well. But Speakers is new to me. i didn’t think I’d need it but fck this sht.
When you’re used to Sundara’s, the speakers build into m budget TCL TV sound like as. And not the good kind of as you wanna put your hands on… More like donkey a*s
So i’m planning on buying some Jamo S801 (if this is a bad choice please let me know) as they’re small, stylish (imo), cheap and most importantly… available in europe
But these are passive speakers, now I want passive speakers because I like messing around with amps and shit on headphones and can see myself liking it on speakers too. Plus if I ever wanna go surround I can get a receiver and go to town.
But for now no receiver (money is an issue), just an amp. But what amp? Is there anything that will sound warm and lush for cheap and can drive the S801 to a reasonable volume (don’t need it loud, live in an appartment, but wan some headroom of course).
They have a “power handeling” (dafuq does this mean?) of 60/120W (again, but vague?) and an impedence of 8 ohm…
Any help would be nice Budget is around €200?
Yes, I can borrow one from my headphone setup
The chinese amps. Smsl SA300, sabaj A10A, aiyima A07-A08, all under $140 at the moment. Or the loxjie A30.
Id go seperates since you have a DAC.
Invest in a cheap 10in sub or midprice 8in.
The elec 1010 sometimes goes for $98.
Any of these have a warmer sound signature?
I have an SMSL headphone amp and while I love the detail and power, it’s a little sterile
The smsl SA300 has bass and treble EQ just learned recently shopping for amps (I have one). The remote for it escaped, when i find the bugger will see if its got EQ for mids.
Research online for some warm monitors would be my suggestion. Watch joe-n-tell
And erins audio corner youtube, pretty sure they measured those speakers.
A sub does wonders at the budget level.
Berhinger 9band EQ $59.
I don’t know how power on speakers works, just on headphones, but the SA300 advertises:
2x80W @ 4Ω
2x40W @ 8Ω
The spearkers I wanna get are 8Ω. So I think this means I’ll get 40Watts? But the speakers advertise needing between 60 and 120… Is this going to give problems? Same for the Sabaj (50W at 8Ω)
EQ’ing is always an option indeed
I learned it in the way that you always want your speakers to be able to handle more power than your amplifier can provide.
I found my Emotiva A-100 for 230€ back when. A quick search also brought up the Cambridge Audio AXA25 or Pro-Ject Stereo Box S2 both for 250€-ish.
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Your situation is common. Desktop or nearfield at 2 meters in room/apt the advertised 40watts is plenty.
Ideal would be 50w-100w but you have to spend another $150-250.
Look at the advertised sensitivity of the speakers.
Jamo 803
8ohm
87db.
These numbers are about average for monitors. When you see 2-4ohms 85db and below the speakers get harder to power.
AIYIMA A08 does 150 into 8ohm
Yeah I saw these but both only deliver about 25 watts, which does sound pretty low, though I’ve heard nothing but great shit about Cambridge
Thats advertised power search the forums for measured power. People upgrade the power brick to get true 35w-50w on these little amps.
Not much of a DIY guy
I’ll be happy if can get sound out of my speakers hahaha
Any of the amps suggested is fine. If you dont care about form factor by used integrated or AVR for class A/B power.
I got the wattage numbers on the aiyima A07 wrong, people upgrading the power supply are getting 20-25 watts.
Aiyima claims 300 bahahahahaha!
Think the size of the power brick if the aiyima A07 put out 300w. Im gonna get one in the interest of science.
Paired a topping E30 with an amazon basics amplifier going to micca RB42c and elac 1010. With the gain at 80% tone controls set at 0, cant say anything bad about a no named brand $109 amplifier. The parts look chintzy as all hell but after a year of hard covid use it didnt catch fire yet.
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any one of infineon amps would do the trick. Got one driving neumi BS5 back by a 10in klipsch sub. All through a $20 Fio DAC i cant hear any faults.
25ftx25ft untreated room. 4m listening position its plenty loud.
The aiyima A08 sounds darn good so far fed by a topping E30 and i think play a bit louder while being clean over the smsl SA300. Although SMSL SA300 plays clean even with getting signal from a $20 FIO DAC.
Update: my SMSL SA300 screen flickers and now the screen is blank, its powering the speakers see the backlight but no digital readout. the unit turns on and off no display.
Good justification for going separates.