All competently designed amps operated below clipping will sound indistinguishable. This is reality. I think with its 125wpc the Denon will be fine! Doubling the watts to 250 will only give you 3db more headroom. 500 watts will give you 6db headroom. My opinion is a change of amps is a sideways move at best. The AVR-X4200W is an excellent component considering it offers a preamp, amp and media streamer. I'd keep it!
Emotiva XPA-2 Gen 3 or NAD C 275BEE or Rotel RB-1582 MkII for Revel F208
Hi,
I suspect most of you are far beyond this level of power amp but hopefully someone can provide informed opinions on the above power amps or the brands quality in general.
I currently am using a Denon AVR-X4200W to drive the Revel F208 as the main speakers in a 5.1 mixed use music/movie/TV system. The low end is supported by a SVS SB-2000 (the older non-Pro).
I am based in Vietnam so there is a limited selection of new gear and a horribly overpriced and small second hand market.
I lucked into a sweet deal on the F208 at just over USD$2k. I sold my Revel F36 for nearly $600.
Emotiva XPA-2 Gen 3 / Rotel RB-1582 MkII are the same price at around $1500 and the NAD C 275BEE at around $900.
Unfortunately I zero experience with any of these brands but they are essentially my only choices in the under $2k range.
I plan to use the pre-outs on the X4200W to feed the power amp.
The X4200W gets the F208 plenty loud but I do worry that they might like a bit more power than the 125 watts provided by this older Denon AVR.
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@jasonbourne52 thanks for the reply. I've not had much time with the new speakers but it seems that the AVR might actually be running a little cooler with the 8 ohm F208 than it did with the previous 6 ohm F36. |
F208s frequency range was not specified. Low-frequency extension: 23Hz (–10dB), 27Hz (–6dB), 31Hz (–3dB). Based on these values, one can assume F208s can safely reproduce 31hz-20kHz. Nominal impedance given as 8 Ohms, but that is not the case. The impedance ranges between 4 and 7 ohms for most of the audioband, though there are dips to 3.6 ohms at 100Hz and 3.2 or 3.7 ohms at 2.9kHz, depending on whether the HF control switch is set to its maximum or minimum, respectively.
At close to 89dB sensitivity, it seems your Denon should have no problem driving these. However, take a closer look at impedance curve above. Impedance drops to 4 ohms ~30Hz and even below 4 ohms between 70-105 Hz range. This is also the case at higher frequencies between 2-3 kHz range. Denon is rated at 125 W/Ch at 8 Ohms and 165 W/Ch at 6 Ohms. Depending on your listening tastes, Denon appears to be good enough to get the job done.
If you must, you can also use the preout with a separate amp, but it better be something that can provide high current. I have done something similar in the past with my Yamaha DSP A2070. Yamaha had 80W at 8 Ohms and 100W at 6 Ohm. I had Thiel 2 2 speakers and I used PS Audio 200CX amp to drive the those using the preout of Yamaha. Thiels had a similar impedance curve as F208s. But PS audio amp ratings were Output power: >200Wpc into 8 ohms, 400Wpc into 4 ohms, 1000Wpc into 1.5 ohms. Peak current: 64A. Bandwidth: DC to 140kHz, -3dB. Damping factor: >40. Those numbers were way better than Yamaha. I hope you get the idea if you want to take that route.
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