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Originally posted by failsafe Hey, I've got a delema perhaps some of you can help me solve. I recently splurged and dropped a grand on a really cool set of floor speakers. JBL S312II's at 250watts each. They fucking rocked the place until they cooked my amp. It was old and didn't owe me anything, but I still am kinda pissed. The amp was a Fisher 200w amp. It would do 100 watts/channel I suppose then right? The volume was less then half when the thing just cooked. I'm now in the market for a new amp/tuner/reciver. I'm not sure of the latter what I really need. I have: 2 x technics 1200 1 x pioneer djm-300 (just couldn't justify the cash for the 5/600) 2 x JBL S312II (250watts 8ohms impedence) What kind of amp/reciver/tuner is best to power the speakers? Eventaully I'd like at least have the option of hooking a dvd player/tv or whatever into what I buy so I can watch movies with really nice sound too. Could someone with some knowledge on the subject fill me in please. thanks, gb

What's your price range? That's really important... Also, do you want a tuner or not?

I personally prefer seperates... (My amps (2) power 4 speakers (2 each obviously). I then have a digital decoder for my digital sources.) I currently just plug my standard audio signal (analog stereo or whatever) into the amps directly if I want to use them. What I need is a tree, but I don't need it enough right now to get one.

So you need to decide if you want to go all seperates, as in having a tree (basically a simple mixer or selector box), then a tuner, and all sorts.

Or you can get an a/v reciever, that has the tuner, the amp, and everything built in. The latter is much cheaper in the long run, and won't be as good, but it will most likely be enough...

Again, price is a big issue.. there are some decent (non-audiofile) units for around 800-1200 cdn.. Then there are some much nicer/better units that cost around 4000...

You can also get some units for around 400-500, that are half-decent, but not if you really want quality stuff, you'll probably have to spend at least 800.

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OK I just want to clear one or two things up:

The 'power handling' (i.e. 250 W) on a speaker only indicates how much power you can put through it before it's likely to blow. That's why I always laugh at people who brag about their 300 W speakers when they have a shitty 50-watt amp. I'm not trying to belittle anyone, I'm just saying don't be pissed off about it, because most likely the amp frying was a coincidence (you did say it was old).

As for what to get, just make sure of a few things:
- I think almost every power amp is designed for 8-ohm speakers, but you said yours was old, so it might have been designed for 4-ohm speakers. On the remote chance that you have a 4-ohm amp and 8-ohm speakers, then split the wire, connect one half to the speaker, and the other half either to another 8-ohm speaker or to an 8-ohm resistor (1 cent) connected to the speaker's ground pin.
- On the much more likely chance that you get an 8-ohm amp, if you want to hook up a DVD etc. then you're going to want to get a receiver. Receivers are expensive though - you can get receivers that are just as good as ordinary amps, but you'll have to pay a lot more. So keep that in mind - IMHO the best ones are from Sony.

Wish I had that kind of money...

I'd say my price range is between 400-800 dollars including tax. Any suggestions for actual models or lines?

Thanks for the input guys.

(=

Go to sony.ca and look at their receivers (home audio -> hifi components -> receivers), they're all within that price range and IMHO they're the best for that price.

I'm actually fairly anti-sony, but I also agree with DigiNut, Sony is probably your best choice for quailty in a receiver in that price range..

I've seen some nice JVC's and Aiwa, and even some Onkyo in that price range, but I haven't looked in over a year, so I'm sure the lineup has changed a bit...

A good source for review's is www.audioreview.com... (I wouldn't say the reviews are top notch, but if a model has 10-20 reviews, you can generally get a good idea on what people think.. (don't trust only 2 or 3 peoples opinions from that site though.))

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