Ok to use a home receiver as an amp for passive studio monitors?

D

DJRubio

New member
I'm looking to purchase a pair of studio monitors, most likely Tannoy Reveals (6.5"), but I am wondering if I could save some money and get the passive version instead of the active.

I have a Yamaha HTR-5460 home receiver. I realize a receiver may mess with the sound, but I can turn all effects off and make sure the bass/treble is flat, I guess.

What should I do? I've been searching a lot online, but couldn't find any help. Thanks a lot!

If needed, here are the specs of the receiver: http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/Specs/?gAVR00010HTR-5460

And the specs of the Tannoy Reveals 6.5:
Nominal Impedance: 6 ohms
Power Handling (RMS/Programme): 50 / 100 Watts
Recommended Amplifier Power: 30 to 100 Watts into 8 ohms
 
If that's all you've got or can afford....
But I can't tell you what a difference a GOOD amplifier will make with almost any speaker. It is quite astonishing.
Even an Alesis RA unit would be better. Prolly about $100 on eBay
 
guido #2 said:
Even an Alesis RA unit would be better. Prolly about $100 on eBay
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I just checked (cause i have no life :) ),
There are 17 on eBay right now. One selling in 2mins for $86
 
Your Yamaha amp is a bit overpowered for the Tannoys. The amp is rated at 150W peak per channel at 6 ohms (while not specified, it looks like it's probably somewhere around 125W/channel RMS at 6ohms). The Tannoys, OTOH, are rated at 100WPeak and 50WRMS.

You'd be safer picking out a better match between amp and speaker than that.

G.
 
Thanks!

I actually ended up getting Yorkville YSM1i's.

I may end up getting that Alesis amp if my receiver doesn't work out.

A lot of posts here helped with my decision on getting the Yorkvilles instead. I hope I made a wise decision!
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Your Yamaha amp is a bit overpowered for the Tannoys. The amp is rated at 150W peak per channel at 6 ohms (while not specified, it looks like it's probably somewhere around 125W/channel RMS at 6ohms). The Tannoys, OTOH, are rated at 100WPeak and 50WRMS.

You'd be safer picking out a better match between amp and speaker than that.

G.
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Actually, your safer with an amp that is over powered, the reason being that it's easier to hear speakers distorton (you'll know when to turn it down) than amp distortion (you won't "blowout" your speakers but you'll burnout the voicecoils)
 
ds21 said:
Actually, your safer with an amp that is over powered, the reason being that it's easier to hear speakers distorton (you'll know when to turn it down) than amp distortion (you won't "blowout" your speakers but you'll burnout the voicecoils)
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This is extremely dangerous advice. All it takes is one transient pop from too much amp to blow a speaker element (including crossovers). One accidental bump of the microphone or one digital cannon blast from a recording of the 1812 and your monitor can be toast if you have an overpowered amp with the gain riding too high. There's no time to "hear" anything other than the ratteling of a blown coil. I've seen that done more times than I could even begin to count. Granted, many higher-quality monitors have overload protection of some kind these days, but waiting for those to save you is playing with fire in a gas station.

You're right that an underpowered amp can be very bad as well. Sending an amplifier into clipping and asking the speakers to follow those voltages can also be a recipe for disaster, but it's nowhere near as dangerous as sending too much transient juice altogether.

Especially in the matchup asked about here, where the peak rating on the amplifier was a full 50% beyond the peak rating on the monitor and the RMS rating on the amp was a full 250% of the RMS rating on the monitor. A few watts here and there amongst friends is nothing to lose any sleep over, but a full 75W overage is more than enough to light the red lights to that idea.

G.
 
Pip-Pop-& POOP-a=Boom?

Yo DJ:

I use the Yamaha AX 592 integrated amp to run my entire studio. It fits my needs.

Advantages of the integrated amp?

I have two sets of speakers connected/monitors/& commercial.
I have two tape decks connected that can both run, run one into the other, or run one only.
I have a CD patch which is very good.
I have a cut-off switch to remove any coloration from the amp, which, is, BTW, very little.
I have a phone plug/patch[I meant records/45s, 33/1/3 etc]
I have a radio/am/fm patch.

It is quite a remarkable amp considering its price. Very good quality sound with Yamaha I have found. [Words of Yoda]

Oh, I'm sure there are many other units which are much better; however, what are your needs? What do you want to do in your studio? Etc.

So, if your stereo Yam amp works and you can monitor what you record and get good results, why fix it if it isn't broken?

Always think about adding new gear; however, add new gear only when you think. [nice chiasmus isn't it? :D [Dam English teachers just don't stop. ;) ]

Experiment and expand and do RESEARCH, lots of it.

Green Hornet :D
 
You guys are really nice and helpful!

I will be very careful with my receiver; will make sure not to make the gain too high. I believe it has a good quality amp, since it used to cost a lot when it originally came out, so hopefully it'll be ok.

Green Hornet: Funny you posted because it was your post (i think?) that helped me choose the Yorkvilles instead of the Tannoys. There are hardly anyplaces to listen to monitors before I choose them (since I'm in Hawaii), so I had to choose based on online discussions. Lots of those advantages you listed about having an integrated amp apply to me as well. I'm not doing anything too "pro" yet, so I am confident the setup should work fine for now.

Also, I don't know if my receiver has that bypass switch, but I hope it does. Good to know your Yamaha is working good!... Thanks again.
 
I would say there is no real danger in this case in using an overpowered amp. Realistically you will probably never hit it with more than 40 watts anyhow because you will probably have the volume knob no more than half way up.
 
Ha!

Sometimes i still use my Pioneer receiver with my passive alesis mkII,and i like it.
Gives me a REAL bass responce
 
xstatic said:
I would say there is no real danger in this case in using an overpowered amp. Realistically you will probably never hit it with more than 40 watts anyhow because you will probably have the volume knob no more than half way up.
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Yes It's pretty much standard to have an amp which is rated higher than the speakers to get good clean sound, but as SouthSIDE says if you don't set the gain on the amp before hand and it's up too high it could be dangerous, but once you have it set right it is safer.
 
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