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Amp recommendations on a ~$300 budget?

post #1 of 6
10/17/12 at 4:26pm
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I'm looking to set myself up a nice sound system in the near future, and the only thing I have yet to decide on are the amp and the subwoofer (but that's a discussion for another time). It will be power a pair of Audioengine P4's, with another pair possibly being added (correct me if this is a bad idea to have both front and rear speakers in a relatively small room). What is the best sub $300 amp in your experience? I've been looking at this, as it's available for $240, looks great, and presumable has good sound quality, though I haven't been able to find many reviews on it.
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Prodigious
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post #2 of 6
10/17/12 at 8:51pm
I have the 3490, which is incredible for the money. I was able to find it for the same price, so I would maybe keep your eyes peeled for that.

Craftily written and sent forth from my Thunderbolt.
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post #3 of 6
10/18/12 at 1:20am
I had harman AVR 130 for ~5 years. It managed to give very good performance over those years with variety of speakers. Onkyo are also decent in that price category.
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post #4 of 6
10/18/12 at 11:34am
I'd pick up a refurb receiver from AC4L. They normally come with a 1 year warranty. Denon AVR-1713
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post #5 of 6
10/23/12 at 12:37am
I love my Denon (4310 so a little outside your budget... but their quality is pretty consistent). I can't say anything bad about HK or Onkyo either as both are solid brands... and I've absolutely loved my Pioneer Elite AVRs as well. In any case just look for the features and output levels you want - in a small room you should be fine with anything.

On the speakers, the S4's are pretty benign I think (based on this review it seems an average of 6ohm but a couple of dips into the 4s) - so any 'real' AVR should handle them just fine... probably not recommended on a HTIB AVR but that's OT. wink.gif

As far as adding a back pair... what are you doing more of? If it's listening to music or playing video games then probably not advisable. You will have more sound - but it will also be more congested and you'll lose proper imaging (which is bad in FPS games and horrible with music). If it's for watching movies... then better but I'd have to suggest that you just put one of them in the closet and use the 'spare' as a matching center channel rather than worry about having surround speakers.

Just my 2cents.gif
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post #6 of 6
10/28/12 at 11:52pm
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