charliehatch wrote: A question for you. I'm waiting for my TRefs to arrive, and I'm thinking seriously of upgrading my amp to the Bel Canto Ref600M monoblocks. 300 Wpc Class D. Do you know of any reason why this might be a bad match?

Thanks,

Charlie

None whatsoever.

Moderator Dude,

Thanks! Looks like it's a go...

Charlie

Hi all – new to the board. If this is better as its own thread feel free to move, but there seem to be the most activity here on this primary TRef thread. So anyhow…I bought Reference speakers, and now need an amp – it sounds crazy to say that out loud, but yes I bought these speakers without having the other part of the system already in mind. We just moved house and I previously had a pair of Paradigm Monitor 11 towers in a whole home setup with 11.2.4 in main room plus 4 in-ceilings (and wireless) elsewhere, and a Yamaha RXA3060 as the brains behind it all. But as that house was all wired we included them in the sale, so I needed to get new speakers/receiver/etc. And I had enough for it to sound good in last house but was never a real gearhead etc. Went in to audition Triton 2+ on weekend and ended up buying Reference (gulp), loved the sound too much.

BUT…Now I need to figure out how to get it all connected at this new house. It is for music and TV. Music I generally stream (would likely do hi-def like Tidal – right now do Spotify ‘hi-res’), or would play off my own FLAC collection ripped from CDs. Apologies if some of this makes some of you cringe as I know there are some hard-core audio buffs on here with Vinyl and serious CD players! For me no dedicated CD player or blu ray besides a PlayStation 4 (and I haven't used a non-game blu ray in 2 years). On the TV side we are cord cutters and watch all through the Roku --- Hulu/Netflix/Prime, etc. No separate sub, we will use the TRefs for bass. There are 4 inwall (10 ft high) surround speakers that are in the room from previous owners that would be great to use if possible but not necessary. Music genres usually jazz / classical / ‘oldies’/classic rock (but no metal etc) The room is 18x18' with sloping ceiling that goes from 10ft high on one side to 22' at peak.

Effectively – I have music on all day most days, and for sure from 5pm onwards when spouse and I both home. So the full evening is generally music and then TV and then bed. So the speakers will be working a lot, but I also need something to do the AV receiver ‘switching’ video/audio activities, plus an amp. I was leaning back towards the Yamaha world again because I love the MusicCast to be able to easily control the music from my phone. I also have a Patio 2 speaker setup that is wired back to receiver wires as a ‘Zone 2’, so I need to be able to play out to that including from digital/HDMI sources (which knocks out using the cheapest receivers as the AV option).

Anyhow I am so excited about the speakers – loved the sound of them in store. But am now having a real wake up call that the other side of this (ie: powering them) needs to be up to snuff. I had planned to do a Yamaha RXA 1070 and buy the Triton 2+, and call it a day. Even that might be anathema to some purists on here. But now with the References being inked maybe another route makes sense - like an integrated, plus an AV receiver to do the switching. Above all else it has to be EASY TO USE – I will get serious flack from spouse if there is a ton of work to play music or watch TV. Anyhow, I see some forum posts on here of people using Anthem AVRs and Marantz, haven’t seen too many Yamaha.

Simply put – buying the Reference already stretched the AV budget beyond, never mind having to buy MORE gear to make it work to its peak. But - I know I need a receiver of some kind to handle my video/audio input, and I need to amplify the sound signal (whether in AVR or separate amp), but I also want to do the References justice as best I can without dropping $5k here and there for components. The Yamaha has enough power for these highly efficient speakers, but will it actually sound good? And while I love research, I am getting lost. I love good sound, and the sound of the Reference sold me on them, so now it’s time to bring that to life at home. In the demo room this weekend the references sounded better than the speaker system of a former neighbor I had who had a $40,000+ B&W setup with all the fancy cabling etc. Thanks in advance for your ideas.

Again hot_rod, welcome here and you made a GREAT choice!!!!
Nothing is anathema here, don't worry. AND most all of us have had to slowly build our systems the way we want them bit by bit, a piece or two at a time, starting cost effective and slowly getting crazy. (I have bought my share of used eq too, that is a thought-check on Audiogon or Ebay).
We, or at least, I understand. So, one day you will probably want to go with separates pre-amp/processor and amps. But for now a good integrated amp or AVR will surely do the job.
BUT since these are GEt References, you may want to go with some of the little bit more serious integrated amps that are around.
Definitely check out Emotiva, Anthem, NAD, Cambridge, Peachtree, Parasound, Rotel, and then of the more mass market, I would look at Marantz first even before Yamaha.
But ultimately your ears have to decide.
Have fun with the journey, happy hunting, I am sure you are gonna have an awesome system!!!!
God Bless, Wayne

appreciate the info Wayne, thanks. The yamaha RXA-1070 at least has ESS Sabre DACs in it (albeit 8-bit for that model, vs 24 or 32 for the higher line), as I am looking at their 'higher end' models not the sub-$1000 stuff, but at a $1200 price point I know I can consider anthem etc too. I have never had separates before and am still lost as to how much power the References really need - if all they need is 20W min then most amps I am considering should be enough I guess?

I really liked the connectivity of Yamaha MusicCast at the last house, which makes it hard to leave the ecosystem. For instance you can have a baseball/football game on via your cable box or MLB app, and stream the gameaudio to other speakers in house wired or wireless (like Sonos I guess, except already integrated in the AVR - and works great). Admittedly that is an issue beyond the TRef speakers which are obviously wired right there, but still affects the overall purchase decision when there is only so much $$$ for gear!

One idea that the sales rep had (though we didn't talk buying amps from them since I was on the Yamaha path at the time) was do do a lower-end Yamaha AVR to get the switching and video part, and then use its pre-out to go to a powered 2-channel amp to run the TRef. I could still do that. There was a good 2-channel amp table w. specs and price points I was looking at here: www.themasterswitch.com/best-stereo-amplifiers

Yes, hot_rod,
Yamaha would work and likely sound fine.
And you may want a bit more than 20 WPC, for sure if they are not tubes, 20 W solid state is not much at all.
You could use the pre-outs from the cheaper Yamaha to better amplification. But the old saying applies, garbage in, garbage out.
Not that I am saying Yamaha is garbage, but I am saying the front end (the information from the beginning) is as important or some say MORE important than further down the stream, like the amps. Get the source right first, then the amplification, since you already have the speakers right.
I am not familiar with the Yamaha MusicCast and other connectivity. But since you like that, I would recommend going with one of the better quality Yamahas than the cheaper one. Again, buying used can be a great way to go.
Just thoughts for your consideration.
We all like to help someone else spend money, ha ha!!!
God Bless,
Wayne