Home Audio system gurus - here's a matchup question

[ack1961]

Hey all you home audio guys & gals,

I have an older (late 80's) Pioneer SA-1480 amp that I bought in Australia and I'm trying to match up to speakers.  I had some Advent Prodigy towers (75W RMS/300W peak handling) connected to them for a few years, but they blew out a few years back.

Here are the power specs on the Pioneer:
Music Power
  1 kHz, T.H.D. 10%, 8 Ohms................350W + 350W
Peak Music Power
  L + R channels.................................1400W

Continuous avg power output is 130W per channel, min, @ 8 Ohms

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The amp has "A" and "B" speaker system outputs - basically designed to handle 4 speakers

Am I in the ballpark trying to find 8-Ohm speakers that can handle 350W each?
Anyone care to suggest a good matchup?  I see tons of home audio speakers in Pawn shops and music store all the time, but not too sure about the best way to match up to my old reliable amp.

Thanks,

[nofi]

my number one unbreakable rule is never buy used home audio (hi fi) equipment if possible. there would be exceptions for the high end, vintage guys but that's not me.

[Highlander]

I once slaved my system through a Sound City 120 and my DR103s using a pair of Sound City 4x12 columns... ridiculously loud...

ahh... I can see that that is absolutely no use to you re your problem...

Go for something hefty enough to handle it - I found a reference to someone using Boston Acoustics beasts with the same amp... Audio Karma is one useful site but most search engines are helpful - I just tried  ["SA-1480" speaker match] and that gave me pages to look through...

I so rarely listen to music at home that the pair of (70's UK) Wharfedale speakers I have just languish in the loft with the rest of the seperates - at one point I even stripped them down to the shell, sprayed them white, then "sponged" them with the same terracotta finish that I did on the walls in the lounge - SWMBO read me my rights, and back they went to the loft...

That's why I readily went over to MP3 for use when driving, when the volume level is (almost only) my problem...

[Dave W]

I don't have an answer for you about the speakers, just be aware that those music power ratings are vastly inflated.  Even that "continuous average output power" rating may be inflated unless it specifically says it's RMS.

[iamthatguy32]

AFAIK, when home audio systems list OHMS it's for the entire speaker array. Meaning, you should be looking for a matched set of speakers that run at 8 OHMS, not 8 OHMS each.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Your power amp is 100 watts. The other numbers are BS to impress people on the sales floor. You need speakers that are A: no LESS than 8 ohms (more is fine) and B: able to handle 100 watts RMS.

[ack1961]

Your power amp is 100 watts. The other numbers are BS to impress people on the sales floor. You need speakers that are A: no LESS than 8 ohms (more is fine) and B: able to handle 100 watts RMS.

Thanks - just what I needed to hear.
Thanks to all for the replies.

[Big_Stu]

Continuous avg power output is 130W per channel, min, @ 8 Ohms

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The amp has "A" and "B" speaker system outputs - basically designed to handle 4 speakers

Is the bit about 4 speakers checkable; still got the literature?

Only reason I ask is I use an early 90's Pioneer amp (A400X) which is marked A+B speakers but it's for bi-wiring the same pair of speakers. That's to say that A goes to the tweeter & B goes to the woofers; the amp being voiced for the frequencies; I suppose that means the amp has a kinda crossover inside.

Course that means you need bi-wireable speakers, ones with two separate sets of terminals for tweeter/woofer. I have & it makes a fantastic improvement!
They were made in Skipton, England a few years ago before the name was bought out by a Chinese company.

[ack1961]

Is the bit about 4 speakers checkable; still got the literature?

Only reason I ask is I use an early 90's Pioneer amp (A400X) which is marked A+B speakers but it's for bi-wiring the same pair of speakers. That's to say that A goes to the tweeter & B goes to the woofers; the amp being voiced for the frequencies; I suppose that means the amp has a kinda crossover inside.

Course that means you need bi-wireable speakers, ones with two separate sets of terminals for tweeter/woofer. I have & it makes a fantastic improvement!
They were made in Skipton, England a few years ago before the name was bought out by a Chinese company.

Yup. I still have the literature.
The SA-1480 was definitely designed for 2 or 4 speakers.  They show a diagram with the 8 terminals (4 + & 4 -) on the back of amp for each speaker.
Diagram shows a 4 speaker (Speaker System A (L&R) and speaker System B (L&R) setup.

A note that I missed in there called "About Speaker Impedance":
"When speaker systems are connected to only one of the SPEAKERS A,B Terminals, such speakers should have rated impedance in the range of 8-16 Ohms"

Thanks for the input. Much appreciated.

[ack1961]

I found a great pair of Bose 401's on CL real cheap, so I thought I'd give 'em a shot.
They sound terrific - great low freq reproduction and they match well with the Bose 141 bookshelf speakers.
Problem solved. Thanks for the advice.

[eb2]

My favorite speakers of the last few months are Polk Audio stuff. I have two different pair, and I like them. With hifi stuff, liking stuff is about as general and useful info of anything out there. These days used speakers are a good deal, as so many have foam rot that I think the average person is sick of them and buy junky new stuff. I stay away from Infinity stuff as they all rot, and I won't deal with that.

I prefer used, of course, but older 50-early 70s stuff.  But nothing I would say try at all costs.  Find an idea of your size, watt range and a decent brand - Altec, JBL, Wharfedale, ADC, Kenwood, Ohm, etc. Look on your CL, and check them out.

[Pilgrim]

I like Polk a lot - great stuff.

I'm fond of Design Acoustics stuff.  I have replaced the foam surrounds on a couple of PS-10 speakers and they really perform well. It's not hard to replace the surround form on speakers, and you can find kits online.  These have 10" woofers firing downward, which is why they're slightly elevated above the base.

[nofi]

i bought a pair of polk audio bookcase speakers 20+ years ago and they still sound just fine with zero problems.