And just to be more specific on a few points:
BlackSunshine said:
… They're pretty serious speakers from what I understand, but they are a little bit power hungry, although they are quite efficient for how large they are. …
Two things here.
First, “power hungry� and “quite efficient� are exact opposites. At 102db @ 2.83V/1m they are
extremely efficient and not in any way, shape, or form power hungry. They can withstand a lot of power but do not
need a lot of power.
Also, “efficient for how large they are� is a common misconception. People look at large speakers and assume, as with large and small cars, they will need more power than small ones. Again, the exact opposite is true. The characteristics of a speaker that lead to higher efficiency, powerful magnet structures, high winding voice coils, large radiating surfaces, etc tend to make them larger. It’s small speaker that tend to be less efficient.
BlackSunshine said:
… Seems a popular way to go is with a tube amp …
That’s because tubes amps can sound
very sweet and
very musical but are almost always much less powerful than solid state amps and so they mate well with speakers that are more sensitive.
Note: the word efficient is often used in casual conversation but engineers prefer to use the term
sensitive. Efficiency has a very specific scientific meaning that is cumbersome for engineers to use in calculations for real world loudspeakers and impossible for the consumers to relate to. So
sensitivity, which means “how much loud you get for a given standardized electrical input� is used instead.
BlackSunshine said:
… My receiver now does have a pre-amp output, so I am considering simply adding a pre-amp to it. However, I have no idea how this works or what to expect. …
OK, terminology clarification in order:
Analog signals in music systems can be broken into three general catagories;
“low level�, the sort that come from microphones, phonograph cartridges, magnetic tape heads and, I suppose you could also include laser pickup detectors.
“line level�, which is how “electronic boxes� talk to each other, CD players, tape decks, phono preamplifiers, mixers, TVs, cable boxes, etc. In today’s digital world DACs (digital to analog converters), signal processors (like surround sound decoders) and such are handled at the line levels.
and “power�, which are signals that have enough “oomph� to drive speakers.
With separate components a pre-amp (used to sometimes be called “control amp�) accepts, switches, selects and massages all the line level stuff (and may have some low level like a phono section too) and feeds that to the power amps which then kick it up to power levels to drive speakers.
A receiver combines the line level pre-amp functions and power amps into one box. A receiver with “pre-amp outs� allows you to break the two functions apart and use either the pre-amp to drive external power amps or to drive the power amps with an external pre-amp.
It is common to take a receiver that has all the signal processing you want but wimpy power amps and use it to feed beefier power amplifiers. This is what was suggested to you.
BlackSunshine said:
… I was hoping somebody here could make a recommendation for a pre-amp that won't break the bank, but will allow me to get the extra 90 watts I need. …
It’s really unlikely you would
need the extra power but you may be benefit from it under some circumstances.
BlackSunshine said:
… Does ONLY the pre-amp supply wattage, or is it a combination of the pre-amp and the receiver? …
Only power amps (or the power amp sections of the receiver) supply wattage to speakers.
BlackSunshine said:
… So, since my receiver is 110 watts, would I need a 90 watt pre-amp, or do I need a pre-amp with the full 200 watts? …
You can’t just add watts to your existing amps. You literally bypass them entirely and they do nothing. You would have to get external amplifiers rated at 200 Watts if that’s what you want.
BlackSunshine said:
… When I'm finished, I would like to be running my RF-7 mains, two surrounds, a center, and my SVS subwoofer. Thanks for any help, advice, anything ya got. …
As I said before, your current system should drive the RF-7s louder than you are ever likely to need or want (unless you have an absurdly large listening room, bigger than most people’s houses).
I would skip any more amps and save the money for the matching RC-7 center channel. Center channel speakers should always be matched to the other fronts. In fact, the most extreme HT types
insist on using three identical speakers. Matching surrounds are desirable as well but not absolutely necessary on
most program material. Movies especially, are usually mixed for ambience material in the surrounds rather than continuation of foreground material.
BlackSunshine said:
… My subwoofer is powered, so it just needs to be plugged into the receiver and it's good to go. Unforunately, it doesn't have a frequency level knob, so it doesn't pick up even some kick drum (bass drum) on certain recordings…
Frequency knobs don’t “turn up base�. That’s why they don’t exist on high quality woofer like yours. They change the “balance� of the sound and rarely for the better. Yours does have a level or "gain" control that’s meant to match it to the rest of the system (but can be used to accentuate or reduce overall bass). Powered woofers will often have crossover controls that change their high frequency rolloff and allow to “blend� the woofer with different speakers.
BlackSunshine said:
… I play the bass guitar myself …
Which menas you’re more in tune with low frequency content. That’s a blessing because low bass is the foundation of much music and curse because reproducing it accurately is
very difficult and usually very expensive.
BlackSunshine said:
… I'm hoping the RF-7s with the twin 10 inch woofers in each enclosure will pump out some good bass. …
They should play fairly low and very loud. You may find that they outperform your woofer. Although the woofer is tuned to produce lower frequencies it still has much less radiating area than the woofers in the RF-7s. At some output level it will run out of excursion capability and won’t be able to keep up with the music. If the woofers in the RF-7s are still operating in their useable excursion range they’ll put out more sound, deeper.
BlackSunshine said:
… Regarding the pre-amp, the only reason I even brought it up was because when I e-mailed Klipsch about recommendations to power the RF-7s, he said he recommends 200watts …
As I said before, you may benefit
occasionally (more likely, rarely if ever) from the extra power but it's unlikely you'll
need it, or conversely, ever notice it’s missing, in a normal residential listening environment.
Try them for a while with your receiver. You can always upgrade later.
PC.
