best amp for 4343

[fourfortrane]

hi jbl folks out there,
what is the best amp for jbl 4343's? solid state or tube?
single ended or push pull? class a, ab or b?
I'm completely confused. I own my pair of 4343's just for some weeks and tried out a lot of stuff and these speakers give me everytime a very detailed information if the amp is good, very good or bad. but there are so many amps out there. which one is the best??
please help me, thank you
oliver

[Audiobeer]

Very Subjective! I like Mcintosh others like Krell. Quite frankly a good vintage reciever can drive those. It should be an amp that has balls....I mean an amp that can handle the loads that come along with a good damping factor. The 4343s can sing with a good amp. I think they are pretty effecient considering their drivers and size!

[Tom Loizeaux]

As far as power goes, JBL suggests that when powering studio monitors, you have at least twice the power capacity of the drivers available in the amp. So if you're using 2231s, and bi-amping, you need at least 300 watts per channel @ 8 ohms. If you're using the full internal crossover, I suspect you'll want a little more!
I also believe soild state amps control the low end better then tube amps. I also think that class A designs tend to sound better then A/B types as a rule. Some people feel MosFet amps may sound better for HF then bi-polar transistors.
I use a Crown PS-400 and PS-200 to drive my bi-amped 4343s. These old Crowns are class AB+B designs. They work in class A at lower levels and gradually switch into AB mode when high power is needed.
There are very nice amps out there, usually for tons of money, but many aren't powerfull enough to provide the kind of headroom that might be necessary when pushing big studio monitors.

Tom

[JBL Dog]

I power my 4343's with a McIntosh MC7270 (270 x 2). More than enough juice! I managed to nab a JBL 5234A active crossover loaded with 4343 cards on Audiogon a few days ago, so my next project is to dabble with bi-amplification.

This message comes JBL Dog :band:

[Tom Loizeaux]

Be sure to tell us about your bi-amp experiences with your 4343s.

Tom

[Ken Pachkowsky]

Originally posted by Tom Loizeaux
Be sure to tell us about your bi-amp experiences with your 4343s.

Tom

Tom

You can answer that. He will never go back to a single amp!

Ken

[4313B]

Originally posted by JBL Dog
I managed to nab a JBL 5234A active crossover loaded with 4343 cards on Audiogon a few days ago, so my next project is to dabble with bi-amplification.

This message comes JBL Dog :band: Once I heard my 4343B's bi-amped I never went back. If the 5234A sounds too "grainy" to you, you can install bypass capacitors on all the electrolytic capacitors e.g. 5235.

[Chan]

>but there are so many amps out there. which one is the best??

Hi,oliver

That's just what I'm thinking of 4343.
My amp is MA 2402,crown PA amp.
In my experience,this may be a minimal power for 4343.
not MA 1202 or k2 or other same power amps.

What's deferent?
at first, buss control, tightness and sharpness.
and next, ambient and surround atmosphere.
lower power amps may cannot express this detailed sound.

But I always think, Is it too heavy for home use?
Fan is so noisy in my room.

So, I thought ,How about DC300A?
same decade of 4343.
May be the standerd amp for studio use in that days.
There was no MA2400 or PSA-2 when 4343 designed.

I donnot know How DC300A sounds.
But at least, is it original set for 4343?
That's a question for the designer of 4343.
Sorry for not the answer for you.

Regards

Chan

[PaulB]

Hi Chan...

I use 2 DC-330As in biamp mode to drive my 4343's and I love it. Of course, they may not "super amps" but especially for the money in my opinion you can't beat em.

[scott fitlin]

Originally posted by PaulB
Hi Chan...

I use 2 DC-330As in biamp mode to drive my 4343's and I love it. Of course, they may not "super amps" but especially for the money in my opinion you can't beat em. The DC-300A, white face with IOC indicators will sound quite good on these speakers. Particularly in the bass, because the amp has direct coupled outputs.

My uncle use to use a DC-300 on the JBL L-300,s years ago, my dad had a McIntosh 2300. Both are good, but I liked the way the Crown sounded on the bass. Tight and punchy.

:cool:

[Ken Pachkowsky]

Crown DC-300A's are great amplifiers. Have owned several in my life. Bridged mono they will do a fine job on any large format bi/tri amped system.

But, If your looking for some bulletproof up to date technology at affordable prices check out abamps.com. These guys remind me of Crown back in the early seventies when Crown was carving out a niche in the high end market.

In the last 3 weeks I have purchased 4 of their amplifiers and am very impressed with the design/construction and performance. I bought 2 new Precedent Series 11 980A's, 1 x Precedent 600A and 1 x Precedent 400A. This gives me 2400 watts at 8 Ohms or 3800 at 4 Ohms to drive my 4-way Westlakes. These amps run at very low temps and come fitted with multispeed fans that can be easily disabled for studio use. Input sensitivity can also be adjusted which is very handy for bi/tri/quad amping. The 980A has a damping factor >1000 and controls the dual 2235H's with great speed/depth and authority. All amps are brigeable.

Just letting you know there are other, more up to date options.

Ken

[Chan]

Hi,PaulB

I tried to bid DC300A on eBay recently,but failed.
That was so beautifull.
Anyway, there may be more time to bid.
I'll try.

In Japan AC volt is at 100V, a little lower.
so ,we need a matching transfer to use amps from USA.
I use crown straight line one preamps from USA,but donot use that transfer.By this time there is no troble.

[Steve]

Aloha
I am using an Altec 9440A to power my 4343's.
No fans needed on them yet...
One of these days will set them up to bi-amp to try that out.
I picked up several of the 9440A amps from a local hotel doing remodling and sent them to Ira to be looked over....Did a fantastic job. Works with Bill Haunaschak et all...and worked at Altec on the amps at one time.
http://iratec.50megs.com/index.html
I see the amps on ebay here and there.

Steve

[Alex Lancaster]

Chan:

You won´t blow anything with low voltage, but You might get noise and less power; Can´t You get Sony TA-N77ES or TA-N80ES easy there?, They´ll blow away a DC-300, and are much newer.

Alex.

[pangea]

Hi everyone!

Does anyone have any experience with an early eighties Yamaha M4 amp?

I'm offered one in mint condition for just over 350$.
It is said to be comparable to Mc Intosh's and other High-End amps and it's rated 120W + 120W at 8 Ohm and 170W + 170W at 4 Ohm.
Would that be enough power to begin with?

Should I be interested?

BR

Roland

[Chan]

Hi,Alex

> You might get noise and less power;

May be....
My first concern is what preamp is suit for ma-2402 or another.
SL-1 nor PSL-2 donot have XLR output,+4dB voltage.
I'm searching that type of preamp.My experience,studer A810 have that type of high quality line amps.but not so easy use.

I've asked a professional if there is any high quality line amps which have XLR output amps.He said there are some professional amps from germany but so expensive.price about 4000$ or so.
I did not said to buy.....

>Can´t You get Sony TA-N77ES or TA-N80ES easy there?,

May be....easy.
I have another Yamaha two PC-1000 poweramps for professional.they dont have noisy fans.280W+280W at BTL-use.
fan is so quiet but sound is quiet too. The sony may be lthe ight-weight poweramp,too?

anyway, I'll search that 'XLR'-pre and 'quiet' poweramps for 4343.