Audio/Video Receiver for Lansing 375 speakers

[Basics101]

At the risk of offending the purists out there, I'm going to put out a real newbie kind of question. I've been running my father's vintage Lansing 375 speakers through a 1986-era Sony home stereo amplifier.
It was working OK until I started running my iPod through a headset jack-RCA adapter input. The unit was dying on a lot of levels and now it is dead.
I am looking at an iPod docking AVR and am weighing
Onkyo TX-SR505 or 705... verses
Harman-Kardon AVR 247, 347.

Anyone care to advise about how best to get my iPod music pumping out through these beauties? Home theater/ surround sound is a secondary concern that might matter some day...
Thanks for your input!

[hjames]

I'm running an iPod through my Yamaha receiver (roughly 110w/ch). I have an iPod dock that outputs at line level and I run it into a Tape1 input on the receiver. Works great! You can use either the Apple Universal Dock or one of these from Belkin

Either dock would work the same way for my downstairs system, too.
I have an HK AVR 335 receiver downstairs for my main system, its quite nice as well ... tho it has lower output power levels (55w/ch x7 ch).
I just run the receiver amp channels for the center and rear, and run the receiver preamp outs though some high power JBL amps - 200w/ch

There are other HK receivers available with higher power ratings than 55/ch - it all depends on what you to run your speakers with.
Generally you don't want to under power them - when you do that its easier to distort the signal and distorted sound is what can cook drivers!

[Basics101]

so the crux of my concern is the power rating of the A/VR and these Lansing 375's...

[hjames]

So - the Lansing 375s are a vintage pair of horns, yes?
The only way to determine power fed to them is to know the rest of the system, woofers and crossovers, so you can get an idea of how the power is split between drivers ...

so the crux of my concern is the power rating of the A/VR and these Lansing 375's...

The problem with using the headset jack adapter is it allows you to vary the iPod output level and at high levels it can overdrive the amp, causing the signal to distort and potentially damage the speakers.

[cvengr]

.. running my father's vintage Lansing 375 speakers through a 1986-era Sony home stereo amplifier.
It was working OK until I started running my iPod through a headset jack-RCA adapter input. The unit was dying on a lot of levels and now it is dead.

What were the symptoms of dying and dead? Were they corrosion or small conductor size in adapter connection related?