Looking for a modern power amp for NS-10m's

[Xmandier]

Hello!

First of I wanna say that I found this website on a whim and I'm blown away. I study sound engineering at Lulea Technical University of Sweden and have spread this website around both students and professors and they're impressed that a forum doesn't explode in to nonsensical bittering about stuff.

Now on too my question. I recently got a very good deal for NS-10m's (not the studio versions) from a good friend. His father owned a study and has passed away, he is clearing that studio and offered me the NS-10's and a NS-W1 subwoofer for a price I can't refuse, seeing that I use NS-10's daily at my university and they've only had one owner. What are some modern power amps that are available through Thomann that would be good for these speakers? I've been searching around like crazy, but every forum, people start arguing about irrelevant stuff and no conclusion is drawn. I am fully aware that the best scenario would be getting some Bryston or whatever. But as I am a student and had to sell my guitar amplifier for the NS-10's, that isn't an option.

I've searched through course literature for answers about what a good wattage count would be, and Sound and Recording does mention that it's possible to power 30 watt speakers with a 500 watt amplifier, as long as precautions are taken. Although, it does not state what these precautions are. The NS-10's I'm buying are rated for a maximum power input of 50 watts, but it does not state if this is PEAK or RMS. My understanding is that if nothing else is stated, it's PEAK, but then again, it's pretty old.

All in all, what power amp can you recommend for a budget of 400 euro max that I can buy straight off Thomann? I've been looking at the "Behringer A800" that Amir recommends, but I am afraid of damaging the speakers. In the future when more money is available, I'm going to look at getting a NAD/Bryston/Quad power amplifier, but at this moment, that is just not possible.

Bonus question. Has anyone used the W1 subwoofer? What are your impressions about it?

I love this forum and I'm probably gonna spend way to much time on it

 

[Head_Unit]

it does not state what these precautions are.

Odd nobody has replied for some time. Presuming you're still reading this, here is some standard blah blah I post which I hope you to find some useful embedded nuggets of knowledge...

Here are "Head_Unit’s Rules Of Protection" (speaking as a loudspeaker engineer who later worked in amplifier product planning and automotive testing):
1) If when things start to sound distorted or odd you TURN IT DOWN, you are unlikely to ever break anything.
2) If you constantly "turn it up to 11" you will break something.
3) The amp and speaker power ratings do not matter. Don’t bother “matching” the amp and speaker power. That is a seemingly sensible yet actually meaningless exercise, because:
- Speaker specifications are 92% useless, due to different manufacturers measuring the same specs in different ways on different setups. And then (shudder of horror!) the Marketing Department gets hold of them, yowZa!
- Specs for amps are not thorough since they are measured into resistors for pragmatic reasons and speakers are not resistors at all.
4) Amps' 4 ohm or even 2 ohm rating is the most meaningful even if your speakers are 8 ohms because again the speakers are not resistors Should be 20-20k Hz, distortion under 1% or it's baloney.
5) For amps "more" power means (IF specs are comparable) at least three times as much due to the logarithmic nature of hearing.
6) You are less likely to damage speakers with a big amp, since let’s face it everyone cranks it up sometime, and a small cheap amp is then more likely to clip and possibly put out DC and ultrasonics (This assumes the speakers are not tiny little pieces of poop).
7) Be merciful and get yourself one of these https://www.acinfinity.com/receiver-amp-cooling-fans/ because AVRs pack a LOT of stuff in one chassis, and every channel generates a chunk of waste heat even at low volume.

As for the Behringer etc, yes there are some PA-type amps with lots of dollars per watt. Just be sure they don't have fans always running full blast. And be sure they have a built-in crossover so you can highpass your NS-10m. OR get a used AVR, they can be cheap and should play pretty loud actually.