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Best amp for DCM Time Window 1A?

aramirez626

aramirez626

Well-Known Member
Hi all, I was doing some research on pairing an amp with a set of DCM Time Window speakers that I am going to pick up soon. Does anyone have an amp recommendation for these speakers? in my research it seems that these can take alot of power. I don't know if my 75 WPC receiver can power these things.

Also - are these speakers best on stands or on the floor?

Thanks for any help!
 
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I use a 120 watt Nikko Alpha II amp with my 1a's. 75 watt should be good enough, can't see why not. Yes they will take lots of power.
You will be pleasantly surprised with these speakers as they are amazing.
 
Mr.Jim said:
I use a 120 watt Nikko Alpha II amp with my 1a's. 75 watt should be good enough, can't see why not. Yes they will take lots of power.
You will be pleasantly surprised with these speakers as they are amazing.
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Thanks Jim. I have a set of Vandersteen 2cs which sound amazing so I look forward to the TMs.
 
I use an AudioSource AMP Three rated at 150wpc with my 1's. They get pretty loud with that. 75wpc should be decent, but these speakers cannot only take decent power, the sensitivity is not real high, so they seem to respond well to more power.

I've used them with an h/k AVR-20-II rated at 60wpc and they do fine, but that's also in a much less demanding bedroom setup.
 
I've driven the TW1 very nicely with a Crown D150, 75wpc. I've driven em with a Hafler DH200, 100wpc.

You can drive em with any number of units. Your 75 will be very nice until you need LOUD. Then power is nice.

Remember these are about 5Ω speakers so most amps will give a bit more than the 8Ω rating.
 
It all depends on your room size and listening habits. In a small room and listen to it quietly? You could easily get away with a 25 WPC unit. In a big room and want it loud, yeah, you'll want more power certainly and in that case 75WPC might be pushing it. Remember that to get a +3db gain in sound, you need to double the power. So if at 75 watts, pushed to full tilt still isn't loud enough (and by full tilt I don't mean max volume, I mean the amplifier is putting out its maximum rated RMS wattage), then you need to seriously consider going for something much more powerful to get the volume you desire. However I imagine that at 75 watts it will get VERY loud..

So in short, I'd say 75 watts is more than sufficient.

I also forgot to add, the Time Window 1a's are bipole speakers, with 2 woofers and 2 tweets per speaker. That alone will net a +3db gain so they really don't need as much power as you would think.
 
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canuckaudiog said:
It all depends on your room size and listening habits. In a small room and listen to it quietly? You could easily get away with a 25 WPC unit. In a big room and want it loud, yeah, you'll want more power certainly and in that case 75WPC might be pushing it. Remember that to get a +3db gain in sound, you need to double the power. So if at 75 watts, pushed to full tilt still isn't loud enough (and by full tilt I don't mean max volume, I mean the amplifier is putting out its maximum rated RMS wattage), then you need to seriously consider going for something much more powerful to get the volume you desire. However I imagine that at 75 watts it will get VERY loud..

So in short, I'd say 75 watts is more than sufficient.

I also forgot to add, the Time Window 1a's are bipole speakers, with 2 woofers and 2 tweets per speaker. That alone will net a +3db gain so they really don't need as much power as you would think.
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Currently I use the receiver with a set of low end klipsch bookshelf speakers and I tend to turn it up louder and louder little by little until my wife says something like, "wow, that's loud"....

I think this is due to the speakers not sounding very good. My house is open floorplan so the dining room, kitchen and living area is one big great room, about 515 sq feet so not very big.
The speakers can handle up to 200 wpc so I am hoping to get an amp that will meet that, just so that I have the power if I need it.
 
I agree with all other comments already posted -- they do like power and sound best at higher volume levels. I have mine hooked up to the big ol' STA-2300 and they dig it.
 
aramirez626 said:
Currently I use the receiver with a set of low end klipsch bookshelf speakers and I tend to turn it up louder and louder little by little until my wife says something like, "wow, that's loud"....

I think this is due to the speakers not sounding very good. My house is open floorplan so the dining room, kitchen and living area is one big great room, about 515 sq feet so not very big.
The speakers can handle up to 200 wpc so I am hoping to get an amp that will meet that, just so that I have the power if I need it.
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I think the problem with continually turning it up has more to do with your hearing than it does with the speakers themselves. I have the same problem in my car audio system - to achieve what I perceive to be the same level of excitement and volume, I keep turning it up and up and up.. and it almost seems like it's the same volume? The reason for that is your ears get used to the high volumes and "tune" themselves down. Be careful when listening to it loud - anything higher than 90db will damage your hearing if listened to continuously. Remember, you only have your hearing once.

Anyway, the reason I said that you don't need as much power as you think is that big amps are expensive. If you've got the money, definitely go for it. If not, I'd think you'll be happy with what you have right now.
 
canuckaudiog said:
I think the problem with continually turning it up has more to do with your hearing than it does with the speakers themselves. I have the same problem in my car audio system - to achieve what I perceive to be the same level of excitement and volume, I keep turning it up and up and up.. and it almost seems like it's the same volume? The reason for that is your ears get used to the high volumes and "tune" themselves down. Be careful when listening to it loud - anything higher than 90db will damage your hearing if listened to continuously. Remember, you only have your hearing once.

Anyway, the reason I said that you don't need as much power as you think is that big amps are expensive. If you've got the money, definitely go for it. If not, I'd think you'll be happy with what you have right now.
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Well, i am looking a few used 120 - 200 WPC amps in my price range. Do you have any recommendations for stand alone/integrated amps with this kind of power? I don't need a receiver.
 
I run my TW1 with 35/w ch tubes. You don't need an arc welder to run these. I play my music loud too.
 
aramirez626 said:
Well, i am looking a few used 120 - 200 WPC amps in my price range. Do you have any recommendations for stand alone/integrated amps with this kind of power? I don't need a receiver.
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Yamaha amps come to mind, the early 80's ones. Great quality and look snazzy too. I can't think of any model numbers off the top of my head right now, but I'm sure someone else can chime in. The price is excellent and they provide a lot of power at low distortion numbers.
 
I have had great results with as low as a 23wpc Sansui and as high as a 125wpc Kenwood.
Currently my favorite with mine is a Pioneer SX-1050.
 
I've run mine with higher power stuff but think they sound best with my 65 watt Sansui 881, synergy I guess.
 
I think the Yamaha amps you were thinking of might be the M series i.e. M-40, M-65, M-80. They look to be brutes. I have a set of TW 1a's coming in the near future and I have a Crown XLS 602 so I may have an answer regarding how they sound in that configuration down the road.
 
I've run nine with a McIntosh 50wpc SS amp and that was plenty of power. I've also run them on my LK-72 tube amp,35 wpc, and also very nice. Even if they can take power, you can still easily over drive the woofers as I quickly discovered. Just an FYI.
 
GD70 said:
I've run nine with a McIntosh 50wpc SS amp and that was plenty of power. I've also run them on my LK-72 tube amp,35 wpc, and also very nice. Even if they can take power, you can still easily over drive the woofers as I quickly discovered. Just an FYI.
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Glen is correct. I am currently running mine with a Adcom 585/600 combo subbed out. The higher current really brings out the best in these speakers IMHO BUT they can easily be over driven to mayhem once the volume level gets turned North.

Point to me your options here are open, I find them very "source friendly". Up to your ears.
 
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