Looking for a nice amp to power Celestion sl-12s

[gravity113]

My father-in-law recently passed and left me some amazing speakers. I know these require a lot of power.. they say 150w on the back near the speaker terminals.

What would be a good amp pairing for them? Aesthetically, I really like Marantz, Sansui, and McIntosh. In a perfect world, I'd like to spend less than 500, and even less than that if I can get away with it. At the end of the day, my first requirement is making them sound really good though. Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

[rothwellaudio]

I know these require a lot of power.. they say 150w on the back near the speaker terminals.

That doesn't mean they require a lot of power, it means they can handle a lot of power.
Having said that, the sensitivity of the Celestions is quite low (about 86dB, I think) so they'll need more power than more sensitive speakers would for the same SPL.
Still, personally I wouldn't be overly concerned with the power the amplifier for them. Anything but flea power would get them loud enough for me.

 

[coonmanx]

Maybe you should see what is available and post that up. I presonally am a Technics guy and an SU-V707 would do the job nicely. Denon is also a good brand if you can find a decent amp out there.

 

[gravity113]

There is a guy locally who has an old Quad 405-2 and a Marantz 140. Looking at both of those.

I should also mention the reason I'm looking at an amp at all is because I've got a Yamaha RX-V685 7.1 system and I just don't think I'm powering the 2 fronts adequately enough. Since I'm just using the amp to power the 2 fronts, I'm hoping there isn't any real downside of using a vintage amp with more modern gear..