Power amp for jbl l112 - upgrading my system

[arpod]

Hello everybody this is my first post so thank you all ahead of time!

Currently using a Marantz 2230 preamp feeding an Adcom 5300 and listening through Tannoy PBM 8s. I have a Yamaha SW100 subwoofer (originally designed to mate NS10s). The Tannoys are filling in for Dynaudio BM6 (passive) which are in the shop. I also have a Parasound HCA-800ii that needs servicing.

Overall I’m pretty happy with the setup especially with the dynaudios but I can hear there’s a lot of room for improvement.

So here’s my question: I am getting my dad’s old jbl l112s - they have been serviced and sound great and I think I need to upgrade my system to get the most out of those speakers. I’ve always heard that those speakers need a lot of power - as in 300w / channel ideally.

Budget is ideally under 1k. So should I get
1) Schiit Vidal run it in stereo and one day upgrade to dual mono blocks
2) get a used adcom or parasound or carver that puts out 250w/ch
3) crown xls 1500 with a schiit saga pre and maybe a little tube rolling.
4) Avantone CLA-200 - looks like a pretty good deal for 200w/ch class A/B and balanced ins. Looks cool too.

I’m leaning towards the Vidar as I think being able to add a second one down the line makes a lot of sense. I guess I’m just wondering it will be a little underpowered when run in stereo and if the crown with its ample power wouldn’t do a better job controlling the low end on the JBLs

wildcard is the avantone cla which nobody seems to ever have heard of.
Thanks again!

 

[Frank Sol]

From memory... JBL L112 are not hard to drive

Lot of watts would not be high on my list

SQ match would

 

[goodolpg]

You would NEVER use 300 watts to play music. Are you planning on doing live concert level shows?
Many times 10-20 watts or less is enough for moderate to loud listening levels.
Those JBL's are 89 db efficient and 100 watts (IEC specification*) is the allowable input according to specs I found.
That said, more power, USED WISELY, i almost always a good thing.


*Hopefully someone smarter than me can explain what that means.

 

[jdurbin1]

300W was their upper end power handling, and that was when the drivers were new.

Although I have run my L150A's off bridged 300W Sony ES amps (TA-N55ES) I've mostly used either a 80WPC Tandberg receiver or Sansui AU-717 for my L112's, or sometimes a 150 WPC Tandberg 3006A. The Sansui and Tandberg receiver were plenty sufficient in a modest room, and I literally only used the bigger amps at other times because 1) they were there, and 2) why not?!

John

 

[arpod]

Not needing more than 100wpc makes sense to me and lines up with my prior experiences listening to speakers powered by either vintage receivers or 80wpc power amps. From what I understand the suggestion to have a higher wattage amp has to do with controlling the bass and dynamic range. I don't know though it's all theoretical to me. I ended up ordering a Schiit Vidar because it's highly regarded, I'll be using other Schiit gear and it looks cool. It is backordered so maybe when it arrives I'll pick up a Crown XLS 1502 and compare them and return the one that doesn't sound as good. The Avantone was really tempting as it seems to be a solid old school class a/b SS amp like the old yamahas and haflers that are found powering the monitors in so many studios. At the end of the day though it's 100 bucks more, relatively untested and the specs aren't quite as hifi as the schiit. The Vidar has a input higher impedance and I imagine it will just pair really well with their Saga+ preamp. Thanks again for your input and if you have anything else you would like to add please do.