[SOLVED] Recommended amplifier power for Infinity IL10 speakers

[Laban007]

I have an old Denon AVR-1713 that just gave up the ghost, so I need to get a new AV receiver. I am considering the Denon AVR-760H (Costco) or 750H, both are 75W per channel (2 channels).

My speakers are a pair of Infinity IL10 (only), which I like a lot. I do not anticipate getting surround sound speakers in the foreseeable future - I mainly listen to music, with an occasional movie every now and then.

Question: is 75W / channel enough for these speakers to "sound their best?" The official spec says 15W - 150W @ 8Ohms, but I came across a post claiming that "The IL10, matched with the right amp, at least 120 watts, setup correct and certain distance from the wall, they will sound better than you could imagine" (Infinity Systems IL10 Floorstanding Speakers user reviews : 4.5 out of 5 - 58 reviews - audioreview.com).

Is this really correct that you really need 120W or more to make them sound really good?

I like to get a Denon, but do would rather not spend the kind of money that their 120W AV receivers cost; there is the Denon DRA-800H which is 100W, but will it really make a noticeable difference in sound quality versus the 75W of the AVR-760H?

Help with this would be much appreciated.

 

[kerberos_20]

they do support bi-amp, so you could use Denon AVR-760H with 4 channels stereo (2x75watt per speaker)
https://manualsbrain.com/en/manuals/1134276/?page=5

 

[Laban007]

@kerberos_20 I have never done that before. On the AVR-760 I would normally just connect Front (R) and Front (L) to the left & right speakers, but to what connections on the AVR-760 would the second pair of speaker cables connect to?

 

[kerberos_20]

front left and surround left for left speaker
front right and surround right for right speaker
dont forget to remove those metal clips on speakers

then in avr just set it up as 4 speakers - front + surround and enable 4channel stereo

 

[Laban007]

@kerberos_20 Great, I'll get the AVR-760 and give that a try! Thanks!!

 

[Laban007]

@kerberos_20 Just reporting back: I got the AVR-760H yesterday and hooked it up with front left + surround left to the left speaker and front right + surround right to the right speaker and set the AVR to "Multi-Channel Stereo" (https://manuals.denon.com/AVRS960H/NA/EN/DRDZSYyrtgycpw.php), but it did not sound very good - it sounded distinctly muffled. I made sure that the wiring was correct (in-phase and that the font speaker connections went to the lower terminals on the speakers and the surround connections went to the upper, per the speaker manual). I also tried to switch the wiring so that the front-speaker connections went to the upper terminals, but that made it really bad (virtually no bass at all).

I then removed the second cable pair and put the cross-over plate in place as it was originally and the speakers sounded like they should again. Actually the sound is perfectly okay for my needs even with only 75W per channel, so I will probably just leave it like that, but I am curious if you have any ideas of why the bi-amp wiring sounded so muffled?

 

[kerberos_20]

@kerberos_20 Just reporting back: I got the AVR-760H yesterday and hooked it up with front left + surround left to the left speaker and front right + surround right to the right speaker and set the AVR to "Multi-Channel Stereo" (https://manuals.denon.com/AVRS960H/NA/EN/DRDZSYyrtgycpw.php), but it did not sound very good - it sounded distinctly muffled. I made sure that the wiring was correct (in-phase and that the font speaker connections went to the lower terminals on the speakers and the surround connections went to the upper, per the speaker manual). I also tried to switch the wiring so that the front-speaker connections went to the upper terminals, but that made it really bad (virtually no bass at all).

I then removed the second cable pair and put the cross-over plate in place as it was originally and the speakers sounded like they should again. Actually the sound is perfectly okay for my needs even with only 75W per channel, so I will probably just leave it like that, but I am curious if you have any ideas of why the bi-amp wiring sounded so muffled?

hmm thats probably some setting on your AVR, its called dynamic range or can be seen as speaker size (ie small speaker on surround) or crossovers setup with different frequencies than your speakers can produce
bi-amp shouldnt sound muffled, see speaker settings

https://manuals.denon.com/AVRS960H/NA/EN/GFNFSYcrpfrlsu.php
surround is by default set as small speaker, set it to large, that will give it full range

 

[Laban007]

Ok, I played with various settings but missed the speaker size for surround. Thanks again for your help!