Help selecting amps / speakers please; new Claravox

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for any help you can give.  I've been trawling these and other forums for hours now, but without any real background in music, I feel a bit out of my league.

I've just purchased a Claravox Centennial theremin, and my wife and I love it.  We both played some music when younger, and are keen to slowly learn more about this instrument.  My wife has always wished to even see one in her lifetime, and is thrilled that we now have one of our own.

Anyhow, naively I imagined it would come all ready to play.  I now see I need to buy an amp at a minimum.  I have managed to use some headphones to hear the instrument at this stage only.  We are likely to have this theremin in a relatively small lounge room, nearish to our TV.  We don't need any super powerful amp obviously, as it will be just for use at home, but I'm more than happy to buy an expensive one if it was thought worthwhile.

I was wondering about the following few options for amps or speakers etc, and wondered if anyone could tell me if they sound reasonable or not.

I like the idea of these types of vintage-looking amps, that kind of fit the theme/look of the Claravox.  Would they work, or something similar?

(1) https://www.swamp.net.au/kustom-sienna-16-pro-1x8-acoustic-instrument-amplifier-16w?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjbe_-77MiAMVi9EWBR0jERh8EAYYAyABEgIeM_D_BwE

(2) https://www.riffsandlicks.com.au/fender-blues-jr-lacq-tweed-jnsn-c12n-15w

Or, and I know this might not be the audiophile way of doing things...  we don't have any kind of speaker setup for our TV at this stage.  Could I buy a high quality soundbar (for example https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/samsung-q990d-q-series-11-1-4-channel-soundbar-2024) to double as speakers for the TV and potentially run sound from the Claravox to it?  It seems only the very cheap soundbars have aux inputs, but could I run some sort of 1/4 inch to optical converter/adapter?  I have absolutely no idea if this is possible or even what I am talking about here.  It's all a bit of a new world for me.

Does the soundbar sound possible?  Or do those amps look good?  Or would you choose a different amp?  I've seen people say they would love a BOSE PA, but I don't know enough to know exactly which one they might be talking about.  There seem so many options!

Thanks all.  Complete novice, but I'll get there slowly.

    Hope you keep enjoying your Claravox.  You will be glad when you get an amp.  Makes a great difference and you feel the power of your instrument more.  I play mine through two amps at once. A keyboard amp and a bass amp.  I would recommend a bass amp or keyboard amp as they can handle output better.  Place the amp close, behind you maybe 4’to 8’ or so , and if possible elevate a bit.

  If you have a newer IPAD the app may be of interest.    The power of the editor in the app is fun to play with and does offer customization.  I have a stand up bass sound that is a lot of fun. I made a whistle sound I kind of like.  Many sounds are on app including G Blanc. Some are good. Others are not of much use but fun to play with and alter.

Keep having fun. There is no more intuitive instrument than a theremin.  It helps you listen.  It helps me on all my other instruments. My wife agrees with the listening that playing on Theremin requires enhances musicality overall.
A good amp will make your experience better so buy a nice one.  They don’t have to be expensive but worth buying quality as that is where the voice of your Theremin is expressed.

You and your wife will advance faster than you can imagine. Analog and Digital on the Claravox both have great aspects.  I wish the analog side had register change like digital side, and Etherwave Pro had.  Analog side would be greatly enhanced with this change.

Good Luck
Have fun

My observations with amplifiers:
Tube guitar amps (and even some solid state guitar amps) can work well, especially ones that have a decent amount of clean headroom. Acoustic amps can be good too, but a lot of the budget ones have some low frequency resonance which may not sound nice around some low tones. I got a quite expensive one, a Hughes & Kettner Era 1 but for only playing at home that would be overkill, and I think only the bigger ERA 2 is still in production. Roland Acoustic Singer amps have a good reputation. Bass amps, keyboard amps, full frequency response powered (monitor) speakers and small PA-setups usually are fine for theremin.

"Could I buy a high quality soundbar (for example https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/samsung-q990d-q-series-11-1-4-channel-soundbar-2024) to double as speakers for the TV and potentially run sound from the Claravox to it?  It seems only the very cheap soundbars have aux inputs, but could I run some sort of 1/4 inch to optical converter/adapter?  I have absolutely no idea if this is possible or even what I am talking about here.  It's all a bit of a new world for me."  - Mrukk

I have a nice Sony soundbar + subwoofer that someone gave me.  It has an optical TOSLINK input so my D-Lev can plug into it directly.  It sounds fine and seems loud enough to play to a medium sized room.

Powered "monitor" type speakers are another option I might pursue if I didn't know how to design my own speakers (which I do).

Stereo is good too, particularly if you are routing through a stereo reverb pedal (I use the FLAMMA FS02) - really opens things up.

Thanks very much for the thoughts and advice guys. Very helpful. I'll have to look at the app!

So the soundbar is an option. I'll think about that. 

Otherwise, a low wattage but nice tube amp I guess, as we are really just needing some sound for a single room. It doesn't need to be loud at all. Would I be happy enough with the speaker that came in a nice amp, or would you typically have the amp set up to some separate speakers? 

The more I look, the more confused I get.  On other theremin forums there are lots of people suggesting keyboard amps are better for their range than guitar amps.  There are people suggesting PA speakers/systems.  I guess the reality is for me it doesn't matter too much.  Even something super cheap is probably fine for a start.  It just seems that there are so many multitudes of options and different ways that people end up doing things (mixers/amps/pedals/speakers etc) that I feel I am keen to get something good from the start, rather than constantly finding I need something more/different.  But then that's probably the rabbit hole you go down whenever you get into something fun like this! 

Small tube combos between 1 and 5 Watt often have a small inefficient speaker and a small cabinet, which usually make those sound boxy and restricted. 

An amp that allows you to connect an external speaker cab (either a combo or a head only) will give much more flexibility, and with a larger, more efficient loudspeaker you'll need less Watts from the amp. One of my favorite at home setups is my theremin through a Vox ToneLab multi-FX/modeler into a Fender Pawnshop Greta (with the pre-amp tube swapped out for a lower gain type for some clean headroom) and finally a vintage 1950s extention speaker cabinet for radios, which turns out to be very efficient speaker (10") which matches the impedance the amp wants to see very well. This is just a 1.5 or 2 Watt amp (out of production) and with the built-in little 4" loudspeaker it doesn't get loud at all,  I did swap out the stock speaker for a better sounding one of the same size (Visaton R10S 8 Ohm wideband loudspeaker).

For what it’s worth, I’m using an Adam T5V with my claravox. It handles both low and high registers nicely, and is a lot cheaper an alternative to some of the amps you’ve linked to. See the link below (it’s on Amazon uk, but available on more ethical platforms including independent music retailers  !)

Link to the Adam

"Otherwise, a low wattage but nice tube amp I guess, as we are really just needing some sound for a single room. It doesn't need to be loud at all. Would I be happy enough with the speaker that came in a nice amp, or would you typically have the amp set up to some separate speakers?" - Mrukk

There's a big difference between speakers designed for PA (also guitar, bass, keyboard) use and for home stereo / monitor use.  The former trade smooth frequency response for efficiency, the latter vice-versa.  If you don't need to fill a larger space I'd recommend you go with the latter.  The Adam that Guillaume pointed to is a powered monitor, and I would recommend it or similar.  TV soundbars can be all over the place in terms of balanced bass and treble, sometimes overemphasizing bands in order to wow you in the showroom.  Powered monitors are nice because their aim is good frequency response, so they often employ DSP and exotic cabinetry towards that goal, and when you have DSP you can do more fancy stuff to protect the drivers against overload.

Thanks very much guys.  That's really helpful.  I think perhaps I'll look into the powered monitor option.  The Adam one looks good, and I'll have a think about whether that will work or something similar.

Thanks again!