Questions about Preamps...

[Sounds Good]

As much as I would love to replace my 876 with a dedicated preamp like the 5508 or 80.3... the Wife would ring my neck...

Anyhow Ive been reading a lot about external amp and adding one/some to my 876.

I suppose a newbie question would be, How do you plan your amps? Meaning, do I get one 5ch, or a 3ch and a 2ch or some other combination.

For a while I was hung up on the fact that I "needed" balanced in/outs. Just recently I read that unless your doing long runs RCAs are just as good. Wonder why they dont make RCAs with some kind of grounding terminal.. making it a balanced RCA...

Anyhow thanks everyone..

If it helps my listening habits are, 30% Movies/ 20% High res audio/ 20% CD/ 30% Satellite radio.

[Grador]

Well you're in for some cost benefit analysis here. So it looks like you've outlined 70% music, do you feel that your movie watching could benefit too? If not, you could simply go for a 2ch which usually gets you the best power/price (though, on emotiva which I'm most familiar with, their 2ch is more expensive than the 3ch).

This though will leave your center and surrounds (i assume by your mention of 5ch amps that you have a 5.x setup) on your receiver. A popular choice is to go for a 3ch, to be used with the front speakers while leaving the surrounds powered by the receiver. I personally view this is probably the best option when not in the largest of rooms. The surrounds, not being the most critical of channels, will probably be just fine with whatever power the receiver can give to them, additionally after offloading the other 3 channels there will be more power reserve for dynamic peaks on the remaining two.

If you wanted to go for the gusto going and were willing to $$$ there's nothing wrong with going for a 5ch

[Sounds Good]

Wow, I never thought of that. Using a 3ch amp and leaving the surrounds to be powered by the receiver is a great idea!

I do currently have a 5.1 setup, only possible change is adding a second LFM-1.

Honestly all my listening is excellent, I just feel like there is some missing sound stage... Maybe more power would help.

It is a big room, it is L shaped..

[Grador]

I cannot really speak to how much an external amp will help you, but I can say that with the proximity to your surround speakers, you'd be just fine with a 3ch.

Also with a 3ch, if in the future you wanted to drive your wife nuts, you could get a beefier 2ch and use the 3 for center/surrounds!

[jcl]

I like the Energy Take 5 speakers. They sound really good for the money. However, they are small, don't have much bass, and can't handle that much power, 100 RMS. They are probably overwhelmed in that room.

I think your Onkyo has plenty of power for them. Any difference you hear from a new amp would be your imagination (or evidence of a poorly designed amp coloring the sound).

If you find your system lacking you're better off looking into new speakers rather than an amp. A second sub can certainly even out the bass response in the room, but I don't think it's going to help with soundstage.

[Grador]

I agree with JCL, didn't notice the speaker selection before. Beyond the power issues, you'd be far better off putting your money towards better speakers.

[fuzz092888]

Does anyone else see a problem here? One subwoofer for that huge space? That is way too much space to try and pressurize with one sub.

Couldn't a sound staging issue be because you're basically funneling sound down the L into a wider space or because you're 24 feet away from the front soundstage? You're almost 3 times the normal viewing/listening distance. I'd be interested in hearing an answer to that question, but I agree with the above, better speakers and another sub should come before you worry about stuff like an external amp.

[Sounds Good]

Sorry guys, I should have noted that I currently have SVS Towers and Outlaw Sub.. That diagram is old..

[jcl]

Does anyone else see a problem here? One subwoofer for that huge space? That is way too much space to try and pressurize with one sub.

Couldn't a sound staging issue be because you're basically funneling sound down the L into a wider space or because you're 24 feet away from the front soundstage? You're almost 3 times the normal viewing/listening distance. I'd be interested in hearing an answer to that question, but I agree with the above, better speakers and another sub should come before you worry about stuff like an external amp.

So with SVS ST 02's they're more up to the task. I think Fuzz is on to something. Subwoofer aside I think your room & seating arrangement are the issue. Sitting against the back wall you're probably in a null, and a long way from your speakers (and screen for that matter). Grab a chair that you can move easily and try changing your listening position to see if that helps.

Also, at 10' wide, that part of the room may not provide enough space to place the speakers away from the walls.

[fuzz092888]

I agree, you're front speakers need some room to breathe from the back wall and from the side walls. My guess is they're too close to at least the side walls. Again, distance is a big issue, try taking a seat and sitting inside the little slanted wall on the right side of the diagram. Hope that helps.