Best way to balance amplifier workload ?

[XEagleDriver]

QUESTION. Looking to best balance the amplification load on two receivers of nearly equal "advertised" amplifier power driving one 5.1 set-up.

BACKGROUND.
- Speaker set is PSB Image T45 fronts (A mains), C40 center, and B15 surrounds, plus an additional set of Def Tech PM1000 (B mains) all in the same room.
- The "active" receiver is a Denon 988 (110W x 7), the second receiver is a Yammy 659 (100W x 7) being used only as an external amplifier (pure direct mode) from the Denon's preamp outs.
- The Yammy will only allow selecting A or B main speakers, the Denon will allow selecting A, B, or A&B mains. Therefore, I intend to keep the A-Mains on a separate receiver from B-Mains to have the flexability to use Denon's A&B setting when I want, and avoid an unecessary low impedance load on the Denon.


Any Forum vet's advice/opinion on best division of labor scheme would work be greatly appreciated. For the curious, I arrived in this situation from replacing the 659 with a 988 (HDMI, new codecs, Audessy, etc.) and figured I might as well productivly use the 659's decent amplifiers until I can afford a "true" multi-channel external amp in the future. Resale value on the getting long-in-the-tooth 659 not real hot.


OPTIONS. Some options I thought of thus far are:

Option 1: A-Mains from the Yammy, all else (Center, Surrounds, B-Mains) from the Denon.
Rationale: Use the "external" amp to drive the two-channel music portion of the system. Division of labor: 5 speakers Denon, 2 speakers Yammy.

Option 2: A-Mains & Center from Denon, all else (Surrounds & B-Mains) from Yammy.
Rationale: Put the entire front sound stage on the Denon. Division of labor: 3 speakers Denon, 4 speakers Yammy.

Option 3: A-Mains & Surrounds to the Denon, all else (Center & B-Mains) to the Yammy.
Rationale: Assumes for most material the two surrounds would pull less total power then the center channel.
Division of labor: 4 speakers Denon, 3 speakers Yammy.

Option 4: ??? Looking for other ideas.

I realize this question is fairly academic, and may not result in any whiz bang sound difference, but it could help with the occasional loud music passage or movie scene. Also thought a smart set-up may better protect/preserve the amp sections.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Nomo]

Maybe a silly thought:
Have you considered selling the Yamaha and looking at a dedicated 2 or 5 channel amp?
The 659 was a great receiver and I suspect it's resale value is quite good. maybe even enough to get you a good start on Behringer, Yamaha or Emotiva amp.

Call me crazy, just a thought.

 

[XEagleDriver]

Nomo,

Not silly at all, thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I don't anticipate being able to purchase any amp for several months--recent upgrades plus other expenses have tapped out wife's fiscal patience (economic uncertainty not helping either!).

I may be wrong, but I did not anticipate a 659 would bring in enough $$ to narrow the gap enough since it is a couple AVR generations back.

Also, I would rather buy a bit higher end amp for the long term (Sunfire?), vice a less capable amp now and probably get the upgrade bug again later.

Looking for ideas/thoughts on how others have divided the speaker load to optimize what I have available now in the interim.

 

[Nomo]

Like you said it may somewhat acedemic but my IMO: I'd let the Yamaha drive the mains you plan to drive the hardest. I'd trust the amp section in the 659 over that of the Denon to do a better job at higher volumes, despite the wpc ratings.