Dedicated power amp? do I need one? how much am I missing?

[MikeM231]

First of all I love this site, i browse often but rarely post. I am getting back in into home theater, and have a few questions about my current setup, and if a dedicated amp will do anything for me. My system includes.
Aperion Grand Fronts, center, and the dipole/bipole surrounds 1st version on all of them.
Yamaha 3040 aventage
Oppo 103D
Rythmik fv15hp X2.


The amp brands I was looking at. Outlaw, Emotiva, Monoprice.

I recently moved to a different house, and can now play it a bit louder. being that all my speaker are crossed over above 80hz will more power make them better in any way. Is my 3040 under powering them? Any thoughts yall might have would be great.

 

[lovinthehd]

Are you running into clipping/distortion now with the 3040? Have you tried using an spl calculator to approximate the power needed for a given spl level at your seat? Since it takes a doubling of amp power to gain merely 3dB spl, amp power only gets you so far. You have the Aperion Verus Grand Towers or Bookshelfs?

 

[ski2xblack]

This might help.

 

[BryceH]

I'm looking at buying the verus grand 2s (towers, center, and 2 bookshelves) and was wondering the same thing. My receiver is the rx-a 850. I have a rythmik fv15hp. My speakers right now are polk tsi400 towers, cs10 center and tsi 200 bookshelves.

Looking for what the next step should be.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

As long as your AVR has pre-outs, you can always add an external amp if you NEED.

IMO, most people do not NEED external amps and most of the times, adding external amps won't improve anything.

If your system sounds good and performs normally, you most likely don't NEED an external amp.

Now, there's nothing wrong if WANT an external amp.

 

[BryceH]

Appreciate the feedback! I'm new to all of this and have been doing a lot of reading. I like to crank the music up to around 0 dB on the reveiver at times. At that level, the music doesn't sound as clear to me, but I'm not sure what exactly to listen for. Its definitely loud, but that way i can hear it clearly in other parts of the house too.
I don't mind ruining a pair of tsi's as much as I would the verus's when I get them. I don't know if playing the receiver in 7 channel stereo at 0 dB is potentially harmful, or what wattage the receiver is being tasked for.

 

[BryceH]

Just thought I should add that the speakers are set to small and crossed at 80hz.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

You need to get a SPL meter to measure how loud that really is.

At that volume, does it sound good far away from outside the room?

 

[BryceH]

Yes, sounds fine to me from outside the room. Probably sounds weird inside the room because it's blasting 7 channels all to the 1 chair I eq'd the system for.

I bought an OLD radioshack spl meter. just need to figure out how to use it... Do I need test tones or can I just blast music off the iPod and measure? I ask because my computer died on me so youtube via the roku is the only other way I have of listening, and I don't think that is the proper sound quality. I'll try whatever though.