Receiver/pre-amp-with/without Amplifier

[johnnyfire617]

Hello All,

I have been doing a lot of research the last year or so with home theater systems and am having a hard time deciding on the set up i would like to use. Mainly i have been looking over specs from hundreds of different speakers, receivers, and amplifiers. My question is should I spend the extra money on amplifiers when most new pre-amps are able to produce enough power to push most high end theater speakers? In my research on average, theater speakers range from 80-125 watts rms on most good quality speakers and that is the same output of some upper scaled receivers per channel, with matching frequencies. Please let me know what you guys think, i have been a forum reader for quite sometime, and have learned a ton from the discussions. Thanks for all the Great Knowledge.

Johnny

 

[bikdav]

My thought

If I understand your question correctly, you'll get the best "bang for you buck" with a good receiver. Marantz, Yamaha, Pioneer Elite, Onkyo all make higher end receivers that make separates an unnecessary expense.

 

[slipperybidness]

Hello All,

I have been doing a lot of research the last year or so with home theater systems and am having a hard time deciding on the set up i would like to use. Mainly i have been looking over specs from hundreds of different speakers, receivers, and amplifiers. My question is should I spend the extra money on amplifiers when most new pre-amps are able to produce enough power to push most high end theater speakers? In my research on average, theater speakers range from 80-125 watts rms on most good quality speakers and that is the same output of some upper scaled receivers per channel, with matching frequencies. Please let me know what you guys think, i have been a forum reader for quite sometime, and have learned a ton from the discussions. Thanks for all the Great Knowledge.

Johnny

Either you are confused or you mis-typed the part about pre-amps producing power for speakers.

You either want a reciever or a pre-amp and amp combo.

No pre-amp (that I know of) is going to power any speakers. That is the job of the power amplifier. Otherwise, it would be an integrated amp (i.e. the pre-amp and amp are in the same chassis.

 

[derrickdj1]

avr vs amp

This question should be looked at from two or more points of view. If the avr has the Class D internal amp vs the Class A/B internal amp. With the Class A/B internal amps used for HT, the addition of a power amp may be needed. These type of avr's have a significant power drop when driving a home theater setup. The new Class D avr can hold there power rating driving all the speaker in a HT better than the Class A/B. The type of speaker used is also an important consideration. 6 or 4 ohm speaker are more demanding on the avr. Speaker sensitivity is another factor. If you are really into audio, the an amp may be in the picture down the road. If space is limited then a good class D avr is best. It would be informative if an engineer for one of the amp companies address the issue of using an amp with the newer Class D avr's since many of them are making their power amps with the Class D model. The extra watts mean little if the avr's have plenty of power. Most people are most likely not using 60 -80 watts of power on a regular basis. I have Klipsch speakers and with 2 watts the speaker are going pretty good.

 

[agarwalro]

A gross generalisation based on speaker power demand would be that, a 7.1 receiver with pre-outs and a 3-channel amp to drive L/C/R will give best bang for buck in home theater use.