Beginner's Setup - needs help!

B

Bar907

Enthusiast
I am building my HT at home. I don't know where to begin and the first thing I did is to buy my speakers and amplifiers. I just bought Martin Logan motion 40 for my front and motion 50xt for my center and I also bought emotiva xpa3 to power up these speakers. The problem now is how to find the correct receiver to power up my xpa3 and my amplifier. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Just be sure the avr has a full set of pre-outs so you can use your external amp. I would have gotten the avr first, then see if an external amp is even needed, but that's me. If I were shopping right now I'd be looking at a Denon X3300.
 
Bucknekked

Bucknekked

Audioholic Samurai
Just be sure the avr has a full set of pre-outs so you can use your external amp. I would have gotten the avr first, then see if an external amp is even needed, but that's me. If I were shopping right now I'd be looking at a Denon X3300.
I agree on the sequence. With todays top end AVR's, a separate amp (no matter how capable) may not bring any audible benefit. I have about 5 decades of buying audio hardware behind me. I have bought lots of equipment that had zero, or less than zero, audible benefit. Its one of the hardest lessons to get a handle on: don't buy stuff until you can prove its going to be something you can actually hear.

I would agree with lovinthehd: there are a couple of AVRs you can't go wrong with. I've been running Denon for several generations. No complaints. I've always wanted a Marantz, just for the cool factor. Again, top end Marantz and you also can't go wrong. From there, I suppose its a smorgasboard of choices. I will stick with just Denon and Marantz on my list. You're going to get what you want to anyway. :)
 
S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Yamaha also makes good AVRs. I used to recommend Pioneers, but then they were purchased by Onkyo.
 
B

Bar907

Enthusiast
Just be sure the avr has a full set of pre-outs so you can use your external amp. I would have gotten the avr first, then see if an external amp is even needed, but that's me. If I were shopping right now I'd be looking at a Denon X3300.
Well it's a newbee mistake. I was so excited to buy things and ended up with confusion. The speaker needs 20-300w and I thought no receiver can accomodate that wattage so buying external amp would be my option. If I sell my Xpa3, is there any receiver that can power my speaker to at least 200watts?
 
B

Bar907

Enthusiast
I agree on the sequence. With todays top end AVR's, a separate amp (no matter how capable) may not bring any audible benefit. I have about 5 decades of buying audio hardware behind me. I have bought lots of equipment that had zero, or less than zero, audible benefit. Its one of the hardest lessons to get a handle on: don't buy stuff until you can prove its going to be something you can actually hear.

I would agree with lovinthehd: there are a couple of AVRs you can't go wrong with. I've been running Denon for several generations. No complaints. I've always wanted a Marantz, just for the cool factor. Again, top end Marantz and you also can't go wrong. From there, I suppose its a smorgasboard of choices. I will stick with just Denon and Marantz on my list. You're going to get what you want to anyway. :)
Can you please give me some model to choose from if I just only use the speaker without the ext amp? If I don't use ext amp, can I still get the quality of sound from my speaker? Sorry I don't know nothing about setup. I'm just relying on youtube how to do it.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Well it's a newbee mistake. I was so excited to buy things and ended up with confusion. The speaker needs 20-300w and I thought no receiver can accomodate that wattage so buying external amp would be my option. If I sell my Xpa3, is there any receiver that can power my speaker to at least 200watts?
No worries, you're supposed to enjoy the experience and sometimes buying stuff does that, too. Your speakers may be able to use up to 200 watts, but do you want to listen that loudly? Keep in mind you only gain 3dB spl with a doubling of power, so the difference between a 100w/ch amp and a 200w/ch amp is only 3dB (which isn't a lot). You might try using an spl calculator like this to get an idea of the relationship of speaker sensitivity (a more useful spec than a wattage range), distance and power needed for a given loudness level. If you listen at elevated spls the amp just may be worth having.
 
B

Bar907

Enthusiast
I probably go for Marantz without my external amp. Can you pls provide me some model that I can choose from so I don't commit the same mistake again? Do bi-amping helps the quality of sound?
 
Bucknekked

Bucknekked

Audioholic Samurai
Bar907

Yup, buying stuff and not being sure if you got the right stuff is all part of the learning curve sometimes.
Like lovinthehd said, just because a speaker is rated at 200watts doesn't mean you want to put 200 watts of power on it. Really, many of those specs are pretty useless in practical application. There are many designs and quality listening rooms that never, ever use more than 20 watts of power per channel.

So, rest at ease. There's probably not a need for pumping big wattage at your speakers. Your speakers are rated as 92db speakers. That puts them right in the middle (opinion) between less sensitive (requiring more power to make sound) and very sensitive (requiring very little power to make sound). Your choice of speakers puts you right in the average rating (my opinion) for power required. The ones you chose look like a choice that should produce outstanding sound, not just good or average. So it looks like your speaker choice is all good and no worries.

The Emotiva XPA3 amp is another superb quality device. Emotiva has been reviewed on Audioholics as a line of amps and scored very high marks. Good price performer. Your choice of amp is excellent (again, an opinion) in terms of being able to amplify sound with little distortion and lots of headroom.

So far you are batting a 1000 with your choices. You may have spent far more money than you needed to for the results you will hear, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with the quality of your choices. For stereo listening, (2 channel listening) you're already done. Plug in some source material and you are rocking the casbah. For HT, you probably need a receiver in front of the power amp because the receiver will decode the multi-channel information (5.1 or 7.1 or xx.1) to feed a HT setup.

I hesitate to recommend a specific model because nowadays manufacturers put a model on the market, let it sell out, and then here comes the replacement model. The product cycle is so fast that by the time one specific model gets reviewed, its already on its way out. Manufacturers however and product families however do have staying power. So its much safer to recommend a manufacturer thats got a track record than it is to try and pick a specific model.

If I were looking, I would be looking hard at AVR's from these guys: Marantz, Denon and Yamaha. That's not to say others aren't as good. Its just that I have owned these, or , know people who have. Audioholics also has reviews you can look at for AVRs. They are done with no agenda in mind or kickbacks to the writers. Fairly safe to have confidence in.

Part of the hobby is a little confusion and apprehension. Hopefully, there's also a great big bunch of enjoyment too as you get to fire this stuff up and listen. Your choices so far are pretty cool items that should sound great when you get it all organized
 
B

Bar907

Enthusiast
Bar907

Yup, buying stuff and not being sure if you got the right stuff is all part of the learning curve sometimes.
Like lovinthehd said, just because a speaker is rated at 200watts doesn't mean you want to put 200 watts of power on it. Really, many of those specs are pretty useless in practical application. There are many designs and quality listening rooms that never, ever use more than 20 watts of power per channel.

So, rest at ease. There's probably not a need for pumping big wattage at your speakers. Your speakers are rated as 92db speakers. That puts them right in the middle (opinion) between less sensitive (requiring more power to make sound) and very sensitive (requiring very little power to make sound). Your choice of speakers puts you right in the average rating (my opinion) for power required. The ones you chose look like a choice that should produce outstanding sound, not just good or average. So it looks like your speaker choice is all good and no worries.

The Emotiva XPA3 amp is another superb quality device. Emotiva has been reviewed on Audioholics as a line of amps and scored very high marks. Good price performer. Your choice of amp is excellent (again, an opinion) in terms of being able to amplify sound with little distortion and lots of headroom.

So far you are batting a 1000 with your choices. You may have spent far more money than you needed to for the results you will hear, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with the quality of your choices. For stereo listening, (2 channel listening) you're already done. Plug in some source material and you are rocking the casbah. For HT, you probably need a receiver in front of the power amp because the receiver will decode the multi-channel information (5.1 or 7.1 or xx.1) to feed a HT setup.

I hesitate to recommend a specific model because nowadays manufacturers put a model on the market, let it sell out, and then here comes the replacement model. The product cycle is so fast that by the time one specific model gets reviewed, its already on its way out. Manufacturers however and product families however do have staying power. So its much safer to recommend a manufacturer thats got a track record than it is to try and pick a specific model.

If I were looking, I would be looking hard at AVR's from these guys: Marantz, Denon and Yamaha. That's not to say others aren't as good. Its just that I have owned these, or , know people who have. Audioholics also has reviews you can look at for AVRs. They are done with no agenda in mind or kickbacks to the writers. Fairly safe to have confidence in.

Part of the hobby is a little confusion and apprehension. Hopefully, there's also a great big bunch of enjoyment too as you get to fire this stuff up and listen. Your choices so far are pretty cool items that should sound great when you get it all organized
I probably won't use the xpa3 anymore. I will just look for a receiver that can handle my speakers. 100w and 200w don't differ anyway, so probably a receiver that can handle 125 to 135w is enough for me.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Denon and Marantz are sister brands fwiw and their models at the top of their ranges have the most robust amp sections. Hard to recommend gear without details of usage. What speaker format do you want? How big is your room? What are you doing for a subwoofer? Budget?
 
B

Bar907

Enthusiast
The dedicated rom is 10x20 top of garage room. Don't have a budget to buy all what is needed, so I bought it one at a time. My proposed setup is only 5.1. I got already the 2 fronts and center, and in a couple of weeks I am buying the svs pb2000 for my sub and svs prime for my sat. I probably just need a good receiver to just power up these speakers. Usage is 50% music and 50% movies.
 
Bucknekked

Bucknekked

Audioholic Samurai
The dedicated rom is 10x20 top of garage room. Don't have a budget to buy all what is needed, so I bought it one at a time. My proposed setup is only 5.1. I got already the 2 fronts and center, and in a couple of weeks I am buying the svs pb2000 for my sub and svs prime for my sat. I probably just need a good receiver to just power up these speakers. Usage is 50% music and 50% movies.
I like the SVS choices. Plenty of folks on this forum can echo that choice. Great price performers. Sounds like once you get your AVR choice in place, you will be on to the next phase of the project: making it sound great. So far, you have quality stuff.
 
B

Bar907

Enthusiast
I like the SVS choices. Plenty of folks on this forum can echo that choice. Great price performers. Sounds like once you get your AVR choice in place, you will be on to the next phase of the project: making it sound great. So far, you have quality stuff.
Thanks for the compliment. I'm also excited for the result, but I need a good receiver to drive my speakers. Can 125w/ch enough and just bi-amp the front to get 250w/spkr? Is my computation of wattage correct?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
What kind of sources do you want to hook into the setup? Do you need wifi streaming in the unit? Radio? Consider just a pre-pro like the Emotiva BASX MC700? and get another two channels of amp?

Your speaker/sub plan sounds solid in any case. I think you'll probably be fine with an avr, if you want more power than the X3300 maybe go all the way up the line with the Denon 7200 if its within the budget, maybe the top of the line Marantz, the 7011.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
B

Bar907

Enthusiast
What kind of sources do you want to hook into the setup? Do you need wifi streaming in the unit? Radio? Consider just a pre-pro like the Emotiva BASX MC700? and get another two channels of amp?

Your speaker/sub plan sounds solid in any case. I think you'll probably be fine with an avr, if you want more power than the X3300 maybe go all the way up the line with the Denon 7200 if its within the budget, maybe the top of the line Marantz, the 7011.
Marantz has AV and SR model. I might not use my xpa3 anymore, can I get the SR model and just bi-amp the front for more wattage?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Marantz has AV and SR model. I might not use my xpa3 anymore, can I get the SR model and just bi-amp the front for more wattage?
If you want more wattage keep the XPA3. I usually just use the model number but AV refers to the Marantz line of pre-pros (no on-board amps) and SR are the AVRs. MM is the line of amplifiers from Marantz.
 
B

Bar907

Enthusiast
If you want more wattage keep the XPA3. I usually just use the model number but AV refers to the Marantz line of pre-pros (no on-board amps) and SR are the AVRs. MM is the line of amplifiers from Marantz.
If I choose the SR (AVRs), how to connect my xpa3 to SR. The un/balanced input has different plug from SR receiver. The other input of xpa3 has only one plug per speaker whereas the output from from SR has two per speaker. The other input of xpa3 has like a female socket with 3 small holes, and that I cannot see in SR receiver.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
If I choose the SR (AVRs), how to connect my xpa3 to SR. The un/balanced input has different plug from SR receiver. The other input of xpa3 has only one plug per speaker whereas the output from from SR has two per speaker. The other input of xpa3 has like a female socket with 3 small holes, and that I cannot see in SR receiver.
You would utilize the SR avr's pre-outs (pre-amplifier outputs) to connect an external amp. On the SRs they are rca type connectors, and your XPA3 has rca inputs so just need a simple rca coax cable per channel to connect them. Your XPA3 has two types of input, RCA (unbalanced) and XLR (balanced); if you used the AV pre-pro series I believe they have both rca and XLR connection options. I think you're looking at the amplifier output speaker terminals when there are two connections per channel.
 
newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top