Mixing two amplifier brands?

[JDmsz]

Is it recommended to keep all external amplifiers in the same brand? Or it really doesn't matter? I was planning to buy legacy powerbloc 2 amplifier for my front two towers and use my current emotiva a300 for my surrounds and have the rest of the speakers powered by my Denon x4200w

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

Not a problem – people mix and match amplifiers all the time.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[TechHDS]

Is it recommended to keep all external amplifiers in the same brand? Or it really doesn't matter? I was planning to buy legacy powerbloc 2 amplifier for my front two towers and use my current emotiva a300 for my surrounds and have the rest of the speakers powered by my Denon x4200w

Roll on and Rock Out!. Both amps are from very reputable companies.

 

[highfigh]

Is it recommended to keep all external amplifiers in the same brand? Or it really doesn't matter? I was planning to buy legacy powerbloc 2 amplifier for my front two towers and use my current emotiva a300 for my surrounds and have the rest of the speakers powered by my Denon x4200w

If you're using the Emotiva for the front speakers, you're already mixing brands.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yeah, people mix amps all the time.

But just out of curiosity and fun, why the Legacy ICEpower Class-D Amp ?

Is it because you have Legacy speakers?

Do you have any information on the Slew Rate, SNR, Crosstalk ?

 

[lovinthehd]

All although I don't agree with the first part of your statement. I do believe the amp in his Denon is very capable of driving his front left and right mains up to and even pass reference levels.

He's using the Denon and Emotiva amps already, so he's already mixing the amp brands....why he thinks he needs either the Legacy or Emotiva power amps particularly he hasn't explained...

 

[TechHDS]

He's using the Denon and Emotiva amps already, so he's already mixing the amp brands....why he thinks he needs either the Legacy or Emotiva power amps particularly he hasn't explained...

True, I took what he was conveying out of context. Thxs

 

[JDmsz]

He's using the Denon and Emotiva amps already, so he's already mixing the amp brands....why he thinks he needs either the Legacy or Emotiva power amps particularly he hasn't explained...

It's a slim design and I wanted to get the most wattage my speakers polk audio lsim 707 could handle

 

[lovinthehd]

Yeah, people mix amps all the time.

But just out of curiosity and fun, why the Legacy ICEpower Class-D Amp ?

Is it because you have Legacy speakers?

Do you have any information on the Slew Rate, SNR, Crosstalk ?

https://www.audioholics.com/amplifier-reviews/legacy-audio-powerbloc2-dual-mono-amplifier-preview

 

[lovinthehd]

It's a slim design and I wanted to get the most wattage my speakers polk audio lsim 707 could handle

Hadn't noticed how slim they were. I'd just get a Crown XLS 1502 or 2002 and save the $.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

https://legacyaudio.com/images/uploads/manuals/discontinued/powerbloc5.pdf

I was looking at the Legacy PowerBloc5's manual and it reads:

"The front end is designed to provide a slew rate of 50 V/µs."

It's "designed to", but what is the slew rate actually? Just wondering.

 

[JDmsz]

https://legacyaudio.com/images/uploads/manuals/discontinued/powerbloc5.pdf

I was looking at the Legacy PowerBloc5's manual and it reads:

"The front end is designed to provide a slew rate of 50 V/µs."

It's "designed to", but what is the slew rate actually?

How does slew rate affects power amplifiers?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

How does slew rate affects power amplifiers?

Well, @PENG and others can explain more about slew rate.

But if "Damping Factor" affects the Bass, then "Slew Rate" affects the Treble.

What's also "alarming" is that I can't find any documents that say what the SNR is!

For all we know the SNR could be the same as the $500 Crown XLS 2502, which is 103dB at full rated power. The Power output is 440W into 8 ohms and 775W into 4 ohms.

 

[JDmsz]

Hadn't noticed how slim they were. I'd just get a Crown XLS 1502 or 2002 and save the $.

Okay, if I was to use the crown amp, would I Max out the gain limiter and have the avr to control the volume?

 

[JDmsz]

Well, @PENG and others can explain more about slew rate.

But if "Damping Factor" affects the Bass, then "Slew Rate" affects the Treble.

What's also "alarming" is that I can't find any documents that say what the SNR of the Legacy amps is!

For all we know the SNR could be the same as the $500 Crown XLS 2502, which is 103dB at full rated power. The Power output is 440W into 8 ohms and 775W into 4 ohms.

Yeah I'm doing some research on the crown amps. However, they do have good power ratings but what draws me away is that they're cheap looking.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yeah I'm doing some research on the crown amps. However, they do have good power ratings but what draws me away is that they're cheap looking.

Yeah, if my amps were not hidden, I wouldn't be displaying any pro amps either.

If I had to display these pro amps, I would probably buy some good looking inexpensive HTPC cases and put these amps inside them. They vent in the rear anyway. Kind of like "building" my own amps.

For example, would these pro amps fit inside these $50 HTPC cases (I would remove that SilverStone logo )?

 

[lovinthehd]

Okay, if I was to use the crown amp, would I Max out the gain limiter and have the avr to control the volume?

You may not need to max out the gain on the amp, depends on your pre's output level. On my avrs I generally don't need to max it out but doing so to start wouldn't make a huge difference. Yes, you'd use the avr to control volume once you've calibrated the speakers.

They aren't the prettiest things, but I don't tend to look at my avr/amps as decorations either. At least the gen 2's (xxx2) are black rather than silverish like the 1500s like I have, so they should be a bit easier to not notice. I place mine on my rack's bottom shelf and pushed back from the front of the rack (the amps are not very deep) so they're not all that noticeable anyways, altho I did have to cover the intense panel light (light is adjustable on gen2). They do have power triggers on the gen2 amps and are bit different from most consumer amps, or you can use a smart power strip as I do (gen 1 didn't have the trigger).

Just a thought for consideration, aesthetically not for all....

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Okay, if I was to use the crown amp, would I Max out the gain limiter and have the avr to control the volume?

Definitely more than one way to do it. When I owned the XLS 2500 (1st gen), I did turn the gain on the XLS to 100% max and then used the AVR to Control the Trim Levels and Volume.

The way I see it, most amps don’t even have adjustable gain levels, which means they are just set to 100% gain (usually 28dB gain - 34dB gain).