Okay to mix amplifier brands?

[brobison]

I recently purchased a Classe 3200 3 channel amp for my C/L/R which I absolutely love! I’m now looking for an amp for my side/rear surrounds. I really don’t want to shell out money for Classe amplification for my surrounds as the 5 channel retails for 8000. Would it sound alright to use something like the Parasound A52 or Emotiva XPA-5 ? Is mixing amp brands going to make a noticeable difference in my soundstage?

 

[mike c]

perfectly ok. you are gonna level match all the channels anyway.

 

[Seth=L]

I agree with Mike, you need not worry about "matching" the amplifiers.

 

[TLS Guy]

I recently purchased a Classe 3200 3 channel amp for my C/L/R which I absolutely love! I’m now looking for an amp for my side/rear surrounds. I really don’t want to shell out money for Classe amplification for my surrounds as the 5 channel retails for 8000. Would it sound alright to use something like the Parasound A52 or Emotiva XPA-5 ? Is mixing amp brands going to make a noticeable difference in my soundstage?

Be careful about phasing. Some amps are phase inverting and some are not, even within the same brands at times. This is a common problem and error when mixing amp brands.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42537

This thread will explain.

 

[fmw]

IMHO it is fine to mix amplifiers even if they are known to be out of phase with other. Don't give it another thought.

 

[TLS Guy]

IMHO it is fine to mix amplifiers even if they are known to be out of phase with other. Don't give it another thought.

It is fine to mix amps, but you have to know which amps need the speaker connections reversed and which do not!

 

[mike c]

dr. you might be one of the few worried about this.

 

[mr-ben]

It is fine to mix amps, but you have to know which amps need the speaker connections reversed and which do not!

My Avia calibration DVD contains in-phase / out-of-phase test tones, which test for this exact thing. So it seems like it's very easy to correct during calibration, and therefore it's not a consideration when mixing amplifiers.

 

[brobison]

Thanks for all the help guys! This is going to save me a good amount of money. I normally don’t go overboard with amps, but after demoing the Classe in home I couldn’t bring myself to return it. I normally don’t hear much difference between amps, but this one handled complicated passages like no other. I’m going to look for a reasonable priced multichannel to complete the setup and then check for phasing issues.

 

[jcPanny]

Amps

If you really like Classe or Parasound, look for good deals on a lightly used amp on Audiogon.

Otherwise the Emotiva is a great deal and is more than adequate for the surround channels. They still have a few of the LPA-1 amps for $500.