power amp question

[Fredhizzle]

I was wondering if you add a power amp to a receiver hooking them so they can power only the fronts, will the power amp and the receiver combine watts to add more power to the fronts or does the power amp act like a seperate component which will only power my fronts with the power amp and not the receiver? Can some one please tell how power amps work?

 

[audioman00]

They are not going to combine watts. The separate amp will then power just the fronts and the receiver will power whatever else you are connected to it. Wha kinda gear are we talking about? Are you thinking you need more power? or better sound? or what?

 

[Adam]

I was wondering if you add a power amp to a receiver hooking them so they can power only the fronts, will the power amp and the receiver combine watts to add more power to the fronts or does the power amp act like a seperate component which will only power my fronts with the power amp and not the receiver? Can some one please tell how power amps work?

Hey, Fred. There's more than one way to hook things up.

A common way is to power the speakers using the external amp and not the receiver. In that situation, you'd be using the receiver as a pre-processor for the front speakers.

Another way - which only applies if you can bi-amp your front speakers - is to power one input on the speaker using the power amp and the other input on the speaker using the receiver. I've never done this, but others here probably have.

Adam

 

[Fredhizzle]

well i was just wondering because I use to have 7.1 setup I had a Onkyo Ht-RF40 receiver from the onkyo htib system. I replaced the speakers becuase they were really weak especially the surrounds they were a joke because they had no tweeter and there sensativity was horrible but any ways I had replaced the onkyo bookshelfs with the Sony SS F7000 floorstanding speakers which sounded alot better with my stereo receiver which is how I have my curent set up,( i will get in to details later) and I had sony bookshelfs same model from the towers, and finally I had the onkyo bookshelfs as the surround back and the onkyo subwoofer. with that set up the sony ss F7000 sounded terrible they would distort and the wasnt as deep as my stereo, supposivly my onkyo receiver produced 130w per channel 115 rms when in stereo, but we know that 130 watts is unaccurate according to the all channel driven article on the forum. I thought it was just my Sony speakers that were terrible but i discovered the floorstanding speakers rated at 200 watt max were not there full pontential untill i hooked them up to an old high end pioneer stereo receiver which pumps 380watts and i was shocked and very happy that my speakers sounded very good deep base and no distortion. Since I was alot happier with the deep bass my Sony SS F7000 produced with the pioneer receiver I stuck with it leaveing my old set up in the dust including the Polk csi 25 center channel which I forgot to mention. I really dont know if surround receivers at least the inexpensive one like around 500$ will be able to make my sony floorstanding speakers sound as good as my stero because i know there no receiver rated at 380-half = 190 watts per channel that will be as efficient as stereo amplification so Im leaning to believe that the only way to make sony SS F7000 sound at ther best is to buy a preamp for my future receiver so my fronts wont distort like it previously did but idk cause my onkyo reciver is pretty low end Do you think a thx receiver will do the job? sorry for all the jiberish jus give a straight answer btw I need more POWER AKA JUICE FOR MY NEXT 7.1 setup

 

[Adam]

Today's receivers in the $500 range should be able to handle those speakers pretty well. If you want to play them really loud, then you may need an external amp to get the performance that you want from them.

As an example, I have NHT bookshelf speakers that aren't as efficient as your Sony's (they take more power to play at the same volume as your Sony's). For my everyday listening habits, my $450 Pioneer receiver (THX, 120W/channel) did a great job. However, on the rare occasion that I played them much louder than normal, the receiver wasn't performing as well as I would like. So, I got a 200W/channel amp, and it had a noticeable effect at loud volumes - but I couldn't tell any difference at all at my normal listening volumes.

 

[Fredhizzle]

Today's receivers in the $500 range should be able to handle those speakers pretty well. If you want to play them really loud, then you may need an external amp to get the performance that you want from them.

As an example, I have NHT bookshelf speakers that aren't as efficient as your Sony's (they take more power to play at the same volume as your Sony's). For my everyday listening habits, my $450 Pioneer receiver (THX, 120W/channel) did a great job. However, on the rare occasion that I played them much louder than normal, the receiver wasn't performing as well as I would like. So, I got a 200W/channel amp, and it had a noticeable effect at loud volumes - but I couldn't tell any difference at all at my normal listening volumes.

wow the Emotiva 200w/channel is a very nice power amplifier, assuming your using the IPS-1 amp to power your system and your receiver as a processor for sound fields ,does the emotiva 200watts per channel power your fronts, I didnt know you could run to ampifiers to a receiver

 

[Adam]

wow the Emotiva 200w/channel is a very nice power amplifier, what does your other ampifier power?

Thanks. The IPS-1, although it is a seven-channel amp, is currently just powering my center channel and two rear speakers. Honestly, it doesn't sound much different than the receiver. Once I shifted the power load for the front speakers from the Pioneer to the RPA-1, the Pioneer could handle the other three speakers pretty well. I bought the IPS-1 out of a desire to know if it would make a difference - it didn't, really.

 

[cfrizz]

Yes you can run separate amps that are hooked up to a receiver. You just have to make sure you get a receiver with preamp outputs. Which generally are not cheap.

Denon's start adding preouts with the 2808ci series & up.
Onkyo starts adding them with the 705 & up.
Yamaha starts adding them with the RX-V663 & up.

Once a separate amp is used, the receivers amps for whatever channels that have the separate amp are not used.

I started out with a Denon 3802 & added 200wpc of separate amplification to my fronts & center. I now have gone to all separates. But it was the better significant difference that the separate amplification made that started the whole ball rolling for me.

You can get a whole lot more for your money if you buy your amps used. Check out Audiogon. Or if you want new, then go for Outlaw or Emotiva.

wow the Emotiva 200w/channel is a very nice power amplifier, assuming your using the IPS-1 amp to power your system and your receiver as a processor for sound fields ,does the emotiva 200watts per channel power your fronts, I didnt know you could run to ampifiers to a receiver

 

[Fredhizzle]

Yes you can run separate amps that are hooked up to a receiver. You just have to make sure you get a receiver with preamp outputs. Which generally are not cheap.

Denon's start adding preouts with the 2808ci series & up.
Onkyo starts adding them with the 705 & up.
Yamaha starts adding them with the RX-V663 & up.

so what is the most affordable receiver that I can buy new,or i dont know if this is pratical, but if alot of audioheads buy separates amplifiers for there receiver wouldnt it be better to buy used receivers, since you wont using the receivers amplificaton, you'll just be using the receiver as for sound processor

 

[Adam]

so what is the most affordable receiver that I can buy new,or i dont know if this is pratical, but if alot of audioheads buy separates amplifiers for there receiver wouldnt it be better to buy used receivers, since you wont using the receivers amplificaton, you'll just be using the receiver as for sound processor

Hey, Fred. Whatever receiver you decide on (new or used), make sure that it has pre-amp outputs if you want to connect it to a separate amp (like cfrizz says). It's an important consideration because, as cfrizz stated, the least expensive receivers won't have those.

A reason to go with a newer receiver is to get the latest surround sound processing modes. Now, that may not be important to you, but it's something to consider.

I would suspect that receivers such as the Yamaha 663, Onkyo 606, or Pioneer 1018 would serve you quite well (just three of the possible choices). You may very well find that they have enough power for you and that you won't need a separate amp.