Add 2 channels to 5 channel system

[Kenco278]

I have a 5 channel power amp (Rotel RMB1585) and 13 channel preamp (Anthem AVM60). The system is in a cluttered 18 x 20 foot room with built in bookshelves on 3 walls and an A-shaped ceiling, so there isn’t a lot of space left, which is why I bought a five channel power amp instead of a 7.

i've decided to buy two SVS Ultra “duet“ surround speakers, which impressed me as excellent surround speakers for the money when I listened to them at length one evening, for the two surround channels on the amp. But these speakers also have the unusual ability to accommodate four surround channels if I want to use them that way.

Since my power amp has five channels, I’d have to replace it, which I don’t want to do. But somewhere over the years I got the idea that a second, two channel, power amp could be added to what I have, for the last two surround channels. I’m not sure whether this is called bi-amping or something else, but in any case, what I’d like to find out is:

1 - whether it’s possible to do this without encountering a bunch of technical issues I’d have to deal with, and
2 - if this is doable, do I need to be concerned about matching the two power amps - should they have the same power output per channel? should they be from the same manufacturer? can one pair of speakers be fed by two different amps?

I’d really appreciate getting good advice about this - thank you in advance. Apologies if this is in the wrong place or duplicates other threads, I searched for the information but can’t find anything on it.

 

[lovinthehd]

It's easy to add another amp to your pre-amp, you can have anywhere from 11 monoblocks to an 11-channel amp, or combinations of amps in between, to utilize your various pre-outs. To ensure similar performance capability in each channel another amp with similar power, sensitivity and gain would be what you could do to "match" them (like a Rotel 1582 perhaps). Not particularly necessary, tho.

Bi-amping is something else and not what you are after, it seems you want to use the unique duet mode of the Ultra Surround so you can have both the surround and rear surround channels working, so that would require 2 additional amp channels to use this feature. To have both surround and rear surrounds in the same box wouldn't be my preference, I prefer standard monopole speakers for surrounds, not sure I'd want surround and rear surround coming from a single box/location in any case).

 

[Kenco278]

Thanks, that really helps. I agree about the Duet but if you saw the room you’d see why realistically I don’t have space for two more speakers.

 

[lovinthehd]

Thanks, that really helps. I agree about the Duet but if you saw the room you’d see why realistically I don’t have space for two more speakers.

Depends also on your seating position. You might use the general suggested speaker positioning from Dolby to consider https://www.dolby.com/us/en/guide/surround-sound-speaker-setup/index.html. You might be a good candidate for the dispersion from such a speaker, but as I mentioned I prefer monopoles, and that could use your existing electronics....