I want to replace my failed flagship Denon receiver. I was considering a Denon 3800 and getting an external amp to run my 3 front dynaudio audence 72s. The 2 mains are 4 ohm and the center is 6 ohms. I know nothing about external amps and how much power I need. The dynaudios are rated at just over 200w max but I do not listen at reference levels. What exactly should I consider to drive my speakers?
To answer your question, we need to know:
- your seating distance
- the maximum spl (sound pressure level) you want to be able to achieve at your seat distance during peaks of contents (movies, music streaming, disc player etc.).
Understood you do not listen at reference level, but reference level is 105 dB peak so if you listen to maximum of 102 dB, that's below reference but your "power requirement" will drop only by 1/2, but if you listen to max of 95 dB peak then your requirement would drop by 1/10, big difference in terms of "power" vs how much below reference level you want to be able to achieve.
That means even the 3800 on its own might be more than enough to drive your 4 ohm speakers, or even a 200 W amp may not be able to get the best out of those speakers, for the peaks.