Looking for Advice on Options to Drive Focal Aria 906 5.2.4

[ukietryzub]

The 5 are the Arias, 2 SVS PB12-NSD and 4 Prime Elevations. I was looking at the Denon X4500H, but am wondering if I would get enough of a jump in quality audio for movies by going with some Emotivas somewhere in there. I have six HDMI inputs at the moment.

Thanks!

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[NINaudio]

The 5 are the Arias, 2 SVS PB12-NSD and 4 Prime Elevations. I was looking at the Denon X4500H, but am wondering if I would get enough of a jump in quality audio for movies by going with some Emotivas somewhere in there. I have six HDMI inputs at the moment.

You're not going to see any jump in quality by running external amps. The Denon 4500 will work great for you.

 

[PENG]

As usual, my response is, it depends.. Most people would likely only need a few watts average with peaks to 30 to 100W in a small to medium sized room, but again it depends on a few important factors.

The quickest way to find that out with more certainty is to use a calculator:

Peak SPL Calculator

 

[ukietryzub]

I'm not so concerned about the power, but rather to have more than enough power to avoid any distortion that could harm the speakers.

I made an error on the number of Arias - There are 7 speakers including two bi-directional side surrounds.

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[PENG]

According to Focal:

Recommended amplifier power 25 - 120W

According to Denon:

Power Output (8 ohm, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.05% 2ch Drive)......................125 W

Based on past bench test data, I would expect the AVR-X4500H to be capable of at least 200 W into 4 ohms at 0.1% THD+N, two channel driven.

So it seems like your Denon is a good match to the 906 already unless you listen to 7 channel stereo mode a lot.

People who claimed under power would damage speakers more often than too much power with were simply either trying to make their point by emphasizing the possibility, or just lack of knowledge. The fact is, under power may damage tweeters, overpower may damage all drivers, not just the tweeter so the safe way is to avoid either situation.

It never hurts to use external amps though, in your case, assuming you are only doing 5.1.4, I would recommend the MM8077 or MM8003 if you can still find one. Then you can set your Denon to Eco "on" full time instead of auto.

A good alternative is 3 Outlaw monoblocks M2200, or just put an Infinity fan on top to keep the Denon extra cool and then just sit back and enjoy those nice speakers. Set XO to 80 Hz or better still 100 Hz would help too.