Next upgrade.... need some assistance

[John888]

Hello fellow audio nuts
this is my first A/V forum post but a long tome viewer
Need some help with Amp selection
As I’m sure with everyone here, we are never finished improving our systems
A work in progress
Currently I’m running 5.2 channels. an emotiva a5175 5 channel amp and emotiva mc700 processor my 3 front channels are Sonus faber chameleans B on stands & chameleon C and my surrounds are 2 x Cambridge minx 22’s & 2 x whaferdale spc10 powered amps all is set correctly at proper heights.
Would love to go atmos but that would mean new amp and processor...... to much at the moment
I’m wanting to go 7.2 which means another amp. I’m 50/50 music/ HT with the Sonus fabers being 4ohm and needing a bit of current with the Watts, I need advice wether I should use the a5175 which is rated at 125 watts per channel all used for the 3 front channels and get a smaller amp for surrounds OR use the a5175 for surrounds and get a big juicy amp for the fronts???
Currently my set up sounds good, but hoping to find out from someone with more experience than me if an improvement could be made with a bigger amp than I currently have.
Hope you guys can help

 

[PENG]

First step is to find out how much power you need with online calculators such as:

http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html
https://www.crownaudio.com/en/tools/calculators

Or if you can provide the following info, I'll figure that out for you.

Room dimensions LXWXH
Sitting distance
Speaker model number
SPL requirement (example: about 85 dB average 105 dB peak in some movie cinemas)

 

[John888]

Thanks Peng
That’s a big help

 

[Dmantis10]

I think you should add a matching 2 channel 125 x 2 amp. Why have un equal power and have the chance of un equal dynamics? In general Home Theater systems work best when you have equal power to all speakers and all speakers matching with the same Ohm and DB ratings. It's not necessary to have everything matching perfectly but it takes one of the factors or potential issues out of the equation.
I know the desire to have a big juicy amp for your main channels. That makes some sense when you have floor standing speakers running full range and use your system more for music then movies. It will still be slightly unbalanced depending on what amp you use, what amp is used for the rest of the channels.
How I would configure the amps is I would use the 125 x 2 amp for the fronts and the 5 channel for the center and all surrounds.
Your configuration for Atmos would not be 7.2 it would be 5.2.2. Yeah I know it's getting crazy on how it's being used but thats the Dolby standard so I just go with the flow.
So are you going to stick with Emotiva or move to something else? You could sell all your Emotiva gear and get another processor like lets say the Integra or Marantz and then get a 7 channel amp in the 200 watt area. This way you will feel like you get your juicy amp for the fronts since you use your system 50/50 and get a boost for all other channels AND they would all have equal power. More current more juice LOL. I suggest checking out Audiocontrol, they make powerful good sounding rock solid amps. Plenty of other companies to check out used as well like a B&K Ref 200.7 which is a beast.

Good luck man

 

[PENG]

I think you should add a matching 2 channel 125 x 2 amp. Why have un equal power and have the chance of un equal dynamics? In general Home Theater systems work best when you have equal power to all speakers and all speakers matching with the same Ohm and DB ratings. It's not necessary to have everything matching perfectly but it takes one of the factors or potential issues out of the equation.

I think you are right in this case but I don't think we can generalize the equal power thing, it depends. For example, getting a juicier amp will be somewhat future proof if he has plan to upgrade to the big towers for music enjoyment. Those would likely be 4 ohms with serious lower dips; with average sensitivity, assuming he sticks with Sonus Faber's. IMO, before one buys an amp, it is important to figure out the minimum power requirement for good quality sound, and go from there (e.g. then consider headroom, reserve, future upgrade, longevity, impedance dips etc..).

 

[John888]

All good points, all 5 of my current speakers are running the same amp
So that’s the front 3 SF chameleons rated at 4ohms and 2 Cambridge audio minx22 at 8ohm
Amp is the Emotiva a5175 rates at 125 w per channel all driven into 8ohms it’s got some decent current behind these watts
My front 3 channels are 4ohms I can definitely here an improvement when I run the amp in stereo where it’s rated at 175 per channel running 2 channels into 8ohms
That’s the reasoning for a bigger amp to run the fronts in HT setup so I dont lose any headroom with movies, also thinking of adding 2 extra surround speakers bringing my setup to 7.2 and thinking kill 2 birds because I’m going to need extra amp channels anyway
I’m happy with emotiva I’ve run some Rotel even the 1090 that was huge and Cambridge audio amps in the past but this amp I’ve got now blitzes most of them and runs very cool.
The surrounds I’m running are small minx 22’s but they work great, my room is 15 feet by 9 feet but really night ceilings at 13 feet.
Sound is very clear with no distortion but seeking to get the best out of the SF chameleons
I do plan on upgrading in the next year or 2 on SF olympicas which will need plenty of amp so wanting a set up to work with future upgrade.
Now looking at 2 emotiva monoblock xpa 100 to run the front LR speakers,
Any thoughts on monos

Cheers guys


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[John888]

Dmantis10. I suggest checking out Audiocontrol, they make powerful good sounding rock solid amps. Plenty of other companies to check out used as well like a B&K Ref 200.7


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[John888]

I had to google those brands of amps
We don’t them here in OZ
I checked them out though and specs look great for the price.
Here everything costs a lot more than OS or the US


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[PENG]

All good points, all 5 of my current speakers are running the same amp
So that’s the front 3 SF chameleons rated at 4ohms and 2 Cambridge audio minx22 at 8ohm
Amp is the Emotiva a5175 rates at 125 w per channel all driven into 8ohms it’s got some decent current behind these watts
My front 3 channels are 4ohms I can definitely here an improvement when I run the amp in stereo where it’s rated at 175 per channel running 2 channels into 8ohms
That’s the reasoning for a bigger amp to run the fronts in HT setup so I dont lose any headroom with movies, also thinking of adding 2 extra surround speakers bringing my setup to 7.2 and thinking kill 2 birds because I’m going to need extra amp channels anyway
I’m happy with emotiva I’ve run some Rotel even the 1090 that was huge and Cambridge audio amps in the past but this amp I’ve got now blitzes most of them and runs very cool.
The surrounds I’m running are small minx 22’s but they work great, my room is 15 feet by 9 feet but really night ceilings at 13 feet.
Sound is very clear with no distortion but seeking to get the best out of the SF chameleons
I do plan on upgrading in the next year or 2 on SF olympicas which will need plenty of amp so wanting a set up to work with future upgrade.
Now looking at 2 emotiva monoblock xpa 100 to run the front LR speakers,
Any thoughts on monos

Cheers guys


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Even with the high ceiling, your room is still small to medium size at the most, by THX. As others suggested, the 125 W Emo is all your speakers need, and the Chamelion Bs can take much more than 150 W anyway. The center speaker can handle more, Sonus Faber knows that for movies the center channel often have more power demanding contents than the left or right.

The Monolith 5X200, can output well above 300 W for the 4 ohm Chameleon so if you listen to music really loud you may hear improvement over the 125 W emotiva amp you currently have. And for movies, your Chameleon C may thank you for that 300 W, but again, only if you listen to sound level at or above what you hear in a THX cinema, that's very loud.

I strongly recommend the Monolith, based on the fact that are made by ATI, and I am impressed with their specs, as well as the measurements (By S&V).
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/monoprice-monolith-7-amplifier-review-test-bench

With this Monolith, you will have a total of 10 channels, enough for 7.1.2, or 5.1.4, with 1 channel to spare.

 

[John888]

Thank you for the much needed advice
Another question I have is if if 7.2 channel
My side speakers due to room layout will be not balances so my left side will have to be 1 metre closer to central seat that the right side channel
The fronts and tears are all equal just the side at 90 degree from main listener
Is this something the auto configuration on my preamp will adjust for or will I lose out in this situation


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[PENG]

Thank you for the much needed advice
Another question I have is if if 7.2 channel
My side speakers due to room layout will be not balances so my left side will have to be 1 metre closer to central seat that the right side channel
The fronts and tears are all equal just the side at 90 degree from main listener
Is this something the auto configuration on my preamp will adjust for or will I lose out in this situation



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If you follow instructions, the auto room eq will take care of it.