power amp config recommendations.

[pelennor]

Firstly, my current system is:

Marantz SR-4200 AV receiver, with 2 x floorstanding fronts, largeish centre, and bookshelf rears. All speakers are 4 ohm impedance, so I'm running 2 x Behringer EP1500 power amps, to power the fronts, center, and one rear. Oh, and a sub. All except the rears are from an Australian kit company, and I'm very happy with how they're already sounding. I can't post links yet, but they are theloudspeakerkit S250, F6 and C6

My next upgrade is looking to be the rears, as they're definitely the weak point in my setup. I'd like to move to the Emotiva ERD-1, since my rears are close to the back of the room. From what I'm reading, I'm going to get best results running both of them off a power amp. So I'm thinking of adding a Behringer A500 to run them, which will then "free" up one of the channels on an EP1500.

So my question is, what can I use the spare channel for? I could run the centre channel in bridged mode, but that seems like overkill. Or I could run the subwoofer off the Behringer instead of using it's plate amp, but will going from 250W to about 400 make that much difference in reality? Or do I get something like an Emotiva XPA-3 to run the centre and rears, and use the Behringers in bridged mode on the mains?

Also, note that due to my room layout, 7.1 wouldn't really work, so it's 5.1 for the forseeable future.

 

[KEW]

Go ahead and make some dummy posts here (they require 10 characters if memory serves).
No one here will get bent out of shape over it.

The first issue I see is your subwoofer. Often, the plate amp that comes with the sub may have a subsonic filter to reduce audible distortion and perhaps some built-in EQ to flatten out the response. But that all depends on the sub design.

 

[pelennor]

Apparently the plate amp on the sub amp has both a rumble filter (to eliminate subsonic frequencies), and a pre-amp bass boost. Not sure if either or both of those will still apply when using the high level inputs on the amp.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

So my question is, what can I use the spare channel for?

There’s no reason to feel compelled to use the extra channel. Using three stereo amps for five channels of amplification, you’re going to have a channel left over. That’s just the way it is. There’s no reason to feel it’s a waste if you don’t need the extra channel. You’re not using every input on your receiver, are you? Or every surround sound mode it has? Or every channel on your satellite receiver?

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[darien87]

If anything, not using that extra channel will be better for your amp, since it won't be working as hard.