Single or multiple amps?

[Blair387]

Hey everyone,

Been doing a lot of research the last several months as I am in the process of switching over to separates for my home theater setup. The last couple years I've been running a Yamaha 3070 AVR, but now I really want to get into separate dedicated amps and processors.

My question is, is there any benefit one way or the other if I were to go with a big 11 channel amp, such as the monolith 11x or the 11 Channel emotiva or any other brand, or would I be better off going with a multiple amp setup such as a 7 Channel and another 5 channel amp? I realize that's one extra channel in total but I was just curious if you think it makes a difference in any way?

Speaking of monolith they seem to be out of stock on all of their products and don't know when they're going to be back. Been doing a lot of research also on emotiva and outlaw amps.

I realize the Emotiva processors have a lot of bugs still, from what I hear. But their amps are supposed to be pretty good. I know both outlaw and monolith amps are made by ATI and those things are beasts at like 93lbs.

Any insight would be helpful,

Thanks everyone.

 

[mazersteven]

You'll find no Love for Emotiva here on this Forum

I personally am a fan of the Outlaw 2220 Monoblocks

 

[Blair387]

Well I don't have any interest in monoblocks, but thanks anyway.

 

[Verdinut]

IMO, it would be worthwhile to wait for Monoprice's inventory to replenish. Their Monolith amps are solidly built. Personally, I would go for a Monolith 7 and a Monolith 5. The 7 channel unit weighs 93 lbs and is a beast to move around. Imagine the situation with the 11 channel one. Another advantage of having two separate units, is that should one of the amps fail, you still have some amplification possibilities while the defective unit is under repair.

 

[Blair387]

According to the spec sheet on Monoprice's website, the 7 Channel, 9 Channel, and 11 Channel, all weigh the exact same at 93 lbs. I'm not really sure how that is that having extra channels, and yet it still weighs the exact same?

And comparing prices, if I went with just the 11 channel amp that is $2,500. And if I bought the 7 Channel and a 5 Channel that comes out to be just a hair under $3,300. So basically an extra $800 for one extra Channel Total of amplification.

Although, having the five and seven channel amps for a total of 12, that would be 12 channels all with 200 Watts in all 12 channels. Whereas on the 11 channel amp the first 3 channels are 200 Watts a piece, with the remaining 8 channels having 100 watts each.

 

[Blair387]

Meanwhile, after looking into the outlaw audio amps, their 7 channel 7220 model amp costs $3499 alone. That's over twice as much as the monolith 7 channel cost. Which is pretty insane considering they both have basically the same specs, with the outlaw having only 20 or 30 more watts per channel, which nobody will ever notice that difference anyways.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I realize the Emotiva processors have a lot of bugs still, from what I hear. But their amps are supposed to be pretty good.

Just realize that as soon as the warranty period expires, Emotiva won’t even touch their own products.

Might want to ask them about that.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

My question is, is there any benefit one way or the other if I were to go with a big 11 channel amp

Of course, sound quality won’t be a factor.

The salient factor is heat production. Can these MCH amps stay cool after 4 hours of use?

Is there enough ventilation?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The last couple years I've been running a Yamaha 3070 AVR, but now I really want to get into separate dedicated amps and processors.

First, excellent AVR!

What's the reason for wanting separates? Better reliability? Needing more power? Or just because separates are cool?

1. Which pre-pro did you go with?
2. What kind of speaker system do you have?
3. How are you setting up your speakers? Set them to Small and use Subwoofers?

I think the answers to these questions might make a difference in deciding which amps to get.

 

[killdozzer]

Switching to amps and separates makes sense if you need power (but ask yourself is this really so and use SPL calculator). As long as your avr has enough power no improvement will be heard. If your speakers are underpowered you will experience improvement although it won't be based in SQ of the gear, but in "lack of power" vs. "enough power". Going from 100W good avr to 100W good 2ch (or multi ch.) amp will not solve anything. Also, going from a 100W good avr to 2000W old Behringer PA amp might fail in solving the problem as you will get more power but with it you might get an uninvited guest in the form of hum and buzz.

Switching to amps and separates makes sense if you need power because avrs still don't go as high as separate amps, but quality wise; watt per watt, there shouldn't be any difference.

 

[lovinthehd]

Although, having the five and seven channel amps for a total of 12, that would be 12 channels all with 200 Watts in all 12 channels. Whereas on the 11 channel amp the first 3 channels are 200 Watts a piece, with the remaining 8 channels having 100 watts each.

This is what it boils down to....personally I think I'd prefer having 200 wpc if I'm going to go to the effort of a separate amp....100wpc you can have in an avr easily enough so another consideration is continue to use your avr and maybe just extend power via a 3ch amp for the front three. What pre-pro are you considering for the power amps if truly going separates?

 

[Verdinut]

According to the spec sheet on Monoprice's website, the 7 Channel, 9 Channel, and 11 Channel, all weigh the exact same at 93 lbs. I'm not really sure how that is that having extra channels, and yet it still weighs the exact same?

And comparing prices, if I went with just the 11 channel amp that is $2,500. And if I bought the 7 Channel and a 5 Channel that comes out to be just a hair under $3,300. So basically an extra $800 for one extra Channel Total of amplification.

Although, having the five and seven channel amps for a total of 12, that would be 12 channels all with 200 Watts in all 12 channels. Whereas on the 11 channel amp the first 3 channels are 200 Watts a piece, with the remaining 8 channels having 100 watts each.

I had forgotten that the 11 channel unit featured only 100 watt amps for the surround channels.That of course explains why its total weight equals that of the 7 channel amp.

 

[Blair387]

Just realize that as soon as the warranty period expires, Emotiva won’t even touch their own products.

Might want to ask them about that.

Hmm that's interesting they won't follow thru with issues with their own products? Yeah they probably aren't my first choice. I know they're super popular in the home theater World in general but I know there's a lot of people that don't like the way they do business

 

[Blair387]

Sorry everyone I guess I didn't clarify, right now I don't have I dedicated processor yet. I still have my Yamaha AVR. I've been really interested in the new monolith HTP - 1, but there's still not a ton of reviews on it out there right now. I'm guessing it's due to the covid pandemic and the fact that people are having a hard time getting their hands on a lot of items right now. And of course, just like everything Monoprice all of their monolith products amps and processors are all currently out of stock and who knows when they'll get them back in stock? it seems like their dates keep changing.

And my plan is hopefully soon going to be start purchasing speakers from JTR. Now I know what all of you are going to say, is that JTR speakers have a real high sensitivity and don't require very much power at all to be driven. Which brings up another point, since all jtr speakers are 4 ohm speakers, then those numbers of watts per Channel are going to be even higher from all the amps I had mentioned in my earlier post. Cuz I'm pretty sure those 200 watts per Channel advertised for the monolith amps is for an 8 ohm load, and go up to 300 watts per Channel for those 4 ohm speakers that I plan on getting.

Originally my plan was to get a separate 7 channel amp for my lower 7 channels, then maybe still use my Yamaha AVR to power 4 ceiling Atmos speakers since those don't require a ton of juice.

I just know that when you have 11 channels being driven by one AVR, they're really not getting a ton of power. So I like the idea of having a lot of reserved power and I hear so much positivity about how much more dynamic speakers sound when you have a dedicated amp with a lot more power to each channel?

I'm actually currently trying to sell my old speakers right now on Craigslist but nobody interested yet

 

[Blair387]

@Blair387, You still have other's to Consider Parasound amps, they do have a "Budget" friendly line. Umm Adcom amps Rotel amps
NAD amps. Then of course there are Krell PASS LAB, Mac amps or used amps.

Yes I have done a little bit of research on parasound amps and they are real good quality too from what I read. Especially that old A51 amp that is quite old now but that thing looks like a beast. But I want to say last time I looked it was still around $5,000 even though it's quite old now. But I realize that's the thing about amps is that they will last for a long time and if you buy a good one you don't have to upgrade them for a real long time even as technology changes in processors

 

[lovinthehd]

JTR speakers are indeed quite sensitive and your amp needs wouldn't be as great.....but you can play around with this to get a more specific idea http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

ps You do know an all channels driven rating is not all that useful in actual use?