to amp or not to amp......

[joel]

I have a fairly large home theater 22x35x10 and I'm wondering if when I go to buy my reciever I should look for a big dog with all the bells and whistles and like 170w/chan. or should I go with a slightly less expensive, less powerfull receiver and put in alot of amps? I know it's kind of a personal preference, but I 'm looking for opinions. So shoot me straight like money is no object


help me obi-holics, you're my only hope......................

 

[Az B]

I have a fairly large home theater 22x35x10 and I'm wondering if when I go to buy my reciever I should look for a big dog with all the bells and whistles and like 170w/chan. or should I go with a slightly less expensive, less powerfull receiver and put in alot of amps? I know it's kind of a personal preference, but I 'm looking for opinions. So shoot me straight like money is no object


help me obi-holics, you're my only hope......................

If you're going to go with more power and external amps, I would look at seperates... that is a seperate pre amp sending the signal to the amps instead of a receiver.

That being said, whether or not 100w, 170w, or more is needed to fill your room is more closely based on how well your speakers, amp and room acoustics are matched and how loud you want your sound.

Do you already have speakers? How sensitive are they? (Usually expressed in a db rating based on 1w and 1m)

 

[markw]

Reveiver/amps vs "true" separates

Starting with a pre/pro raises the ante somewhat, feature/performance wise. Unless one wants to spend the big bucks, I think a well featured mid level receiver with pre outs offers more features, dang near equal performance (and a tunes to boot for a lot less money.

Given a limited number of dollars, this would allow more to be used for the power amps and speakers.

 

[joel]

our speakers will be around 92db/1w1m (within 2 db's either way). We want alot of volume, but not at the cost of sound quality so we will stop before the speakers blow! I've also never dealt with pre's before so bare with me. we'd go from the pre out on the reciever to the pre in on the pre amp and then out to the amps?

thenks for the help

 

[Az B]

A prepro and seperate amp replaces your receiver. Basically, it seperates out the preamp functions from the amplifier functions. With a receiver both functions are in the same box.

The advantages are mostly in keeping the power supplies seperate. The amps tend to be more robust, and the preamp section tends to be less noisy.

One other advantage is that you upgrade more easily. A good amp can easily last you 20 years, but processor technology seems to have a much shorter shelf life. In a few years if you want the latest and greatest, all you need to do is upgrade the preamp.

 

[Leprkon]

I have a fairly large home theater 22x35x10 and I'm wondering if when I go to buy my reciever I should look for a big dog with all the bells and whistles and like 170w/chan. or should I go with a slightly less expensive, less powerfull receiver and put in alot of amps? I know it's kind of a personal preference, but I 'm looking for opinions. So shoot me straight like money is no object


help me obi-holics, you're my only hope......................

personal opinion: get a solid front end like a Yamaha RX-V2500 or Denon 2805 or 3805 and pick up a two channel amp or a pair of single channel amps from partsexpress.com or outlaw.com. Use the external amps to drive your mains, and the receiver will then have plenty of power for the rest of the system. total price would be $ 1100 to $ 1500, depending on how good a shopper you are.

http://www.outlawaudio.com/products/200.html

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=302-605

 

[markw]

with a receiver you don't need a preamp or a pre/pro.

our speakers will be around 92db/1w1m (within 2 db's either way). We want alot of volume, but not at the cost of sound quality so we will stop before the speakers blow! I've also never dealt with pre's before so bare with me. we'd go from the pre out on the reciever to the pre in on the pre amp and then out to the amps?

thenks for the help

A receiver consists of a tuner, a per/pro and power amps. You would simply take the receivers pre outs and feed then to the power amps. Obviously, the speakers would need to be hooked up to the separate power amp.

 

[zumbo]

A receiver with a seperate 2-channel amp for the mains is the best way to go for the money. I found a good deal on a 5-channel amp, so I use my receiver(Yamaha RX-V1400) as a pre-pro/tuner only.

 

[Az B]

A receiver with a seperate 2-channel amp for the mains is the best way to go for the money. I found a good deal on a 5-channel amp, so I use my receiver(Yamaha RX-V1400) as a pre-pro/tuner only.

The next step up would be something like the Outlaw 950. They're getting pretty cheap right now, ($700) and would be noticeably quieter than any receiver under $1500.

 

[joel]

what do you mean by "mains"? Are you referring to the front right and left? Sorry, still learning the lingo

 

[hopjohn]

Yep when they say "mains" they are refering to your front left and right speakers.

One other suggestion you might consider is to buy speakers which can be biamped. Speakers which can be biamped allow for two seperate amps to be connected to one speaker simultaneously, one to power the midrange/tweeter section & one to power the subwoofer section.

You could then buy a 7 channel amp (Outlaw Audio makes a good one) and power the center channel and sub sections of each of the other speakers (except the sub of course), and use a 7 channel receiver to power the mid/tweeter sections. Pick any receiver of your liking so long as it has the 7.1 preouts.

This would provide you with a very adequate system for a difficult sized room.

 

[howie85]

My solution is an Onkyo txnr900 100w/ch and additional onk m282 100w/ch as needed. My speakers are bi ampable and the M282 amps are individually adjustable so level matching was easy. But they are not rated to 4ohms although i have read they are fairly strong when used in a bi ampable situation.

 

[plhart]

My suggestion is...not to amp. You've got a very large room and you want a lot of SPL. Amplifier power is not the answer here. Use four subs with a minimum of 10" woofers and 500 watts/channel. For your mains and rear mono surrounds run double 6.5" two-ways. For side surrounds run 6.5" dipole surrounds. Set all satellite speakers to small and hi-pass them at 80Hz so they can play really loud effortlessly. This is all possible with a receiver with a strong 100W/ch RMS.