vintage 70's collector. home theater rookie.

[redrider]

well, I want to step up my denon 1513/boston acoustics system which is decent approx. $650 at best buy and I am looking at emotiva amp and preamp with cerwin vega xls series speakers for home theater. 2- 15" woofer R and L front,dual 6" center and single 6" rear L and R. and 15' subwoofer The emotiva is xpa-5(real 200wx5) or maybe xpr-5 amp(real 400wx5).So my question is: Do I really need the subwoofer( for home theater application ) and if I do, do I need a separate emotiva mono amp to drive the subwoofer.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Do not get any Cerwin Vega's unless you are a poor college student who's looking for speakers for large parties and they certainly don't need such powerful amp anyhow

So is $650 is your total budget?
What are your goals (HT and/or music. % each ?) ?
How big is your room and is it open to any other spaces?

 

[redrider]

Its sort of an experiment as I currently own some high end 70"s equipment. So just looking for answers to my question. Obviously my budget is not 650. With the high power 70's equipment I have. Its not about the party. Its about being an Audioholic according to this website title, correct?

 

[ski2xblack]

Greetings!

Start with the room and work backwards.

Don't jump on the CV's just yet. Speaker choice is the most critical decision, so don't make it impulsively. Tell us more: your budget, about the room in detail, listening habits (how loud).

Do you need a sub? No, but you'll appreciate one, particularly for ht use. While you can buy passive subs requiring outboard amplification, they're kind of a rare bird as most subs have built in amps.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

Are you looking at the Cerwin Vega XLS-15S for your subwoofer? If so, that has a built-in amplifier, so you wouldn't need any external amplification for it.

As for needing or not needing a sub...well, no one needs one, but they sure can be nice. It's tough for me to say how much benefit that you'd get, seeing as how your are looking at front speakers with 15" woofers. I do think that you'll definitely want to run the center and rear speakers as "small" and direct their bass to either your mains or a sub, and a sub can help take some of the load off of your mains. If it were me, I'd try it with and without the sub (assuming that you can return the sub if you don't want it) and see if it makes much difference.

I think that XPR-5 would be overkill for those speakers, and maybe even the XPA-5. 200W/channel seems to be a preference for a lot of folks, though, which is where the XPA will land you.

 

[tmurnin]

As others have said, start with the questions, not the answers. You say you want to upgrade, but for what purpose? Two channel music? Home theater? What is your listening style - louder the better or critical listening?

as a short answer to your question, you will not need a separate amp to drive 90% of the subs you'll be looking at. A sub isn't required but can really benefit the sound, especially for movies, but i wouldn't disregard it's use for music.

 

[redrider]

Thanks Adam, My pride 70s equipment is my Marantz 2325 with extremely rare cerwin vega S -2speakers ($3500 and 120 lbs. apiece when new in late 70's which is why there rare. They were competing with Klipschorns and supposedly only 36 pairs sold). So Honestly, I am coming into the audioholic addiction of comparing "old school" versus Modern technology. Although an aviation tech by trade with not much in electronics, my guess is that emotiva and modern cerwin vega is repeating hi-fidelity of the past and although they had "Quad recievers which I bought a Marantz 4400, 4 pioneer CS911a peakers 150 watts apiece that smokes cs99a(100 watts)although prettier cabinets,in 1976. M interests are in 5.1 ultimate home theater vs. quad of the 70's. So, I do not want to ruin my home theater experience but, do need to step up my $650 denon/ BA speakers.