Hello everyone, I have lurked long enough, and after listening to some great sounding speakers last week, I pulled the trigger. So I the speakers are shipping, but from there I began a quest to discover what audio components are people using in their chain and whether or not these are absolutely necessary to someone who is on a budget. My goal is now I have purchased 3 Energy Veritas V5.2C's and I entend to use them in a 3.0 setup on a old Sony STR DG-600 (Sony claims 110 WPC), and add a subwoofer later down the road buy not now. Have some concerns/questions about my setup.
For example:
1)Power conditioners, how to know when this is needed?
If you live in a third world country, you need one that is very good. If not and you are on a budget, you don't need one. Competently made gear is designed to just plug into the wall. So it will work just fine. People who are paranoid want power conditioners just in case there is ever a problem. It is not worth bothering about with cheap gear, and would not help with a very serious problem, like a lightning strike.
2)External Amps, whats the difference between that and just buying a more powerful AVR?
In theory, nothing. In practice, you can get a more powerful amplifier separately, and more capable of handling low impedances. This is only valuable if you need more power or have speakers of low impedance. Otherwise, it is wasted money to buy such things. Also, you need preamp outputs for whatever channels for which you want to use an external power amp. Your receiver is limited in that regard.
3)PreAmps... totally confused about when to use
A receiver is three things in one box: a tuner (radio), a preamp (aka control amp; the part with input switching, volume, etc.), and a power amp. There may also be surround processors and video processors in a receiver, but those are not essential to a thing being a receiver.
Basically, if you have a receiver, you most likely do not need a separate preamp.
4)External Digital Audio Converters: Whats the best way to play M4A/MP3's for best sound quality, do external DACs make any difference? (i don't buy CDs and most of my collection is regular quality M4A/MP3, don't have the storage space for 7000 wav. format songs.
You don't need a separate D/A converter. Any decent modern surround receiver will have good ones in it. Use the receiver you have to convert digital to analog, unless you have a digital format that it is unable to handle.
5)Do I need a separate Equalizer, and why?
No. In fact, you would have trouble hooking one up to most modern surround receivers for use with all inputs.
6)What type of amp coolers do most people use, and is there a bang-for-the-buck budget cooling or DIY route I can do myself that would work just as good?
Use nothing. Just don't block the vents or put it near a heater or heat source.
Thank you so much for your help, when it comes to audio devices, I feel lost and a little overwhelmed.
While I am at it, don't buy magic wires. Ordinary, cheap wires work fine. Here is a link on wires:
Speaker Wire