chaining a 2-ch amp onto a 5.1 receiver

[shockee]

Well I've lived long enough in inadequate power. My Energy C7 towers are underwhelmed by the mediocore home-theatre output from my Yamaha rx-v1300. The salesman misled me a bit, and I've lived with it for 4 years now...

Anyways, I've heard that Parasound amps work very well with these c7s. I have found a few 2 channel/200Wpc amps on ebay, and they seem to have a good rep.

What I'd like to do is this:
-keep the Yammy for most duties - especially for the sattelites, center channel, extra room
-chain a Parasound high-current to run the C7 towers, receving stereo signal from the front-side-channels from the Yammy.

- Trouble is: I'm not sure what type of signal I should be using for feeding the towers. Will the Yamaha front-side channel speaker signal be OK, should I be looking for line-outs on these channels (not sure if I have them), or running them in parallel to the Yamaha (ie line-ins splitting to the two amps before entering the Yamaha.)

CLue me in guys?

[markw]

The external amp would replace the receivers internal amps. IOW, they will no longer be used.

[Geoffcin]

Well I've lived long enough in inadequate power. My Energy C7 towers are underwhelmed by the mediocore home-theatre output from my Yamaha rx-v1300. The salesman misled me a bit, and I've lived with it for 4 years now...

Anyways, I've heard that Parasound amps work very well with these c7s. I have found a few 2 channel/200Wpc amps on ebay, and they seem to have a good rep.

What I'd like to do is this:
-keep the Yammy for most duties - especially for the sattelites, center channel, extra room
-chain a Parasound high-current to run the C7 towers, receving stereo signal from the front-side-channels from the Yammy.

- Trouble is: I'm not sure what type of signal I should be using for feeding the towers. Will the Yamaha front-side channel speaker signal be OK, should I be looking for line-outs on these channels (not sure if I have them), or running them in parallel to the Yamaha (ie line-ins splitting to the two amps before entering the Yamaha.)

CLue me in guys?

With everthing OFF;

Using RCA jacks connect the Pre-Out L/R from the receiver into the power amp. Disconnect the front main speaker wires from the Receiver and hook them into the power amp. Turn on the power amp, do you hear a hum? If so you may need a cheater adapter to beat a ground fault. If there's no hum then make sure the receiver is turned down, and turn on the receiver.

Not all amps have the same gain.You should check to see if the volume needs to be adjusted by using a test disk. If you don't have one you might be able to get by with the THX tests that are included on some DVD's. Using the white noise test see if the main speakers are louder or softer. In your receivers setup procedure there should be a way to adjust the volume levels for each speaker.

[kexodusc]

I run 3 amps off my RX-V1400, I find it does help a bit in my large room when the volume gets really loud. Subjectively, I'd say it sounds a bit better too.
In my case, I have speakers that can tax the receiver's current demands at the levels I listen at, adding the amps gives me a bit more headroom, not to mention peace of mind. I think it's a good idea, especially if you've got 5 or 6 speakers connected to your receiver.

I'm a bit curious about your C-7's being underpowered by the RX-V1300 though. How loud do you usually play? That receiver cranks out well over 50 watts with all channels driven for 5 consecutive minutes and well over a hundred with any 2 going. It's not a wussy a/v receiver by any means. I know the C-7's remain above 4 ohm impedance at their lowest - not hard to drive really. Just so we're managing expectations here, are you sure the problem isn't perhaps the speakers themselves? Money wise you're in the same ballpark (especially if looking at used gear) and you might get more favorable improvements for the money reconsidering those? Just a thought. I know from experience adding more power to my 40 integrated amp didn't help me like I hoped it would, and the speakers I drove it with were several dB less efficient than yours.

[shockee]

Thanks for the help guys!

How loud do I play it? Well, if it's a party, I like to get that Night Club Dance Floor experience playing techno (da&n loud) ... but it gets used for classical and everything in between.

The 1300 drives the Energy Encore rear satellites brilliantly (don't understand why Energy discontinued them), which sort of puts the C7s to shame. The C7 just sounds like larger versions of the C1s. Yes, the towers are set to max output, but I may have the Encores set too high - one notch lower and they lose something 'special.' But even playing on Stereo exclusively to the towers, I'm disappointed. It may be related to the nature of the room surfaces, I dunno. For theatre, the C7s would be lost without the sub backing them up - although experiencing sound in my theatre is much more satisfying than in a commercial movie house (as you guys must also experience).

At any rate, I think I'll spring for a Parasound unit and get it integrated somehow - cheaper than springing for better speakers at least. Actually the Parasound idea was recommended to me by someone with C7s and a similar issue - he was satisfied by the upgrade.



Cheers!