Stereo to HT, whats the best way??

[Gimes]

(i just posted this in the Amp/Preamp forum, but I suppose this might be the better place)

In all of your humble, yet knowledgable opinions, what is the best way to add channels to a 2 channel set up for quality 5.1 HT? You've got $1000-1500 to play with, and you want to keep your stereo integrated amp as is, to still benefit from music in stereo. You already have the center, surrounds and sub.

Enlighten me, please!

[accastil]

you can buy a multichannel receiver where you can connect the center and rear speakers directly. connect your existing stereo integrated amp to your player via analog stereo cable. use another analog stereo input at the back panel of your integrated amp to feed it from the pre out of the new receiver. in this way, you can bypass the receiver when just listening to stereo music.

[Worf101]

(i just posted this in the Amp/Preamp forum, but I suppose this might be the better place)

In all of your humble, yet knowledgable opinions, what is the best way to add channels to a 2 channel set up for quality 5.1 HT? You've got $1000-1500 to play with, and you want to keep your stereo integrated amp as is, to still benefit from music in stereo. You already have the center, surrounds and sub.

Enlighten me, please!

There is NO "best way" to migrate. I can tell you how I did it, but what worked for me might not work for you. If you've a good 2.0 system with great speaks.

1. I'd recommend seeing if these speaks are "sheilded" so as not to affect your monitor or other components.

2. Then if you'd like to keep your mains, see if there's a Center Channel that matches their timbre so you have a seamless travel from left to center to right in sound.

3. Find a good 5.1 or 7.1 channel receiver. Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon and others. If you've the "dosh" go for separates. By that I mean separate Preamp and power.

4. Glom a decent DVD.

5. Get some rears or surrounds.

6. Get a decent sub. HSU, Velodyne, etc...

7. Build, assemble, CALIBRATE!!!! Then enjoy.

You can go new with all of this but I went piece by piece and got a LOT of my gear, heck all of it off of Ebay. As a noob you might want to go B&M. (Brick and Morter) local store so you can have a safe return policy. Go out, listen, ask... be honest. Don't get railroaded into Bose or any other OTC system unless you've heard plenty of stuff first.
Hope this helps.

Da Worfster

[superpanavision70mm]

I am currently running two amps from my A/V receiver from the pre-outs. It works like a charm! I am using a NAD C372 to power my surrounds and the Parasound Halo A23 for my PSB towers. Essentially right now my receiver is mainly acting as a converter and it's still powering the sub, center and center channel. I don't think you necessarily need a huge powerful receiver if you are going to use an amp to extend the power.

[Woochifer]

As Worf said, there's no easy way to migrate an analog two-channel setup into a 5.1 AV setup. For one thing, the preamps on a two-channel integrated amp will typically work very differently from a 5.1 AV receiver. Two-channel integrated amps keep the entire signal path in the analog domain, whereas the 5.1 receiver will typically decode and process signals in the digital domain (and if the original signal is analog, this signal will get converted to digital if any signal processing gets applied such as Dolby Pro Logic or bass management). A lot of 5.1 receivers do allow for an analog bypass that keeps the analog signals intact, but you also lose a lot of the functionality that a 5.1 receiver can provide such as the bass management.

Basically if you want to use your integrated amp with a 5.1 receiver, you can connect the AV receiver to the two-channel amp by using by using the receiver's analog outputs (that is, if the receiver provides them; most receivers in the $1,000 to $1,500 price range will include them). The drawback to using the AV receiver with an integrated amp is that the original signal gets routed through two different signal paths before reaching the amplifier section.

You could also connect the CD player directly to the integrated amp, and route the L/R preout from the AV receiver into the integrated amp. It wouldn't be quite as seamless a connection as having the entire setup going through one source, but it does preclude you from having to potentially route your two channel sources through two different signal paths. In a best case scenario, your integrated amp has some sort of bypass or means by which to directly connect to the amplifier section like you would with a dedicated amplifier. In any case, you would always need to be aware of the level differences and recalibrate your system so that the channel outputs remain equal.