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s dog
07-11-2006, 08:26 PM
As others have said on here in the past, A receiver that lets say has 100x5 watts can not deliver a 100 watts to each speaker all channels driven, so then if you where to drive the mains with a stand alone amp would there be power left over for the center channel and the surround speakers because the receiver would only be driveing 3 speakers instead of 5, and would this make the center and surround speaker sound better because the receiver might be able to deliver a full 100 watt to each speaker 3 channels driven, if this is the case it would be nice to have a stand alone amp for the mains and maybe a monblock for the center speaker,heck maybe a monblock for all the speakers but then that might be over kill and very $$$.I had a power amp running my mains in the past but it went bad now im not sure if im missing anything or not, its kinda hard to tell with movies, i dont think it has as much head room as it did before in action scenes, i was just wandering how this delivering of power works with a receiver

likeitloud
07-12-2006, 03:01 AM
I'm no expert on this, but what I've read from the senior guys on here, is adding
an amp is a good idea. It won't solve complaints like needing high volumne to
hear or speaker placement issues, but it will supply direct power to the speakers
which can only make them more efficient, a great thing. Also, from what I've read
here, yes it takes some "load" off the receiver, and makes it more efficient to
drive the remaining speakers, you've taken away 2/3/4/5/6/7 channels of it's
work, that is a great thing. As far as $, I've learned they ain't cheap, but there
are budget brands out there(audiosource, pyramid, gemini, to name a few),
I would stay away from going to cheap, you don't want things to sound
worse. I bought a used Rotel (60wpcx2) to drive my mains. Should arrive
any time now. It was $190, a steal, compared to what I was seeing. Bottom
line; Add the amp, if you want a more efficient rig. Good Luck.

kexodusc
07-12-2006, 03:56 AM
Too much is made of the 100 X 5 vs. all-channels driven thing. The reality is you won't find many DVD's that call for all channels to be driven sumultaneously at maximum volume for more than a split second - and even that is extremely rare - and then it's likely you won't be listening so loud that 100 watts is being asked for anyway.
If the difference between 100 X 5 and 100 watts all-channels driven is a concern to you, you really should be looking at a much larger amplifier solution.

Separates are a good idea, I find it helps dynamics a bit, improves sound quality (receiver amps aren't the greatest) and it does relieve the "burden" of amplification off the receiver's power supply. But if your receiver is large enough for your room and volume needs, they're not absolutely necessary.

Pyramid and Gemini I'd avoid. AudioSource was surprisingly decent, at least their older stuff, the newer stuff I haven't heard. Phoenix Gold took them over I believe, they decent car audio amps, not sure about home audio, but for home theater it's probably good enough.
Amps are pretty inexpensive on the used market - that's how I bought mine.

s dog
07-12-2006, 07:40 AM
Thanks for the advise guys