Adding an amp

[tullymars]

I have a Denon dra 685 reciever pushing a Velodyne sub,and a pair of BA mains just two channel stereo,sounds good,but I want to add a pair of Maggies in the near future.What I want to do is add a Parasound power amp,hca-1000a,its 125 watt @ 8ohm,200 watt @ ohm,thought it would be a good amp for maggies,I need to know if I can hook it up to my reciever,run the sub and mains off the reciever and run the maggies off the power amp,and everything work together.or I may run the sub off the reciever and the BA's and maggies off the power amp,my reciever doesn't have a sub out line,will this work for me and would it be good idea?Also the parasound is THX certified,what is that,ans will it bennefit me on two channel stereo?

[markw]

First off, does the receiver have preamp output jacks on the back? If so, you SHOULD be able to run a separate power amp off of it.

Now, from your manual... is this seperate/internal power amp an either/or thing or can they be run simultaneously? Only your manual knows for sure.

If they can be runsimultaneously, you've got it made in the shade.

P.S.. which maggies?

[topspeed]

I have a Denon dra 685 reciever pushing a Velodyne sub,and a pair of BA mains just two channel stereo,sounds good,but I want to add a pair of Maggies in the near future.What I want to do is add a Parasound power amp,hca-1000a,its 125 watt @ 8ohm,200 watt @ ohm,thought it would be a good amp for maggies,I need to know if I can hook it up to my reciever,run the sub and mains off the reciever and run the maggies off the power amp,and everything work together.or I may run the sub off the reciever and the BA's and maggies off the power amp,my reciever doesn't have a sub out line,will this work for me and would it be good idea?Also the parasound is THX certified,what is that,ans will it bennefit me on two channel stereo?

We'll start with the easy one; THX certification is a marketing scheme (a good one at that) by Lucas that allows companies to label their goods with one of a myriad of THX certs if their products meet certain performance parameters. It does nothing to improve your sound but it will cause buyers to pay more for the little logo.

I've never tried this, but it should work. Your Denon has zone two pre-outs so you should be able to run the Maggies off the HCA running through these. The sub and Bostons can therefore be untouched they way have them running now. The Parasound is a two channel amp so I'm unclear as to how you thought your were going to run both the Bostons and Maggies off of it. You were planning on running these systems in two different room right? The reason I'm asking is because the the Maggies and Boston's have two very different sounds and if you had dreams of some bizarre quadraphonic system or something, I have a feeling the sound would be an utter disaster.

Hope this helps.

[bturk667]

THX is a certification established by Geroge Lucas (Star Wars) I believe in about 1983. His attempted to ensure that people hear and see his films the way he intended. It is like the good house keeping seal. Basically it is not very important.

Have you ever considered a good integrated amp? I just do not beleive your reciever used as a pre-amp will do justice to the Maggies. How about a combination of the Parasound HCA 1000A and the Parasound HP 850 pre-amp? I like the sound of both, and Audio Advisors has a sale on the Hp 850. Now only $249, that is a steal!