Adding Amp To Denon 3805?

The receiver is fine for movies but not loud enough for music. My old Sony 900ES (DPL) was louder with 20 wpc less. If I add a 2 channel amp is there a way to disable the amp for movies and enable it for music? My goal is to have balanced power to each speaker (5.1) without having to access the menu and adjust each speaker level or setting up the mic.
Or am I missing something?
I was thinking of a 5 channel amp till I saw the prices.

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Originally Posted by oldsmoboat

The receiver is fine for movies but not loud enough for music. My old Sony 900ES (DPL) was louder with 20 wpc less. If I add a 2 channel amp is there a way to disable the amp for movies and enable it for music? My goal is to have balanced power to each speaker (5.1) without having to access the menu and adjust each speaker level or setting up the mic.
Or am I missing something?
I was thinking of a 5 channel amp till I saw the prices.

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Connect the two channel amp to the preouts on the Denon. Connect the front speakers to 2 channel amp. Bust out the mic and run the calibration routine- it's a one time thing until you change components or change the room/speaker placement ect.. All speakers are now adjusted/balanced without having to access the menu and adjust speaker levels each time you switch sources.

There are any number of reasonably priced 5 channel amps on Audiogon. Just kind of depends on your threshold for spending. 1,000 to 1,300 is a fairly common sight.

jc

Jim answered your question nicely.

But before we go throwing gear at your system, could there be any particular reason WHY your 3805 isn't loud enough for music? How loud are we talking here?
You don't have any volume limiting settings (Night Mode, etc) engaged perhaps, do you?
Subjective opinions on sound quality are on thing, but I think a lot of us would be surprised to hear the 3805 doesn't get loud enough.
May I ask what kind of speakers you're using for mains?
The 3805 has been tested and verified to deliver a true 90 watts/channel when all 5 channels are driven - more with just 2 going. Loudness shouldn't be a problem here.

...just want to make sure we're not overlooking something.

Thanks for the input, that makes sense to me.
It's not as if I can barely hear the music, it's just not loud enough for my liking. Night mode isn't enabled. As far as I can tell, everything is set up correctly.
My mains are Def Tech BP 2006s. I am using the LFE connections along with the speaker wires and have the receiver set to Large.
The week after next, I am going to borrow my brothers 2 X 205 Parasound amp and see how it does.

Good idea borrowing an amp first. Man, I've pushed speakers to ear-bleeding volumes on crappy, small Sony and Kenwood receivers. Maybe the Def Tech's are lower sensitivity than some speakers?
Be careful driving them with the new amp. Make sure you set the speakers to small on your receiver so the LFE signals go to the subwoofer part. This will greatly reduce any chance of overdriving the woofers (power handling specs on speakers aren't always the most accurate).
Once you get more comfortable with the volume you're at you can try readjusting the settings again later.
Let us know how you make out.

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Originally Posted by kexodusc

The 3805 has been tested and verified to deliver a true 90 watts/channel when all 5 channels are driven - more with just 2 going. Loudness shouldn't be a problem here.

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Is the 90 watts/channel output on the 3805 with all 7 channels driven or just 5, as you stated?

Strange, music should sound OK and the problems should be more or less with 5.1 soundtracks aas they squeeze more juice.

I picked up the amp Saturday and hooked it up today. It's a Parasound HCA-1200u. 205X2 in stereo mode.
I set it up as Jim Clark suggested and ran it through it's paces. All I can say is I am glad my nearest neighbor is a 1/4 mile away. It really woke the Denon up. I wasn't expecting too much of a difference, just slightly noticeable. But it really sings. We'll watch Sin City tonight as it just came in our Blockbuster queue to see how movies do.
Thanks again for the input.