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Frustrated over receiver choices, any ideas?

340 views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  Knucklehead90 
#1 ·
Hello,

I have a pair of JBL Northridge E60 tower speakers. I know these might be a little bit dated, but I literally got them for next to nothing a couple of years ago. My neighbor was moving and sold them to me for $50 (for the pair!). Brand new condition. I have been using them just fine for the past couple of years. I did not have them hooked up to an actual receiver. I had them hooked up to an actual power amp (QSC GX3) that my brother let me have.

Long story short, I just got a new TV. My new TV (Samsung KS8500) has no analog audio out. My old TV had all of the analog audio out ports and the way that I had the system hooked up to the old TV's headphone jack, I could get volume control to the speakers from the TV headphone jack (because the power amp has no remote etc, its just an amp). The new TV ONLY has digital optical out. So I bought a converter that takes digital optical and converts its to analog, just so that I could get my power amp/speakers going with the new TV. But the digital optical out on the TV has no volume control, and since im using a power amp and not a true receiver, I have no control on the volume except for the power amp knobs. (No Remote). As you could imagine, its very annoying having to get up and physically adjust the volume on two channels every time I want to adjust the TV volume.

So, I started looking into getting a receiver. NOTE: my speakers are 8 ohm (90W continuous, 360W peak)
Right off the bat I noticed that any 2 ch receivers don't have optical audio input (it would be nice to get rid of that converter box that I currently have and reduce some of the clutter). The surround sound receivers 5.1,5.2,7.1 etc obviously all have digital optical input and it would be nice to be able to add a few speakers and upgrade my existing system to surround sound, but they tend to have a pretty low power output per channel. Almost EVERY SINGLE surround sound receiver that I looked at, was a 6 ohm......

So for instance 700W total, 140W x 5 @ 6ohm.
Sounds nice, but my speakers are 8 ohm. Which I know will work fine, but ill be getting like what 70W out of that receiver at 8ohm? That is pretty cruddy.

Coming from my current power amp, which is 300W @ 8 ohm PER CHANNEL. Which may be overkill for these speakers, but with a receiver at only 70-80W @ 8ohm, I fear that I am not going find it loud enough anymore.

Are there any decent surround sound receivers that operate at 8 ohm? Am I overthinking this and 70-80W will be fine?
 
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#2 ·
I forgot to mention that with my current Poweramp, we rarely turn it above half power on each channel. So maybe a 75W would be ok, but currently at 300W per channel, half would be 150W. Which is well above 75.

Maybe it would be worth my while to get a 5.1 receiver and then use my current Poweramp to externally power up the two tower speakers. Then any surround speakers will just stay on the new receiver? Seems like it would be rather cluttered in my entertainment center with a big receiver AND this Poweramp.
 
#3 ·
Your on the right track, get a receiver with pre outs to drive the power amp and leave the receiver to power future speakers as you add them. With a receiver you can add a center channel which is quite important as it carries a good amount of the audio information. You did not state your budget but now is a good time to buy since new models are just around the corner . With a receiver you can run everything with hdmi other than 2 rca's to hook to your power amp.
 
#4 ·
you're not using nearly as much power as think unless you've got your system set up in a conference room. You generally only use a few watts unless you're listening at reference levels.

But since you have an amp already then get a receiver with preamp outputs. The Yamaha TSR-7810 has full set of preamp outputs and is under $500.
http://www.costco.com/Yamaha-TSR-7810-7.2-Channel-Network-Receiver.product.100308760.html

If you want a slimline receiver there are a couple of Marantz models that might suit your needs.
http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...-ch-x-50-watts-networking-a/v-receiver/1.html

http://www.accessories4less.com/mak...-ch-x-50-watts-networking-a/v-receiver/1.html
 
#5 ·
Thanks guys,

My budget is more in the $300-$400 range. I wouldn't need a 7.1 system because I know I would never use it.
Even the 5.1 system I would probably only end up adding a center and a sub. My living room isn't very big, and it also has an awkward setup as far as seating placement and areas for speakers.

That Yamaha one might be overkill for me, that Marantz one looks nice and I really like the slimness.... "Front" preouts will still keep them in the "surround" right? Im new to all of this surround stuff. This pushes 50W @ 8 ohms to all channels or just two channels? Considering that I might only end up ever getting a sub and a center.... and with subs being self powered, this Marantz should also be able to push more than 50W @ 8 ohms if its only single channel, which should be good enough for a center.
 
#6 ·
You can buy a refurbished Onkyo TX-8050 stereo receiver for cheap. It has a built in DAC - sub out - and you can connect your amp to the zone II preamp outs. It also plays FLAC music files off a thumb drive on the front USB port. It's slow reading the drive but works fine once it sees all the files and folders. It has 80wpc which is probably more than you'll use very often.

I owned a pair of JBL E50 bookshelf speakers for a while years ago. They sounded very good. Almost as good as the JBL S38's they were meant to emulate.

I've been using one in my bedroom for about 3 years. It always works. At least Onkyo got something built right!
 
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