Can Someone explain what a seperat amp will do for me?(or for anyone noob to audio!)

To notice a difference at least get something in the neighborhood of 200 watts a channel.
If you read the many posts on these forums some are disappointed at the performance
gain and probably they did not get a big enough amp. If you don't play at reference levels
your speakers are efficient and your room is not large then the gain may be minimal
the best bet would be to talk to your local dealer for a loaner or see if a friend will
loan one for a weekend.Most of the time it will give you more headroom and sound
cleaner your results may vary as we all have different size and shape rooms with
various equipment listening to various artists. In reality no one can tell you it will or
will not work for you so an in home trial will answer your question better than any of us.

It's possible with certain "difficult" speakers than an outboard amp can make a difference. However, I found this quote from What Hi Fi googling your speakers: "An unusually high sensitivity of 92dB/W/m combines with an easygoing 8 ohm impedance to make amplifier matching a breeze. Indeed, everything we tried - from Unison Research's 12W per channel S2 valve amplifier to Roksan's Caspian and even our reference Krell pre/power combination - worked well with these affable Triangles."

Sounds like a separate amp would be a waste of money.


See my sig.

Hello, your receiver has pretty decent power. Most people would say it's enough. I'm sure you will get many different opinions. Most of your power requirements for an upgrade will be 2 channel. If you send deep bass to your center and or rears a multi-channel will be required. Quality separates imo make everything sound better. Bass is deeper and less restrained is the first thing I noticed. When a receiver or amp for that matter runs out of current it will clip and send a distorted signal to your speakers causing a popping or crackling noise which can cause damage. big separates don't have this problem unless you run @ insane volumes and then turn it up some more! Your taste and room size is what it comes down to. I have a large room with high ceilings and no neighbors, I listen to loud rock for short periods to avoid ear fatigue. I have friends who would say your receiver is overkill because they use small speakers in small rooms @ lower volumes, so it's back your room, your taste, and your ears. If you can go audition some amps @ a quality retailer, bring your own music that your familiar with, this is important because you know what it should sound like. It won't be the same as your room but you should get a good general idea.

W3bbY,
It is mostly useful if you want to play louder than your current AVR or if you have full range towers with out a sub.
But since you already have 140w you would need 280w just to get 3dB louder. You would need around 1400w to get twice as loud as what you have.
I rigged a separate 2 channel system for music without a sub because my AVR only had 70wpc. Works pretty well as I don't have to change a lot of settings this way.
YMMV. Hopes this helps.

The Onkyo is not likely to put out 140x7. It's measured with two channels driven. So while it should be able to put out 140 watts in stereo, it's unlikely to put out 140x7. It's probably better than a Yamaha 140x7, because Yamaha only measures with one channel driven.

I point this out because an external amp with 200x7 all channels driven "may" be a bigger step up than 140 would imply.

I don't think you should bother getting an external amp though. That Onkyo is plenty powerful.

I think people become convinced they need an external amp due to reasons other than actually needing it. Are you running out of power now?

The thing about amps is that you basically have to double the power to even get a noticeable difference. You'd be wasting your time (and money) adding anything less than 200wpc.

If you really do want to experiment with outboard amplification to augment your receiver, I'd suggest a stereo or three channel amp for your front speakers, in the 200w+ range. Let the receiver continue to drive the surround speakers. It will do wonderfully with them if you've unloaded the front channels, since they're the ones that get most of the action anyway.

If you can't borrow an amp to evaluate, try to buy one with a 30-day return policy, or just pick up a used one that you can probably break even on when reselling if you do decide that you don't need the extra amp after all.

Nice stuff, W3bby.

I think your money is better spent on other stuff. Perhaps another eD sub, or bass mgmt for subs (velodyne, behringer, or the new svs to come out), or acoustical treatments, etc.

I scored double digit high freq Mondo bass traps from the gon recently at half price. At first, I was having a hard time implementing them in my HT and stereo rigs, but now I could use more! (I spent well enough for now though...).

Hope you're enjoying that RS-1, I know I love mine....

Bi-amping with the unused channels isn't going to hurt anything, but I doubt you'll see any benefit, either. All your amps are still being driven from the same power supply, which is almost always the limiting factor for power-output in receivers, anyway.

Give it a try and see what you think.

I have a Yamaha RX-V1 that powers my 6.1 Mirage speakers setup. My main speakers are Mirage Om-5s. They each have two 8" subs with a built in amplifier. A friend of mine convinced me that I needed to try a seperate amp. I borrowed a two channel amp from him that he loves. I set it up and listened waiting and wanting to hear a difference. I noticed absolutely no difference in sound quality whatsoever.

I believe the reason I didn't hear a difference is because my main speakers only need to be powered above the crossover point. Below that the builit in amplifier powers the built in subs. Most of the power that a speaker requires is for low end. Since my mains don't require any outside power below 80hz my mains are extremely easy to drive.

If you had a set of full range power hungry speakers, then going from an amp that was underpowering them to one with a lot more power would definately improve the sound quality.

I've never heard any evidence of clipping with my setup. Even while listening to the NIN HD DVD in true hd surround at extremely high volumes. If your setup is clipping or doesn't play as loud as you like then an external amp could be a benefit.

There are some speakers that require a ton of power to sound their best. There are also some that require very little.

I consider about 20 to 35hz to be the deep bass. Until recent move I ran full range speakers everywhere + multiple subs. I am currently useing 300 watt mono bloc's for the mains & a 5 channel for the rears, and if it were'nt for waf issues I would run mono's for all channels. It's the same with most things cars, motorcycles, guns, women, etc. POWER is your friend. Probably excessive and in the minority but thats the way uh huh- uh huh- I like it. I'd better shut up, don't want that song stuck in my head all day!