[etplayer]

Hello and thanks for taking the time to read this, I certainly hope I'm posting this in the correct area. I'm relatively new to the A/V scene and I'm trying to cobble together bits and pieces to make the most of what I eventually would like to turn into a *mostly* dedicated A/V room. Unfortunately as most of us are, I am budget constrained, particularly at this point as we are trying to save up money to buy a house, hopefully with either a basement or a split level with rectangular garden level room that will be repurposed as the A/V room.


I currently have a Pioneer VSX-32 receiver and am running an all Polk system as far as speakers. Monitor 70's in the front, CS-10 center, monitor 50s in the rear. I also have a set of r300s still in the boxes (as Im afraid the AVR doesn't have enough juice to run those as well) and am contemplating getting a pair of either monitor 30s/40s to run as front heights. Unfortunately, that doesn't leave me with a heck of a lot of cash to spring for amplifiers.


I've noticed online I can get an Adcom GFA6000 for not a heck of a lot. I've also seen the audiosource 102s at budget prices. I was thinking of getting one of each of these and using them in the following manner. Id like to run the Monitor 70s off the AVR, use the amp102 to drive one set of the rears, and the Adcom to run the other set, with the 60 watt outputs driving the front heights and of course center channel on the Adcom doing center channel duty. Will this be enough power for all the surrounds and even though the amps are rated at less than what the AVR can supposedly put out, will it be better seeing as the amps all have dedicated power to each channel? I hope I'm phrasing all of this correctly and that my true meaning is being conveyed? Thank you in advance to anyone who can answer my questions. I really do appreciate it.

 

[DonH50]

I do not know the power levels of your AVR and the amp (too lazy to look them up).


For a bit of guidance, realize that a 3 dB increase in volume is just noticeable by most people, but takes twice the power. A 10 dB increase (in the midrange) is perceived as twice as loud, but takes ten times the power (the dB scale is logarithmic).


Bottom line, unless you have low-impedance, inefficient speakers in a large room that are seriously underpowered, most of the benefit from an amp will be in your head. Yes, there are some benefits, but mostly inaudible or related to things other tan the power rating. See how the AVR works alone before deciding on amps.


With your Polks, my advice is to resist the urge and buy more movies/music.


Or, better yet, send the extra $$$ to me and I will spare you the effort of deciding how to spend it -- just paid the semester college bill for my oldest and he still needs another book or two...

 

[MichaelJHuman]

Everything Don says, of course.


I have been meaning to put this to the test. I have noticed my bedroom system never sounds quite right to me. It seems to lack power - I use a Yamaha RX-V867. I don't want to jump to conclusions without some testing though.


Bit unfair to compare the 867 to my Z7 as well, as the Z7 has a bigger power supply. While it shouldn't seem to make a difference in a room as small as my bedroom, something is different.


On the other hand, when I added my Emotiva XPA-3 and then a Crown amp to my living room system (with the Z7,) I did not notice a difference.