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Amps seem cheaper than a new AVR. Help

632 Views 8 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Yves Smolders, Feb 22, 2005

partialpaul

Discussion Starter · Feb 18, 2005

I have been looking around for the ultimate 100 Watt +/- 7.1 AVR with DVI/HDMI switching. Well I just can't afford that so I'm looking for other options that are chaeper and give me the power now and a cheaper upgrade path in the future. Thinking of waiting on a new AVR until the HD-Audio formats are out in recievers for BlueRay and HD-DVD.

I've been looking at Amps on Ebay thinking of buying a 3 channel 120 watt amp for my fronts and letting my AVR handle the rears and surrounds. This might be ok but my old ONKYO is only a 5.1 reciever and I would by trying to drive my rears and surrounds on it so I'm not even sure how I would hook it up properly.

Room is 21x27

7.1 speaker setup

LCR Ascend Accoustics 340

Rears & Surrounds in cieling, Symphony S623TR (135 watts)

SUB is SVS 25-31 PCI

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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DMF

· #2 · Feb 18, 2005

At your level, separates make much more sense than flagship AVRs. Plus you can invest incrementally. Look at e.g. the Outlaw 770 , 7 x 200W $1799 that will kick the ass of any AVR. You buy it once and you never buy another amp. Or start smaller with three M-200 monoblocs , 3 x 200W for $857 and keep using your AVR for the surround channels.

Next upgrade cycle concentrate on the processor and forget the amps. Net savings over time for better gear!

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partialpaul

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 19, 2005

By doing this i would limit myself later to a tube amp AVR right? I couldn't mix them and it sound good could I?

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DMF

· #4 · Feb 19, 2005

What? What are you talking about a tube amp for? They don't even make tubed receivers any more. Do you mean something else?

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Karp

· #5 · Feb 19, 2005

I believe that you are on the right path. An expensive flagship receiver or preamp with all the bells and whistles will be outdated in a couple of years. Midrange AVR's will have better processing and more features than either by that time. By keeping your current AVR and getting a seperate amp for your mains, you will be able to re-use them during the next upgrade cycle at less cost overall than buying a new high-end receiver every three years or so.

Midrange AVR's will have the same features that flagship models have now within a year or so (although the amp section will not be as good). You will already have a good (if not better) amp by getting one now.

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partialpaul

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 19, 2005

I wasn't sure what was in the receivers anymore.. I just seen Digital path receivers and just assumed they still put tubes or something similar in the ones that aren't digital path.. I guess I need to read up on this subject more to talk intelligently about it.

Thanks for you help again.

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Tex-amp

· #7 · Feb 19, 2005

You might ask more questions at the Ascend Forum .

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DMF

· #8 · Feb 19, 2005

partial, what you will need with separate amps is called a "pre/pro" or preamp-processor nowadays. No amplification in it. Pre/pros tend to occupy the higher end of the market, so many people now buy less expensive receivers and just ignore the weak amplifier stage and use their own amps.

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Yves Smolders

· #9 · Feb 22, 2005

I agree. Buy a midrange receiver as "super processor" with all bells & whistles you need, and ignore the amp section.

You could use the amps for rear channels if you want, but definetly go high quality on the 3 front channels.

I found my amp - I'm using UcD400 modules by Hypex (UcD is Philips' class-d implementation) and they easily blew away the DSP-A2's output stages.

I'm going to upgrade to 3 UcD400 modules, so my front-stage is entirely UcD driven.

After that, i'm going to look into a nice receiver, like the Pioneer 56TXi, to use as processor and rear channel amps.

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