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Budget 2 channel amp: height or front LR?

2117 Views 8 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Enchy, Jul 10, 2021

91bottlerocket

Discussion Starter · May 19, 2021

Currently working on putting the finishing touches on my home theater. My receiver can process 11 channels, but only power 9 (Denon).

If I remember correctly, it claims around 160w per 2 channels, but obviously powering all 9 channels will be much lower per channel output. So my question is do I buy a super cheap amp for a couple of the height channels and run the rest on the receiver, or power everything except the front LR on the receiver and get a middle of the road but still budget amp for those 2 channels?

Fronts are JBL Stage 190
Surrounds and rears are NHT SuperOne
Center is an NHT Super Center, but will likely upgrade to Emotiva center at some point

Height channels are TBD, but probably more NHT super ones.

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smithsabom

· #2 · May 19, 2021

easiest is the former: cheap amp for heights. audiosource/ dayton audio/ outdoorspeakerdepot, etc.

you can always change it around in the future if you find a great deal on a better amp for L/R.

You'll see from my signature line that I do the latter as well - but for a specific reason: I ran an extra set of L/R wires. My amp has A+B terminals. I use this to demo other speakers, as well as A/B testing, without having to rewire everything.

good luck.

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bobknavs

· #3 · May 20, 2021

For just powering the rear heights, you could go cheap and cheerful with a Class D Chinese amp. Example: FOSI. It will lack a 12V trigger or auto on like the more expensive amps, but you could leave it on all the time. Its power usage in the absence of an input signal should be minimal.

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Ryan Statz

· #4 · May 20, 2021

91bottlerocket said:
Currently working on putting the finishing touches on my home theater. My receiver can process 11 channels, but only power 9 (Denon).

If I remember correctly, it claims around 160w per 2 channels, but obviously powering all 9 channels will be much lower per channel output. So my question is do I buy a super cheap amp for a couple of the height channels and run the rest on the receiver, or power everything except the front LR on the receiver and get a middle of the road but still budget amp for those 2 channels?

Fronts are JBL Stage 190
Surrounds and rears are NHT SuperOne
Center is an NHT Super Center, but will likely upgrade to Emotiva center at some point

Height channels are TBD, but probably more NHT super ones.

I'd route the front stage to a separate power amp (Emotiva has a very cost-conscious 3-channel BasX A3 that does 140wpc with all channels driven) and run the rest through the AVR or add a second 4-channel power amp to run the surrounds to have the whole bed layer on power amps, and run the heights via the AVR.

Or probably simpler/less expensive - get a 4-channel power amp (Emotiva's BasX A4 as an example), route the heights to that once you get them and have the AVR deal with the bed layer. I think that's the more common approach.

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Worf

· #5 · May 20, 2021

Get a decent 2/3 channel amp and use it to power LR or LCR. Reason is for movies, LR are the most active channels followed by C. Everything else is minimal. Thus LR and C are power hungry and you'll get the best experience if they are powered by a decent amp. The surrounds and heights aren't used as much and the AVR amp will be fine.

Surrounds and heights don't demand much power and using an external amp on those will barely offload the receiver. Having LCR on a separate amp means the AVR is relieved of powering the demanding channels and will have plenty of power for the ones not used as much. With an external amp powering LCR it can give those channels the necessary punch to enhance the audio experience.

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MatiasR

· #6 · May 20, 2021

Buckeye Amps:

Buckeye Amps: New US based Hypex multichannel amplifier builder, line-up announcement!

Builds are based off the Hypex Main Powered NCORE modules: NC502MP - 2x450w @ 2ohm (per channel) - 2x500w @ 4ohm (per channel) - 2x350w @ 8ohm (per channel) NC252MP - 2x180w @ 2ohm (per channel) - 2x250w @ 4ohm (per channel) - 2x150w @ 8ohm (per channel) PRICING: XL 8ch Aluminum Case...

www.audiosciencereview.com

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Enchy

· #7 · May 20, 2021

I’m going to use the Aiyima A07 TPA3255 to power the extra two channels for my 7.1.4 setup off my x3700h. It measured very well in Audio Science Review’s testing, and the price is right for me.

My ceiling speakers are the Polk OWM3 which are 89db efficient. The 48W provided by the Aiyima will be plenty since I don’t ever anticipate turning the volume up much past ~95db and based on calculations 48W will be enough to drive the polks up to 99db

https://www.amazon.com/AIYIMA-A07-TPA3255-Amplifier-Digital/dp/B08CJZGT6H/

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emans

· #8 · Jul 10, 2021

Enchy said:
I’m going to use the Aiyima A07 TPA3255 to power the extra two channels for my 7.1.4 setup off my x3700h. It measured very well in Audio Science Review’s testing, and the price is right for me.

My ceiling speakers are the Polk OWM3 which are 89db efficient. The 48W provided by the Aiyima will be plenty since I don’t ever anticipate turning the volume up much past ~95db and based on calculations 48W will be enough to drive the polks up to 99db

Amazon.com: AIYIMA A07 TPA3255 Power Amplifier 300Wx2 HiFi Class D Stereo Digital Audio Amp 2.0 Sound Amplifier for Speaker Home Theater System (A07+DC 32V Power Adapter): Home Audio & Theater

Do you think the A07's TPA3255 might be better than the Denon's internal amps and better used for the L and R instead?

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Enchy

· #9 · Jul 10, 2021

emans said:
Do you think the A07's TPA3255 might be better than the Denon's internal amps and better used for the L and R instead?

No I don't think so. The A07 does about 48W peak while the X3700h is probably getting around 80-90W with 9 channels driven, and 138W with 2 channels driven, per Audio Science Review's testing of both devices.

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