[Ben Miles]

Hi I'm looking for a multichannel amp to hook up to some power hungry Triad speakers in a multiroom environment.

The Savant AMP-8125 seems to fit my needs. Can I use it as a standalone amp? I don't have any other Savant peripherals (Savant Host, network, etc). I just want to use it as a dumb amplifier, no smart integration features needed. Can I just plug in my inputs/outputs, adjust the levels with the knobs and go? Thanks!

 

[smoothtlk]

Not sure why you would want to do that.
If you're going to spend the money, buy one that you can control remotely.
Anticipate that down the road you will want to integrate it with a control system as your home system expands.
Savant is proprietary stuff designed to be used with the other Savant stuff.

 

[Ben Miles]

Thanks for the response. I should have been more specific. I'm looking at purchasing a pre-owned amp and there are plenty of Savant AMP-8125s on the market. It seems like an economical way to get the power handling I'm looking for. The Savant is 125W RMS/channel @ 8 ohm.



I agree if I was to purchase it new it wouldn't make sense to not utilize the full feature set of the amp. However, I'm just looking for an amp to drive my speakers and a used Savant seemed to fit the bill both in specs and cost.

 

[MikeSM]

Thanks for the response. I should have been more specific. I'm looking at purchasing a pre-owned amp and there are plenty of Savant AMP-8125s on the market. It seems like an economical way to get the power handling I'm looking for. The Savant is 125W RMS/channel @ 8 ohm.



I agree if I was to purchase it new it wouldn't make sense to not utilize the full feature set of the amp. However, I'm just looking for an amp to drive my speakers and a used Savant seemed to fit the bill both in specs and cost.

I like that philosophy myself. I don't think the Savant 8125 is the best amp for this. Prices still seem high, and these tony class D amps often don't have the performance that a traditional amp can deliver.

I have enjoyed buying old Crestron CNAMP-16x60's, which are really ATI amps, and built like tanks. You can usually find 16 channel 16x60's for $200 or so, and are especially good deals if you can get them locally, as the shipping on this really heavy amp is expensive. 60W/channel is very conservative, and they can be bridged for 200W per channel with bridging hardware.

Do some searches for the 16x60's on this forum and you'll find lots on info on how to use them.

mike

 

[AV_Integrated]

For what it's worth...

The Savant 8125 doesn't have any control ports on it at all, indicating that it is a standard amplifier. So, you can plug in 4 individual rooms, or plug in one shared source and set dip switches to allow the amplifier to use channels appropriately.

That said, this is a digital amp and sound quality will definitely reflect that.

If the Crestron 16x60 can be setup for use without a Crestron control system, then that is, by far, a much better deal as that amplifier is a beast. It is FAR more serious of a product than the little Savant unit is.

 

[Ben Miles]

I've been reading up on the Crestron 16x60 amps and it looks like this might be the ticket. I don't mind doing a little DIY tinkering and it doesn't look too difficult to get these working in a non-Crestron environment. I appreciate the suggestion!

 

[MikeSM]

I've been reading up on the Crestron 16x60 amps and it looks like this might be the ticket. I don't mind doing a little DIY tinkering and it doesn't look too difficult to get these working in a non-Crestron environment. I appreciate the suggestion!

They are the best price/performance you can find. Amazing amps, and some people just cast them aside!

good luck!
Mike