Amp Suggestions with my setup please.

[Zinje]

Hi All,

I have a 5.1 setup consisting of the 340 classics up front and the 200's as my rears with an svs sub. The speakers are powered by my Yamaha Receiver (HTR-5890). Lately I have noticed that I have been raising the volume a bit more than usual. The weather is starting to warm up and so is my receiver. Even after I raise the volume, the audible difference is not that dramatic. I feel like I am missing uptop when I play it loud. I think perhaps it is time for an external amp to ease the load on my receiver.

I would ideally like to get an external amp to run my fronts since they are all the same and have my receiver run the rears.

I have a budget of $325 but I can stretch it a bit more. Any suggestions? (No pro amps please)

[Quinn]

Look around on audiogon.com for something used.

[Zinje]

Yes i did... i am a bit overwhelmed right now. I have never done seperates. I honestly don't know what specs to look for. Would 100 watt amp do ok? Brand wise... they all look good so I am hoping someone would have some preference to be used with the 340 classics.

[Zinje]

I have a friend of a friend who has an Adcom 2535. The amp can run 3/4 channels. 4 channels at 60 Watts or you can bridge one side to run 1 channel at 200 watts and 2 at 60 watts.

I have a couple of questions.

1st question is this. If I use this amp and run the my center at 200 watts and use the other 2 60watts channels be enough for my htm-200 rears.

My 2nd question is this. Since I am considering this amp, will it significantly ease the load on my receiver even though my L/R mains are still hooked up? Since my mains be the only one hooked up to my avr will it help with the sound quality to the mains?

[Zinje]

Well my business did well this weekend so I splurged a bit way over my budget. I ended up getting a rotel 1075. This will be my first time doing seperates so it should be a step up from my avr.

Anyone uses this amp?

[Zinje]

Well got my rotel 1075 today in the mail and have it all hooked up with the yamaha avr. This was my first time doing separates and it sure does sound different. I have been watching several scenes and that amp has tamed my 340 classics. I thought they sound great before.... but now i can hear more detail. When I use to play at high volumes with just the yamaha it sounded to busy. Hard for me to explain what i mean by "busy". I have been playing scenes with lots of action sequences like the attack of pearl harbor, the beginning of SW III and the pod racing scene in SW I. The sound with the amp seems to have more control of the dynamics and I can hear details that I did not hear before. Well just wanted to share.

[drewface]

i saw a rotel amp for sale in a pawn shop in richmond last weekend. i don't remember what model it was, but it was a 2 channel amp going for $500, and it looked quite beefy. i didn't buy it though, so i don't know why i'm sharing... :rolleyes:

glad your new setup sounds good!

[jvillas]

Excellent,and congratulations. While I may not be familiar with that particular Rotel amp, I am familiar with the Rotel name and reputation. They are well known for producing very good quality products, that are able to maintain there high performance and value over time. I think you made a good choice. Enjoy

[jvillas]

i saw a rotel amp for sale in a pawn shop in richmond last weekend. i don't remember what model it was, but it was a 2 channel amp going for $500, and it looked quite beefy. i didn't buy it though, so i don't know why i'm sharing... :rolleyes:

glad your new setup sounds good!


Now I'm courious and want to know more

[chas]

The 1075 looks like a fantastic amp...congrats Zinje! Post some pics if you get a chance.

[drewface]

Now I'm courious and want to know morehaha. well, the pawn shop was on Broad Street i think. it might be this one: http://www.friedmansloan.com/. i may be wrong about the street it was on, though...

[Zinje]

The 1075 looks like a fantastic amp...congrats Zinje! Post some pics if you get a chance.

Yeah, I was skeptical. I really thought everything sound great just the way it was but started to sense I was missing something at higher volumes. I did not think it was going to make that much of difference. I guess what I was hearing at higher volumes before was just my receiver distorting the signal. Everything sort of mushes together when you crank up the volume. Now that I have this amp it does not distort, so what I am hearing now is the signal with none of the noise and junk superimposed. Now my receiver can concentrate on the processing and let the amp doing all the amplifying :)

Here are some pics.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j299/zinje/speakers/system1.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j299/zinje/speakers/system2.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j299/zinje/speakers/system3.jpg

[chas]

That's a beautiful, clean looking setup. The black amp looks great. Is that a power strip mounted to the wall? My wiring is a mess behind the stand...nice work!

[Zinje]

That's a beautiful, clean looking setup. The black amp looks great. Is that a power strip mounted to the wall? My wiring is a mess behind the stand...nice work!

Mine is a big mess too. That is a monster power surge that I have right now. It will be replaced with a Zerosurge behind the stand also :P

[jvillas]

Nicely done Zinje,your Ascends are no doubt very happy now.

[chas]

Is that an Oppo 970 in your rack? How do you like it?

[Zinje]

Yes it is the 970. I like it a lot. Compared to my older samsung, the picture on the oppo is better. The 970 is here to hold me over till the format war is over but I am leaning towards hddvd for the XA2 player at the moment. The upconversion on the XA2 is outstanding so it may be worth if for that reason alone if you have loads of SD dvds.

[BGHD]

Great setup. Yeah, I wish I had the xa2. I have the xbox hddvd add-on, but without a vga connection, it's only good for watching hddvds so I can't yet get rid of my old SD-upconverting player. From what I've read, the xa2 give you the best of both worlds (HDDVD+ great upconverting SD DVD player).