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Thread: home theater amp recommendation

  1. #1
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    Dec 2015
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    Default home theater amp recommendation

    Hi guys. I'm looking for a recommendation for a good amp to improve the audio quality of my current setup (Yamaha rx-a2050 AVR with atmos setup that includes sierra-2s and sierra horizon center, sierra Luna surrounds, and in-ceiling speakers for Atmos). I'm not sure whether to go with a 3 channel amp for the fronts, or spend roughly the same for a 5/7/9 channel amp that sacrifices some extra power up front. Seems like emotiva and monoprice are two good "bang for the buck" options, but I'm open to other suggestions too. Any thoughts??

  2. #2
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    Default Re: home theater amp recommendation

    What do you feel is lacking in the Yamaha, out of curiosity?
    Are you mostly music or movies? If mostly music, I'd probably focus on a 2 channel amp; otherwise 3 channel.
    Class A/B or Class D? Budget (bang for buck implies not too much, but how much is not too much?)

    Monoprice is good (made by ATI as far as I know). Outlaw is another option. Emotiva are cheap and ok, but their business practices are questionable.

    If Class D, look at VTV amplifiers or Buckeye amps. Monoprice also has class D offerings.

    Going up in price range, ATI and Rogue Audio are solid amps.
    * LG OLED65E6P, BenqHT2050A
    * Anthem AVM90, Rogue ST100, VTV Pascal 7 ch
    * Sierra Towers/Horizon (all ELX RAAL), S2EXv2 surrounds, HTM200SEx4 heights, Rythmik E15HPx2
    * VPI Classic 1+ (VTA & Fatboy Gimbal), PE Eagle/RR, VAS NOVA, Soundsmith Paua, Manley Chinook, Bob's Devices SUT, SugarCube 1 mini
    * Oppo 203 & 103D, EverSolo DMP-A6
    * miniDSP Flex, Audiosensibility & Blue Jeans cables, Symposium & Isoacoustics, GIK
    * For RDJ: Anthem MRX720, Sierra LX, Luna Duo v2 center, CXNv2, TBD

  3. #3
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    Dec 2015
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    Default Re: home theater amp recommendation

    I've gotta crank the reciever nearly all the way up for the volume we like, and the sound clarity drops...

  4. #4
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    Default Re: home theater amp recommendation

    Hope the amp isn't clipping when you crank it and causing degrading sound quality (and possibly a blown tweeter).

    Based on the specs, looks like 140 wpc with 2 channel driven. So, my assumption is it's probably closer to 100 wpc with more than 2 driven. You'll need at least double the power (~200+ wpc) for only 3 dB gain, 4x for 6 dB (~600 wpc), 10x for 10 dB (1400 wpc). Is 3 dB going to make an audible difference to you? If you need more (like 600 wpc) then you're probably better off looking at class D from a cost perspective (VTV, Buckeye, D-Sonic) or even a pro-sound amp (like Crown or Behringer).

    How far are you sitting from the speakers? Can you move a few feet closer? That should net you a few additional dB's.

    I don't recall the efficiency of the S2 - think they are around 87 or 88. You could also consider moving to the Towers (93 dB) or the Luna Duos (90 dB) to improve the audio quality with your current Yamaha.

    IMO, a more powerful amp could give you more headroom but I'm not so sure you'll be satisfied and not sure how much improvement in audio quality you'll get. Yamaha makes nice stuff (I used to use one) but I moved to Anthem several years ago - audio-wise, music (my main use) with the Anthem is much better. Movies are also improved with the Anthem.
    Last edited by racrawford65; 10-08-2022 at 05:07 PM.
    * LG OLED65E6P, BenqHT2050A
    * Anthem AVM90, Rogue ST100, VTV Pascal 7 ch
    * Sierra Towers/Horizon (all ELX RAAL), S2EXv2 surrounds, HTM200SEx4 heights, Rythmik E15HPx2
    * VPI Classic 1+ (VTA & Fatboy Gimbal), PE Eagle/RR, VAS NOVA, Soundsmith Paua, Manley Chinook, Bob's Devices SUT, SugarCube 1 mini
    * Oppo 203 & 103D, EverSolo DMP-A6
    * miniDSP Flex, Audiosensibility & Blue Jeans cables, Symposium & Isoacoustics, GIK
    * For RDJ: Anthem MRX720, Sierra LX, Luna Duo v2 center, CXNv2, TBD

  5. #5
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    Default Re: home theater amp recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by tonyb View Post
    I've gotta crank the reciever nearly all the way up for the volume we like, and the sound clarity drops...
    How far back are you sitting from the front left/right speakers?
    .
    .
    .
    Good Sound To You!

    David Fabrikant
    www.ascendacoustics.com

  6. #6
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    Aug 2022
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    Default Re: home theater amp recommendation

    I had basically that same generation Aventage receiver though mine I think was 110 Watts per channel so passing this along if helpful... other questions people asked are of course are still good to ask!

    I also upgraded to an amp not to get more watts but because I was curious about what I was missing at one point.

    Unfortunately for this thread, all of my testing of the new amp I bought were before I bought Ascend speakers, but it made a big difference. I bought a Rotel 1555 from Crutchfield and at the time I first tested moving off the Yamaha to a dedicated amp when I had some Dali Oberons. It's only a 5 channel amp, but if you end up keeping the Yamaha to do processing you could definitely drive your floor speakers off the good amp and leave the Yamaha to do the overhead stuff I think.

    So MAYBE that Yamaha is just not sounding good with 6 ohm speakers and you're not going to hear anything with the Ascends, I don't know.

    Anyway, with the Dalis, initially I hated these speakers and thought they were pretty grainy, but guess what? They were kind of ok, the problem was the Yamaha! Still nowhere in the league of the Ascend stuff though of course!

    Basically in my experience the midrange got clearer and less grainy, and bass quality definitely improved, and this wasn't in like audiophile imaginary territory, it was like 10x better instantly.

    People seem to talk about amps sounding different, but I would not expect a solid state amp to.

    Don't look for "sound" character to come from the AVR or the amp or anything, but I think it's fair to say maybe the Yamaha can't supply consistent or good power/dynamics even at half volume as good as a dedicated amp?

    After you get an amp, you may think that you'll get a much better sound by moving to a dedicated AVR rather than a receiver with preouts - I'm not sure I had that experience, but I moved to a Marantz 8805 and what IS cool about that is Audyssey has a mobile app that shows what the room correction does and it can make the frequency response of some Ascend speakers go basically COMPLETELY flat in my room anyway, and I'm pretty sure the Yamaha could not do that before. I have zero desire to try another AVR as I think it's 100% fine.

    But it's also maybe 3 years newer, so I don't know what they can do these days.

    The Rotel runs a little warm, so I am using an AC Infinity cloud plate controller attached to some AC Infinity USB fans since this runs a lot quieter than the AC Infinity rack fans. The Marantz AVR is still significantly warmer than the amp.

    I don't have any experience with the Monoprice stuff but Emotiva stuff but some of the support comments online may be worth reading - I think that was mostly about their AVRs though.

    If you're also in the "improve your sound" category, adding some acoustic panels is probably the cheapest win you can do as well, and that is something you may also want to try out depending on room shapes. My center channel dialog got a lot easier to understand in particular.

  7. #7
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    Mar 2006
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    Default Re: home theater amp recommendation

    Hi there,
    What mounts are you using for your Atmos?

    Thanks,
    Kirk.

  8. #8
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    Dec 2015
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    Default Re: home theater amp recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by kirky27 View Post
    Hi there,
    What mounts are you using for your Atmos?

    Thanks,
    Kirk.
    They're in-ceiling speakers

  9. #9
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    May 2022
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    15

    Default Re: home theater amp recommendation

    Did you end up getting an amp? I think its worth it, I had my Luna's running off a Marantz, then upgraded to Schiit Vidar, man, it sounds SO MUCH better. I highly recommend getting a power amp.

    If I were gonna get an amp for surround I'd consider the Outlaw amps, they are quite powerful and heavy. Emotiva is another good option, you could always get the 3 channel for the front stage, then upgrade the rest at your convenience.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: home theater amp recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by Nnice View Post
    Did you end up getting an amp? I think its worth it, I had my Luna's running off a Marantz, then upgraded to Schiit Vidar, man, it sounds SO MUCH better. I highly recommend getting a power amp.

    If I were gonna get an amp for surround I'd consider the Outlaw amps, they are quite powerful and heavy. Emotiva is another good option, you could always get the 3 channel for the front stage, then upgrade the rest at your convenience.
    The big/heavy Outlaw amps are made by ATI, so are the Monoprice Monoliths. All great values.
    -curtis

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