Do I Need Amplifier for my setup

veerapaneni

Hi I have the following setup and wondereing whether i need amplifier for this. Any Help is appreciated.

Front : Polk RTi A9
Center: Polk CSi A6
Surround: Polk FXi A6
Sub: Polk DSW 4000
Receiver: OnkyoTX NR-808 (135W/Channel)

mystik610

Do you absolutely NEED one?

no. The A9's are efficient enough that an AVR should be able to push them without damaging the amplifier section.

But you will WANT an amp if you really want to get what you paid a premium price for. To get those woofers in the A9's towers moving and produce a respectable amount of bass, you're going to need at least 200 WPC into 8 ohms. The TX-NR 808 isn't driving anywhere near 135 WPC with 5 channels driven.

Plus you'll benefit from increased dynamic range, improved imaging and all the other benefits that more power provides.

NewHTguy

You might want to consider "how" you will use your set-up. When I added my present amp to my old Rti10s (similar to the A7s) there was an improvement in detail and the soundstage did seem to "tighten up" (I don't know how else to describe it). BUT it would not have been worth it for me if I did not put a lot of weight on two-channel music. When watching movies the difference was not really very noticable, not enough to care. That's especially true if you're using a sub and crossing the fronts over at around 80hz.

Having said that, if you're willing to buy used, you can try an amp with a modest investment. Your Onk can easily power your center and surrounds, so you could just go with a two channel. That's what I did and I never regretted the decision. Of course, with the Lsi line you pretty much "need" an amp to get the best out of them.

kevhed72

If you are using those speakers for music, a quality amp will provide so much much more in sound quality vs. your AVR. Search the classified here if you decide to buy used....

geebolt

I had TSI500's which are even mor efficient than the RTI A9's powered by an Onk 807. I moved to a seperate 200wpc x5 amp and noticed a substantial improvement especially when listening to music blu-rays and vinyl. A very worthwhile investment IMHO.

cfrizz

Welcome to Club Polk!

What we are trying to tell you is that your receiver will drive your speakers just fine. What it WON'T do, is give your speakers the power that they need to operate to their full potential.

And after spending all of that money putting together a great system, I know that I would want to hear everything that the speakers can give.

I always recommend at least 200wpc @ 8ohms. I also suggest biting the bullet & getting a 5 channel amp and be done with this particular upgrade. You can keep the amp through all other upgrades to your system, knowing that you have enough clean power to drive almost any speakers you want.

Audiogon is your friend for buying amps. Brands to look at are Rotel, Parasound, Sunfire, B & K, Adcom, Nad. If you want to buy new good band for the buck brands are Emotiva & Outlaw Audio.

EndersShadow

veerapaneni wrote: »

Hi I have the following setup and wondereing whether i need amplifier for this. Any Help is appreciated.

Front : Polk RTi A9
Center: Polk CSi A6
Surround: Polk FXi A6
Sub: Polk DSW 4000
Receiver: OnkyoTX NR-808 (135W/Channel)

I think it depends on how much you are pushing your speaker. If you listen at moderate volumes you might not be drawing enough power from the Onkyo for an external amp to help you any. However if you listen at high volumes than you might indeed benefit from the amplifier as it will give you dedicated power.

Even though your Onkyo is rated for 135 watts per channel its actually only “135 watts minimum continuous power per channel, 8 ohm loads, 2 channels driven from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, with a maximum total harmonic distortion of 0.08% (FTC)” per the manual. This means if you’re really pushing your Onkyo you’re probably not getting the full 135 watts per channel but something less than that.

A dedicated amp will provide the full load its rated for which should make things sound better. It also might make a difference at low volumes, but I don’t know.

I can provide you with my personal thoughts later this weekend/upcoming week as I am adding an external amplifier to my Integra DTR 5.9 which is a similar receiver (not rated as high per channel as yours). I don’t have speakers as nice as yours; I have T90e fronts (Monitor 60 equivalents), a CS2 center and Monitor 40’s as surrounds, so the comparison is going to be somewhat subjective.

cfrizz wrote: »

What we are trying to tell you is that your receiver will drive your speakers just fine. What it WON'T do, is give your speakers the power that they need to operate to their full potential.

And after spending all of that money putting together a great system, I know that I would want to hear everything that the speakers can give.

I always recommend at least 200wpc @ 8ohms. I also suggest biting the bullet & getting a 5 channel amp and be done with this particular upgrade. You can keep the amp through all other upgrades to your system, knowing that you have enough clean power to drive almost any speakers you want.

Audiogon is your friend for buying amps. Brands to look at are Rotel, Parasound, Sunfire, B & K, Adcom, Nad. If you want to buy new good band for the buck brands are Emotiva & Outlaw Audio.

Basically what he said....

bopicasso

It is like buying a brand new sports car with a govenor on it. You should let your speakers show their potential by adding a external amp if the wallet allows.
Or else you would have been better off buying a lesser speaker to match better with your receiver's power offerings.

veerapaneni

Thanks You all for your inputs. Really Appreciate it. I am planning to add Emotiva XPA-5 based on your inputs, which is 200 watts RMS x 5 into 8 ohms . But my surrounds are only 150WPC. Is it going to damage my surrounds ?

bopicasso

Not at all. Speakers are more likely to be damaged by not enough watts than to much.
To many watts allows for clarity at volumes that will make you deaf. So in essence you will hear clearly as your loosing your hearing lol.

concealer404

veerapaneni wrote: »

Thanks You all for your inputs. Really Appreciate it. I am planning to add Emotiva XPA-5 based on your inputs, which is 200 watts RMS x 5 into 8 ohms . But my surrounds are only 150WPC. Is it going to damage my surrounds ?

Nope.

Bad dirty power damages speakers. Not clean power.

You'd have to be listening to levels at ludicrous volume to even come close to holding 200w RMS through your surrounds anyways. At that point, you should be worrying about the damage to your hearing, not your speakers.

geebolt

The XPA-5 is what I got. I think you'll be happy with it. And as concealer404 pointed out, your surrounds probably won't get anywhere near that kind of power.

George