Power amp?

olddirtynutz

I have a 7.2 setup consisting of Yamaha rx-v667 ,2 Polk monitor60s fronts, 4Polk monitor40s for surrounds, Polk cs2 center, 2 BIC PL200 subs. Was thinking of getting an Emotiva UPA-2 power amp for my fronts and was wondering if it would upgrade the performance of my system and how exactly to hook it up

BWilberg266

You would definitely notice an improvement in sound quality by going with a separate amp. While the Yamaha is rated at 90W, with seven channels driven I wouldn't be surprised to see the real numbers being closer to 35-40W per channel.

My suggestion would be to go with a used five channel instead of a new 2 channel. If you are doing a lot of HT it's important that you are giving your center channel a good dose of wattage almost more than any other speakers in your setup because that is where all of your dialogue and a lot of the other "important" sound comes from. You can get a used 5 channel with a true 100W for each of it's five channels which will give you 2-3x more power than what you currently have for the same price. Here is an example of one on Agon right now. Then you can let your Yamaha power the remaining two surround back channels.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?ampsmult&1309657448&/Rotel-RB-985

Rotel, Adcom, and NAD are just a few of the reliable names for used amps that will get you more bang for your buck than a new Emotiva. Nothing wrong with Emotiva, they make great sounding amps, just always looking to get the most for my money so I usually get my gear used.

Regarding the setup, you would connect the pre-outs on the back of your Yamaha, for the corresponding channels you will be using, to the external amp by using RCA cables. And then you would connect your speaker wire to the +/- terminals on the back of the external amp accordingly. As for the remaining two channels not connected to the external amp (probably your surround backs) leave them directly connected to the Yamaha's speaker terminals.

Easy enough

robsreef

The amp shows sold now. What was the asking price?

As far as used gear goes; I agree, especially with something like power amps, you'll get the best value. While amplifier technology does progress, it does not change as rapidly as AVR technology.

BWilberg266

I think the price was ~$370

Not 100% sure on that but it wasn't on there for long, so you know the pricing was good.