Adding two 2-channel amps to an AVR for HT

Beta

I recently had installed Polk in-wall and in-ceiling speakers for a HT system. I have LC265i fronts, an LCi-C and LC80fx surrounds. I am powering them with a Denon 4310ci AVR. I am not satisfied with how this unit drives these speakers.

I was thinking about adding a 5-channel amp (maybe a Parasound 5250). However, before I did this, I was wondering if buying a 5-channel amp is unnecessary given existing amps I already own. Any insight one might be able to provide would be really helpful.

I currently have a Parasound Halo A21 and a Halo A23 amp that I am not using. Is it possible to incorporate these two amps with the Denon 4310ci AVR? Maybe use the A21 to power the LC265i, the A23 to power the LCi-C and the AVR to power the LC80fx surrounds?

Can this be done, how well would this work and how would one accomplish this if it can be done?

Thoughts, opinions, suggestions and any detailed direction one might be able to provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you kindly!

mdaudioguy

Yes, it should work fine, and would be a good use of what you already own. Hook it up, and be sure to run your calibration again.

What would it accomplish? Well, it might just actually sound wonderful!

Try it and report back!

Beta

I failed to articulate my question adequately. So I'll try to be more precise.

Might anyone know how one would incorporate a Parasound Halo A21 2-channel amp (250x2) and a Parasound Halo A23 2-channel amp (125x2) with a Denon 4310ci AVR for a 5-channel HT setup? A detailed explanation of how to do this would be very much appreciated.

Speakers being utilized are Polk LC265i fronts, an LCi-C and LC80fx surrounds.

I obviously have a lack of understanding of this subject matter. If anyone might be kind enough to provide me with some instructions, I would be most grateful.

Thank you!

B Run

Use the 250x2 for your mains, your 125 x2 for your center and the Denon for the surrounds, then run Audyssey. You should be good to go!

tonyb

You use the zone A outputs on the receiver. One rca cable for each channel. Front left and right preouts in zone A to the left and right "in's" on the amp. Then hook up the speaker wire to the amp and your good to go. Do the same for the center with the other amp.

Beta

tonyb wrote: »

You use the zone A outputs on the receiver. One rca cable for each channel. Front left and right preouts in zone A to the left and right "in's" on the amp. Then hook up the speaker wire to the amp and your good to go. Do the same for the center with the other amp.

Thank you very much! I have a question regarding the center speaker and the A23. Given the rear of the A23 has positive and negative terminals for both a right and left channel, how would one hook up said center speaker? Doesn't the LCi-C only have one positive and one negative terminal (the speaker is already installed in the wall and I cannot tell from reading the manual)?

It doesn't make sense to me that one would connect the LCi-C to either the left or right channel of the amp. Is there some kind of a speaker cable "splitter" one would utilize? Say a set up whereby said splitter would have two positive and two negative inputs on one side and a single positive and single negative input on the other side that the speaker cable running to the LCi-C would go into?

Again, forgive me for my lack of understanding of this topic. The concept of connecting the LCi-C to the A23 has me confused. Again, your help is really appreciated!

Beta

Question answered.

Called Parasound at got the explanation I needed.

My issues revolved around my lack of understanding of HT/AVRs. It was explained that it doesn't matter which channel (right or left) that I use on the A23 for the center. The AVR will be sending the A23 all the information needed to amplify to the center correctly. Apparently, it's irrelevant at that juncture which channel on the A23 that I use.

PrazVT

I have a similar setup (using different Parasound amps for diff channels). I use the A21 for my Front Left/Right, a 2250 for the Surround Left/Right and an HCA-1000A (similar to A23) for the center. The only thing I did different for the center, was that I split out the pre-out for the center from the AVR to 2 RCAs. One of those RCAs goes to the 'left' channel on the HCA-1000A and the other goes to the 'right' on it. Then I just removed the bridge on the center speaker and am basically making use of both amp channels to power the center.

It probably would have been easier to use the HCA-1000A in mono mode (400w bridged), but that introduced a hum. My point is, if you'd like to make use of both A23 channels, that's something you can do

Beta

PrazVT wrote: »

I have a similar setup (using different Parasound amps for diff channels). I use the A21 for my Front Left/Right, a 2250 for the Surround Left/Right and an HCA-1000A (similar to A23) for the center. The only thing I did different for the center, was that I split out the pre-out for the center from the AVR to 2 RCAs. One of those RCAs goes to the 'left' channel on the HCA-1000A and the other goes to the 'right' on it. Then I just removed the bridge on the center speaker and am basically making use of both amp channels to power the center.

It probably would have been easier to use the HCA-1000A in mono mode (400w bridged), but that introduced a hum. My point is, if you'd like to make use of both A23 channels, that's something you can do

Much appreciated. Just learned I can bridge the A23 with a flip of a few switches on the back. Sounds like this should do the trick to push the center speaker properly with the A23? Thanks!

PrazVT

Yup! In mono mode you can just run one line of speaker wire to the center.

You're welcome - enjoy

newrival

B Run wrote: »

Use the 250x2 for your mains, your 125 x2 for your center and the Denon for the surrounds, then run Audyssey. You should be good to go!

i agree with this. especially if you can bridge that 125w amp for your center.

Beta

newrival wrote: »

i agree with this. especially if you can bridge that 125w amp for your center.

Yes. Very helpful. The A23 appears to allow for this. Thanks everyone!

http://www.parasound.com/img/halo/a23_rear_big.jpg

Beta

Question....

The back of the A23 (see link below) states "Caution speaker impedance 4 Ohms minimum: Stereo & 8 Ohms minimum: Bridged Mono". Is this going to be an issue given the LCi-C center is a 4 Ohm speaker? Thanks again.

http://www.parasound.com/img/halo/a23_rear_big.jpg

PrazVT

Sorry forgot you're using an LSiC. Probably a better idea to just bi-amp the center with the 2 channels separately in that case.

B Run

+1 just bi amp it and you'll never have to worry about overheating it.

Beta

Spoke to Tony at Parasound today. The A23 cannot be run in Bridge mono mode to a 4 ohm speaker. That can only be done with an 8 ohm speaker. He advised me to run either the left or right channel on the A23 to the center channel pre-out on the Denon 4310ci and then run the LCi-C speaker cables to the appropriate channel of the amp's speaker terminals.

Does anyone see any concerns or issues with that concept?

Forgive my ignorance, but how would one use (the actual process/how to do it) a single A23 amp to bi-amp this center channel speaker? Thanks in advance!

Polkie2009

Beta,I'm not very familiar with the LCiC center speaker ,but I'm thinking you're going to have to use a outboard 2 channel crossover unit,(this is what we used to use in the band when we bi amped the speaks).Some of the bands even used a tri-amp setup,lol. Might have to bypass the internal crossover circuit in the center speaker to do this??? Maybe some of the more knowledgable polkies here can chime in.Good luck with it!

Beta

Thanks....

Given the LCI-C is a 4 ohm speaker, I am simply going to run it off the A23 as suggested by Parasound.