Onkyo 1008 & Crown,Behringer,or Emo

S T R Y K K E R

I'm debating if I should just do the mains & let the Onkyo do the rest of my system.......

Crown XLS1500,Or Behringer EP4000.seem to be enough power and are 1/2 the price of the XPA-3......

I can get either both the Crown & Brhringer for under $275.00 shipped...be here by this Wednesday......

Will having the 1008 do the center and other amp doing mains make differents in sound.dont want it to sound awful

brgman

I use an 808 and have a sunfire for the 2 channel.it works fine unless you need to drive the center and rears at extremely high levels.
added a parasound 2100 with a HT bypass and my HT and 2 channel is just a button push apart.Works great! don't need to switch wires around or have a seperate 2 channel rig to run my music.Good luck.

S T R Y K K E R

brgman.............I have absolutely NO interest in music at all.............this system is for Bluray & Gaming ONLY!

Do I even need an amp with my Onkyo?

I just want the best sound from the mains thats all.

Geoff4rfc

S T R Y K K E R wrote: »

brgman.............I have absolutely NO interest in music at all.............this system is for Bluray & Gaming ONLY!

Do I even need an amp with my Onkyo?

I just want the best sound from the mains thats all.

How many times do you need to read it in different threads?

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1573844&postcount=2

halo71

S T R Y K K E R wrote: »

I just want the best sound from the mains thats all.

You are not gonna get it with those amps you list. IMHO of course. Used an option?

nooshinjohn

halo71 wrote: »

You are not gonna get it with those amps you list. IMHO of course. Used an option?

Agreed with Halo.... you are better served running the reciever and forgetting an amp, given the choices at hand.

Geoff4rfc

After the last two posts, it would appear that you're shooting for the XPA.

S T R Y K K E R

Just went into settings on the onkyo 1008........

I have to chose either 4ohm or 6ohm.....thats all its allowing me to chose..is this good for my speakers? I could have swore their was a 8ohm setting but its just not there to select!

S T R Y K K E R

Of course used is an option.......just dont have enough cash got about $400 as of now......
I can't find the XPA-3 anywhere.other than the Emotiva site.

Would you guys give me a list of 3 channel amps...(with atleast 200 watts per channel)...thats around 400 to 500.

Geoff4rfc

S T R Y K K E R wrote: »

Just went into settings on the onkyo 1008........

I have to chose either 4ohm or 6ohm.....thats all its allowing me to chose..is this good for my speakers? I could have swore their was a 8ohm setting but its just not there to select!

Maybe you're just not reading my posts because I answered this for you once already. So, without further delay, your settings are; 4ohm or 6-16ohm. Naturally, 8 falls in between 6 and 16 so if you select the 6-16 setting on your receiver, your 8ohm speakers will be just fine.

S T R Y K K E R

Geoff4rfc wrote: »

Maybe you're just not reading my posts because I answered this for you once already. So, without further delay, your settings are; 4ohm or 6-16ohm. Naturally, 8 falls in between 6 and 16 so if you select the 6-16 setting on your receiver, your 8ohm speakers will be just fine.[/

Cool.........you would think that it would have 4 or 6-16........ instead of 4 or 6.

F1nut

.............I have absolutely NO interest in music at all.............

In that case, get the Behringer or better yet, pick up something from Wallymart.

mantis

With the speaker package you own , the Onkyo for movies and gaming will be just fine. There is no need to buy amps. Your room isn't that big which doesn't require more then the Onkyo will put out.

Save your money and buy more software.

S T R Y K K E R

mantis wrote: »

With the speaker package you own , the Onkyo for movies and gaming will be just fine. There is no need to buy amps. Your room isn't that big which doesn't require more then the Onkyo will put out.

Save your money and buy more software.

Thats what i was thinking Mantis......

Geoff4rfc

mantis wrote: »

With the speaker package you own , the Onkyo for movies and gaming will be just fine. There is no need to buy amps. Your room isn't that big which doesn't require more then the Onkyo will put out.

Save your money and buy more software.

I wasn't able to find where the OP mentioned the size area he was working with except that he'd be making 40' runs.

The 1008, if I'm not mistaken is making around 45wpc with 7 channels driven, the OP is planning on running a 9.1(2).

The OP also mentioned that he wants the best sound from his mains. With nine channels driven and no external amp, I don't think he's going to get the best sound from his mains IMHO.

I don't know how accurate this test is, but for your viewing; http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/content/onkyo-tx-nr1008-av-receiver

S T R Y K K E R

WOW thanks Geoff..HOLY CRAP.....45watts at 7.1...HELL THAT MEANS THERES PROBLEY ONLY 30 WATTS AT 9.1.....RIGHT?

IT SEEMS TO BE LOUDER THAN 30 WATTS PER CHANNEL TO ME AT 9.1 THOUGH...

WOW JUST WOW.......the test do not lie though........looks like an amp is INDEED necessary!

Monster Jam

I dont know what your room dimensions are but I just had this exact conversation with someone from my work that doesn't know much about home theatre.

I can speak from my experiences going from a quite capable receiver to the same receiver with an amp. The difference was what I would call a "marked improvement" in overall sound quality, especially from the surround speakers. Stated differently, I think I gained more in the home theatre side of things than music - but both benefit. And lets be frank, a speaker that needs to be good for HT needs to be good with music too, right? After all, music is integral to many movies.

Was the "marked improvement" worth the money I paid? It was for me, but to each their own. I'm not sure I would pay much more than I did - less than $1k, but others would and thats the personal choice we all make in this hobby.

By the way, the amp made the one game I tested sound better too. Again, the amplification of the surround channels made all the difference.

S T R Y K K E R

16x12 room.
Only want to do mains l/r with amp...
and let the onkyo 1008 do the rest of the speakers.

jbooker82

Or just a simple 5.1 system. More does not mean better.

nguyendot

Why only amplify the main L/R? I don't get the point in his case if he isn't doing any music. Amplifying the mains generally is done for music, because you only use the main L/R.

In surround 90% of your sound is coming from the center channel, not the mains. You won't gain anything for games/movies by only amplifying the main L/R.

Go all the way (all channels) or go home.

cnh

You do realize that, most of the time, your surround soundtrack isn't anywhere near 30 watts to all channels, right?

In a room that small, the Onkyo is sufficient for HT with your speaker set...unless you want to knock plaster and moldings off your wall? Oh wait, you could run your subs 'hot' and do that.

For music, yeah, I'd amp up the fronts--maybe.

cnh

nguyendot

Yup, amping front L/R ONLY is 99% of the time done for music.

Either amp all the channels, or none.

kuntasensei

If you're doing it strictly for home theater, I would go with a 3-channel amp and do center and mains. That way you're still covered for music and your center channel has some breathing room since it handles 60+% of the audio in a surround track.

All that said, don't panic over that S&V article. It's rare that you're going to use 30w/ch, especially if you're running your other speakers crossed over to the sub (since your sub is then handling the low end, which is where the most power is required). Also, S&V's tests tend to be for sustained output and are not indicative of typical transient response (and the fact that few soundtracks use every channel at once at similar levels). Just cross your speakers over at reasonable levels (60-80Hz for the Monitor 70s, 70-80Hz for the CS2, 80Hz for the R150s) and your receiver shouldn't need an amp.