Will a subwoofer help my AVR?

timk65

I've been told a subwoofer will take strain off the amplifier, is this true? I have a Yamaha AVR (85 wpc) driving a pair of TSI 500's, strictly for music. While the TSI 500's sound great and I notice no deficiencies with bass, I am wondering whether the addition of a subwoofer will help at all. I am only thinking it would help since many people think 85 wpc is not really enough to drive these speakers and a powered subwoofer might "free up" power for the regular speakers.

nguyendot

You can add a sub and set the speakers to small may "help" in that the receiver will not have to power bass hungry signals to the speakers anymore. The real fix is to get more power however.

rpf65

Assuming that you will only run 2-channel, and stick to 100% music, your AVR should be adequate for those speakers. Would your speakers sound better with more power? Yes. Even though they are rated 20-250 watts, the speakers like the higher end better than the lower.

If you decide that you want to start expanding your speakers, to accomidate HT, ask more questions, and provide more information about what you have, and want to achieve.

If you like the sound your hearing now, don't worry too much about a sub. Subs are used mainly for HT applications. Of course if you like bass, a good sub never hurts.

timk65

nguyendot wrote: »

You can add a sub and set the speakers to small may "help" in that the receiver will not have to power bass hungry signals to the speakers anymore. The real fix is to get more power however.

Excuse my ignorant questions (I know just about nothing with regard to audio) but will a more powerful amp (say 200 wpc) really sound better? The reason I didn't spend a fortune on the amplifier is that I can rarely play my music loud; I assumed it would just be a waste. One thing I do notice about my TSI 500's is that at "low" listening volumes softer parts are barely audible while loud parts are extremely loud, compared to my bookshelf speakers. This is only really an issue when listening to classical music or any music where the dynamic range changes drastically throughout any given piece of music. With pop I can "set it and forget it" but when listening to classical I find myself constantly fiddling with the volume. At any rate, the amp I have, when I turn it up, is plenty loud enough for me, without clipping. Would a better amp help with this?

rpf65

Based on your post, you need more power. You are describing under-powered speakers. In other words, more power will make your speakers sound better. Get an AVR with pre-outs, unless the one you have already has them. A 2-channel amp is probably in your future.