preout question

CinderLyon

I was wondering if i am using preouts for my fronts if the receiver then had extra power to drive the other speakers?

BlueFox

Most likely yes. With AVRs, the fewer channels driven usually results in more power for the remaining channels. Since the fronts and center generally have most of the action, using the AVR for the rears only is ideal if you do not have a 5, or 7, channel amp.

CinderLyon

I was hoping that was the case.

I have a 2 channel amp driving my fronts and was wondering/daydreaming about a 5 or 7 channel. But I think I am good then. I tried driving my A9's with just my AVR, fronts set on small and was very surprised how well they did given everything I have been reading about A9's being power hungry. My AVR did just fine. I think that means I can save a few bucks and not bother with a 5 or 7 channel amp. I doubt i would even notice the difference.

rpf65

I would probably suggest upgrading the sub before adding another amp. Subs are pretty much under rated in the mix, but can make a huge difference. Sub first, then RTI A1's or A3's for rears would be how I would go.

CinderLyon

replacement sub is already on the way.

tonyb

CinderLyon wrote: »

I was hoping that was the case.

I have a 2 channel amp driving my fronts and was wondering/daydreaming about a 5 or 7 channel. But I think I am good then. I tried driving my A9's with just my AVR, fronts set on small and was very surprised how well they did given everything I have been reading about A9's being power hungry. My AVR did just fine. I think that means I can save a few bucks and not bother with a 5 or 7 channel amp. I doubt i would even notice the difference.

Setting them to small removes a lot of the lower frequencies which is where the power consumption lies. In that case, yes, your avr should do fine. But I have to ask you, if your not going to use the whole speaker, why did you buy big floorstanders to begin with ? Just sayin' is all. It's always been my opinion that big speakers need full range to sound their best.

Setting the 9's to small and adding a sub is really just replacing the lower portion of the speaker with a self amplified woofer, a subwoofer that is, maybe a better alternative would be LSIM bookies and a sub. Just a thought and certainly just my opinion.

CinderLyon

tonyb wrote: »

Setting them to small removes a lot of the lower frequencies which is where the power consumption lies. In that case, yes, your avr should do fine. But I have to ask you, if your not going to use the whole speaker, why did you buy big floorstanders to begin with ? Just sayin' is all. It's always been my opinion that big speakers need full range to sound their best.

Setting the 9's to small and adding a sub is really just replacing the lower portion of the speaker with a self amplified woofer, a subwoofer that is, maybe a better alternative would be LSIM bookies and a sub. Just a thought and certainly just my opinion.

I agree with you, I find setting A9's to small sort of strange even much like you. I my case it was overridden to small when i set up audyssey; So i did not notice for a while. The cutoff was autoset to 40Khz as well which is pretty deep, but not as far down as the A9's will go. It did serve as a good test of my system and amplification though. I now feel my receiver is powerful enough to handle the rest of my speakers as long as the fronts are on sent to my amp and i have a powered subwoofer.

tonyb

When you setup Audyssey, did you go back and check the settings, tweek it at all ? Don't take auto calibration as gospel is all I'm saying.

CinderLyon

tonyb wrote: »

When you setup Audyssey, did you go back and check the settings, tweek it at all ? Don't take auto calibration as gospel is all I'm saying.

yes i do but missed it that time around. With the tools i have now i use my sound pressure level meter to set dB. I leave the distance alone because I am assuming Audyssey gets phase correctly better than i could. But now, on second thought, I might even go tweak it a bit. My experience so far has been that Audyssey is off a bit on loudness, so by extension i guess it could be off a bit on phase.

I set the rears up 1 dB on the SPL from the rest of the system per reading suggestions. I leave the subwoofer as is even though most readings say that I can set them up 5 db. I get a way lot of bass with my A9's (set to full or large), a subwoofer, and the receiver setup set to double base. Great for HT a bit overpowering for my musical taste.

I have a full set of test sound DVD's coming that should show up today. I don't even know how to use them yet, but I will tweak the system with them as well.