To amplify or not to amplify?

voight1

Hello,
Been a while since my last post.. To bring you up to speed this is what my setup consists of now,
fronts: Rita 7's (bi-amped)
Center: csi a6
Rears: fxi a6
Subs: 2 dsw pro 660's
Avr: pioneer elite sc-65
Planning on adding another set of fxi a6 soon for side surrounds..

so my question is, I've been debating about adding a emotive xpa-2 and an emotive xpa-5 to the line up, kinda wondering if anyone had any input weather or not this would be a good investment? I know I have a decent avr, so I'm just not sure how much I'm gonna gain by adding these two amps? Am I only gonna gain a few decibels at the high end or will I notice more clarity at normal listening levels? Really on the fence with this one, will it be 2 grand well spent or 2 grand wasted? I know I can always return them but any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, Thank you!

B Run

I think your AVR is capable of driving your system just fine, if you do decide to try an amp i'd just go with a 2 or 3 channel and let the Pioneer handle the rest. Trying the Emotiva won't hurt anything and going to 7.1 can put some extra stress on your AVR so it's worth a shot.

nooshinjohn

Your AVR is just fine in this case....

voight1

B Run wrote: »

I think your AVR is capable of driving your system just fine, if you do decide to try an amp i'd just go with a 2 or 3 channel and let the Pioneer handle the rest. Trying the Emotiva won't hurt anything and going to 7.1 can put some extra stress on your AVR so it's worth a shot.

Yeah, I played around with the idea of just getting xpa-2 or the xpa-3 and letting the avr handle the rest..do you think I'd get better sound from getting the xpa-2, having the 7's fully powered, or getting the xpa-3 and sending 200 watts to the front three?

voltz

I and many others here have the same set-up as you, I picked up a older Adcom 5503 which is 200w x3 and my it leaves my AVR to gives its 120w per 2 channel driven all to the 2 rears. And I really feel this amp was worth the money to make my RTiA7's really sound so much better (not just louder) and now I'm not so afraid of clipping a tweeter from cranking it up a bit.

I don't know anything about Emotiva amps but what I've heard talked about so I can't offer any advise on them.

but I think adding a amp to your setup would be worth it if you can swing it. now wither you get a X2 or X3? I think the x3 would be best but your paying the bill.

B Run

voight1 wrote: »

Yeah, I played around with the idea of just getting xpa-2 or the xpa-3 and letting the avr handle the rest..do you think I'd get better sound from getting the xpa-2, having the 7's fully powered, or getting the xpa-3 and sending 200 watts to the front three?

Here's the way I look at it, you only really need an amp for the towers (which you might not REALLY even need) and the center can easily be handled by the avr. However a lot of people like to amplify the front 3 due to dynamics, and keeping an even soundstage up front as it seems to keep everything up front blending a little more smoothly. I've never had personal experience with it, i've only used my receiver or a 5 channel amp but I think you'd honestly be fine either way. I'm sure there's other people who have tried both ways who can chime in.

zane77

You could always try the Emotiva and if you didn't like it all you would be out is the cost of shipping it back.