Amp Discussions for New Setup
grimmace19
Posts: 1,429
in Electronics
Shortly I will be getting goldenear triton ones, the supercenterXL, and 4 of the sat 30s for surrounds to round out the 7.1 system.
I need suggestions for not necessarily "which amp", but rather, what type would do the best in this setup.
I currently have an adcom gfa-7500 which does 125x5 @ 8 I think that's more than enough to handle the surrounds, however, I'm unsure of the center channel. So that leads me to my question. What would be a better fit, finding a 3 channel amp and running the front 3 with the same power, or buying a 2 channel and running the center off the adcom. I'm pretty set on keeping the adcom and going one of these two directions rather than try and find a 7 channel as the price seems to explode for something that would be a sonic improvement for music.
Thoughts? Experience?
I need suggestions for not necessarily "which amp", but rather, what type would do the best in this setup.
I currently have an adcom gfa-7500 which does 125x5 @ 8 I think that's more than enough to handle the surrounds, however, I'm unsure of the center channel. So that leads me to my question. What would be a better fit, finding a 3 channel amp and running the front 3 with the same power, or buying a 2 channel and running the center off the adcom. I'm pretty set on keeping the adcom and going one of these two directions rather than try and find a 7 channel as the price seems to explode for something that would be a sonic improvement for music.
Thoughts? Experience?
Comments
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Can I make a different suggestion? I've found that finding a 3 channel amp is ALMOST as expensive as a 5 channel because they are just somewhat rare as most folks either go with stereo or 5 channel.
If I was going to do anything in your situation I'd go with a DIFFERENT 5 channel amp with a bit more balls and go with the front 5 being on that amp and then the rear back surrounds off the AVR. The standard 200wpc @ 8 ohm kinda thing so I'm sure you know what kinda amps to look for.
If you get the right 5 channel amp I think you'd be good.
Otherwise you can go with a 3 channel but given your fronts your gonna need a fair amount of power for it so your looking at the cost for a 5 channel amp again.
What are you running your mains off currently? Worst case, get a stereo amp with similar wattage and just run your center off one channel of it..."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
A couple things to consider, I don't have an AVR to power the rears. I currently only run a 5.1 setup and am looking to go to 7.1 needing to add two channels of power somewhere.
I am currently using the adcom to power all 5 speakers in my setup. -
grimmace19 wrote: »A couple things to consider, I don't have an AVR to power the rears. I currently only run a 5.1 setup and am looking to go to 7.1 needing to add two channels of power somewhere.
I am currently using the adcom to power all 5 speakers in my setup.
Gotcha. I didn't realize you had a pre-pro and figured you had a AVR that could handle some of the speakers.
Well you've got some options then.
1. Do you buy a cheap stereo amp for your rear surrounds and leave the front 5 on the Adcom? - This you wouldn't really know till you've got the new gear in and listened to it to see if the Adcom can keep up with the mains
If it cant keep up
2. Buy a beefy 2 channel amp and leave your center on the Adcom
Or
3. Buy a 3 channel amp like you mentioned to power the front 3 from it
Or
4. Buy a monoblock amp like the small Marantz 125x1 amps for JUST the center...
I think you might be able to get buy with a nice stereo amp and then leave the center & surrounds off the Adcom. Its also potentially the cheapest option and provides the best upgrade for music (mains on their own amp).
Otherwise like I said, the 3 channel amps can sometimes get pricey and hard to find.
"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
My advice, if you haven't heard the Tritons on the Adcom, do. You may not like what you hear.
I participated in a recent home theater crawl and a vendor was there demoing the Ones on a Marantz amp (Marantz Pre/Pro too) and the overwhelming consensus was that even the typically warm Marantz sound couldn't smooth off the sharp edges in the higher ranges.
We then swapped in a GFA-5500 with the same pre/pro and it actually got worse.
The other thing we saw with the Ones was that you *had* to be in the sweet spot otherwise, the soundstage started to collapse badly.
This isn't a knock on the speakers as they also put them on a pair of Vincent SP-T100 monos with a Vincent pre (tubed but not sure of the model) and they sounded really good in the sweet spot.
All I am saying is be very conscientious about what you front them with as they seem more sensitive to gear pairing than most."Some people find it easier to be conceited rather than correct."
"Unwad those panties and have a good time man. We're all here to help each other, no matter how it might appear." DSkip -
I've heard the tritons with the marantz gear as well and thought they sounded great, I'm just hesitant to run them off 140wpc on the fronts or just 125 from the adcom. I have a line on a krell kav250/3 here in Denver which would give them plenty of juice. The price would be sufficient for me to try it out and sell the krell if I don't like it.
