Amp speaker to amp line in

lryan00e

I have a sonamp 260 X3 its 2 channels at X3 ( for a pair of speaker's per room with all some or none of the 3 rooms receiving the 60 watts per channel). Would it be electrically sound if I hooked up those speaker wires to the line ins of 3 sonamp 2120t 's 1 per room. These are older amps but in good shape i just dont know if they can handle the 60 watts per channel through their line ins. Dont hesitate to ask for details regarding this set up

F1nut

You cannot drive one amplifier with another one.

mhardy6647

First and foremost - and as usual - @F1nut is fundamentally correct.
No, the line inputs are designed for a low voltage signal and will, at the least, be overloaded by the output of a power amplifier. Both the power amp(s) and the preamps may very well be damaged by such a hookup, perhaps beyond cost-effective repair.

In full disclosure, there are attenuators to 'convert' a power amplifier level output to be nominally compatible with a line level input. Such gizmos were sometimes used in car stereo, but they're, at best, a bad idea.

Here's an example of such a gizmo -- again, not recommended for home hifi use, and not designed to handle more than a few watts of power.
https://www.parts-express.com/stinger-sgn111-30-watt-fixed-line-out-converter--268-482

To reiterate the gist of @F1nut's post, there' no good reason to do it, so I join him to say "Don't do it".


What exactly are you trying to accomplish (i.e., why are you contemplating doing what you're asking about)?

lryan00e

I was trying to get more power to the speakers I thought that 1.5 or twice the speaker rms wattage from the amps was desired to assertain the optimal sound from the speakers. I was obviously going about it the wrong way. Thank you F1nut and mhardy6647,previously I had split the front or main speakers from my old yamaha htr-5830 (came out in 2003).One set of channels going to each of my sonance 2120's line ins then out to the klipsh r-280f pair they both powered. The old yamaha htr-5830 wattage numbers are 110 rms and 120 dynamic. The volume dial incremtation range is -80.0 db up to +16.0 db .I never got it past -13db with both amps maxed out. I used my cellphone connected to the line in on the yamaha for music choice and the threshold of pain was near at -13db. My logic was 96 on top to bottom volume at -13 I was at roughly 75% of max. The dynamic being 120 so 3/4 of that is 90 watts or 82.5 of rms which is more than the 60 coming out of the SONANCE 260X3 I was going to use. I will heed your warnings and not utilize the 260 thank you both agian.

F1nut

previously I had split the front or main speakers from my old yamaha htr-5830 (came out in 2003).One set of channels going to each of my sonance 2120's line ins then out to the klipsh r-280f pair they both powered.

In that case you were using pre-outs to connect to the amps. The AVR acts as a pre-amp only for left and right fronts. The AVR left and right amp channels are not used.

lryan00e

I know u are correct but trying to understand. I messed up on my math it would be half of my number of 90 or 82.5 watts because I split it into both amps so 41.25 or 45 watts or is it the ohms that would be altered

F1nut

No, the AVR was no longer powering the front speakers, the amplifiers were.

lryan00e

PhoneMusic to line in on receiver or (avr ) then front speaker terminals + and - on receiver were split into 2 sets one set going to each amp line in left and right then out to speakers. The line in shut off the internal amp on receiver is what I think your saying

lryan00e

So while the music went out the front speakers the amps told the avr to not turn on its amp . The volume on the phone and avr could. Both raise and lower the volume from speakers

lryan00e

though .I'm really learning some stuff if I am grasping this like I hope I am

F1nut

Right, the AVR controls the volume, but the internal AVR amp channels are not powering your speakers.

tonyb

When you hook up an amp to a receiver, the receivers internal amps become idle for those channels.

So if you hook up a 2 channel amp to the front speakers, the receiver itself will only power the center and surrounds. Which is beneficial to the receiver since it will have more power to those channels not having to worry about the front 2 that are on the external amplifier.

You don't use both, it's one or the other, for the given channels you want to hook an amp to.

Also, your pushing the speakers fairly hard as is. Because your volume dial goes to +16. doesn't mean it's all useable. What your going to wind up doing is clipping the amps and blowing up a speaker, or an amp, or both.

When the music starts sounding congested, tinny, at higher volumes, that means turn it down, you've reached your higher end limit. If you keep playing at that level, or louder, that's when the damage happens.