AV Atmos amp recommendations using SDA 1Cs as front speakers?

mhw58

Hello, I have a 5.1 system using SDA 1Cs as my front speakers, Polk cs400i as a center channel and Polk RTI28 as my rears. I was powering them with a pioneer elite sc77 amp and was very happy with the sound. Unfortunately my amp is failing and I want to replace it with an atmos av amp. I listen to music in stereo and also movies in 5.1. Does anyone have a recommendation for an atmos amp that would work well in stereo and 5.1? Thanks for your recommendations.

daddyjt

Welcome.

I think you might be conflating a few terms here. Your current setup is not Atmos per-see, it is 5.1. Are you planning on moving to an Atmos setup in the future (5.1.2, 7.1.2, 5.1.4, etc…)? If not, you have no need of an Atmos processor.

As for recommendations, that speaker configuration would REALLY benefit from at least one stand alone amplifier for the front L&R speakers… I run a Marantz receiver in my 7.4.4 home theater, but I use stand-alone amplifiers for all speakers, so the receiver is only acting as a preamp/processor.

mhw58

The way my room is setup I can only do 5.1. I doubt I will ever go full atmos so that is a good point. I own Blu Ray audios and notice some of them do sound different if I play the atmos mix vs the dtshd mix.

Emlyn

If you like the performance of the D3 digital amp section in the Pioneer Elite receivers the last equivalent model to yours that had them would be the SC-99 that has Atmos processing. Used market for those. There are also a few more models with Atmos and the D3 amps. Pioneer Elite no longer exists as it was.

Marantz, Yamaha Aventage, Onkyo are options to look at for new models. Depending on the model a separate two channel amplifier may be needed.