The electronic side of running dual fronts.....got ?'s.........

brettw22

I'll make this brief......

I was gonna just add a 2 channel amp to my current Onkyo receiver (eventually being replaced) and hook the amp up to the front pre-out on my Onkyo. Only problem (that I didn't think about) is that I would always have to adjust the volume between the different sources so I didn't have one pair of fronts blaring while i'm trying to mute (HUGE pain in the a$$) So I decided (i think) against the external amp route (as a lot of amps don't have volume adjustments that I've seen).

I went to Ultimate Electronics and the salesperson proposed something that I wanted to ask y'alls opinions on......

He suggested getting another receiver(i.e. Denon AVR-1602 or 3) and plugging that receiver into the front pre-out on the primary receiver (probably Denon 3803). Run all 4 front speakers through one of the receivers (to keep the volume all the same), and then the center and surrounds through the other receiver.

When I was at the store, the way that the guy explained it made sense, but now it's seeming to be a lil unnecessary. He did mention something about running A and B speakers at the same time to make one receiver capable of running the 4 fronts, but as I sit here, I don't know why if the 1603 is able to do that, why the 3803 couldn't as well.

I'm going to have to go back to make sure that I get it all, but had to at least put my question out there. This seems like the more difficult way to accomplish dual fronts, but I don't know what the most simple way is to accomplish it without risking blowing up the one receiver that i currently own.

hoosier21

The second amp would be muted along with the receiver, if that is your only concern.

Hooking the amp up to the receivers pre-outs means the receiver will control the second power amp just like it controls the built in amp, volume up and down and the mute feature.

brettw22

Hoosier.....

So you're saying that if I was to get a straight amp alone, and I had my speakers running through that, if I muted the volume to my receiver, the speakers that are hooked up to the external amp will mute as well? The salesperson indicated that I'd need to be manually adjusting the volume for the speakers hooked up to the amp, if the amp even had a volume control in the first place. What's the point of an amp even having a volume control if all would be adjusted through the receiver or pre/pro? Is there any benefit?

So if the above is all correct, then I could still get away with running a second pair of fronts off a 2 channel external amp, and I could have them all running at the same volume level, with the remote that I have for muting, volume up/down, etc......true? The only thing that I didn't think of initially is how it would sound to have each set of fronts running off a seperate source and creating a different sound between the two of them......

hoosier21

Question 1 - yes that is what the pre-uots are there for.
Salesperson - he does not know much or wanted to sell another receiver.
Question 2 - most power amps do not have a volume control, why? because they are to be controled by a PRE amp (or preouts from a receiver, same thing)
Question 3 - The NAD power amp I have does have level controls, why/benefit? if you have a need to "balance" two or more amps they are very handy for that, or you could hook up a cd player or some other sorce and use the level (volume) controls to adjust the playing level and not use a preamp at all.
Question 4 - True
Last statement - you may hear a difference (acually you will) between the amps in the receiver and the external amp, the external will most likely be better.