Turning on External amp

polkyson

Hello,

I have recently decided to get an external amp for my front left/right speakers. Unfortunately my receiver (Pioneer 1018-AH) does not have a 12v trigger out put or switched power outlet. to turn on the amp automatically. Are there any solutions other than purchasing a new Receiver or preamp? The amp will be located in a closet on the opposite wall of my receiver do to fan noise. I do have a Monster HTS 3500MKII. Thanks for any help!

thsmith

I don't think it is recommemnded to use your AVR's swutched power outlet with an AMP, pulls a lot power. Could be wrong but I only use the switched power outlet for my TT.

Sorry that I can offer not other help except maybe a BUMP

obieone

Welcome to the forum.
Most power amps have a switch selector, 'off, on, auto', for cases just like yours.
The power amp won't pull any power until it senses a signal from the input's.
And +1 on NOT using the outlet on the back of the rcvr.
Just make sure you look at the back panel, or check the spec.'s of any amp your considering.
Good luck.

polkyson

thsmith wrote: »

I don't think it is recommemnded to use your AVR's swutched power outlet with an AMP, pulls a lot power. Could be wrong but I only use the switched power outlet for my TT.

Sorry that I can offer not other help except maybe a BUMP

Thanks. I have read that some people use a 12v adapter from there switched outlet to the trigger on the amp or power center if they don't have a dedicated 12v trigger out put on there receiver. it seems to work for them. Unfortunately I don't have either one so I think I may be out of luck. I will just have to settle on turning the amp on when needed and off when not in use. Leaving it on all the time will not be an option due to the wife's concern over how much power my theater uses already.

obieone

bump

polkyson

obieone wrote: »

Welcome to the forum.
Most power amps have a switch selector, 'off, on, auto', for cases just like yours.
The power amp won't pull any power until it senses a signal from the input's.
And +1 on NOT using the outlet on the back of the rcvr.
Just make sure you look at the back panel, or check the spec.'s of any amp your considering.
Good luck.

Thanks Obieone. The Polk forum is great so far! The amp that I was getting is a freebie from a friend. Its a Professional PA amp PV1500 that puts out 300 watts rms into 8ohms. I know its not ideal but is my first toe dip into this experiment. It should be ok for my set of RTi70 speakers. Without a 12v trigger I think I might be out of luck unless my power center can activate the amp outlets by sensing the current flow from the receiver outlet when I turn it on. I don't think it has that ability though. Maybe another power conditioner does but they are just as expensive sometimes as a new receiver would be.

obieone

Is this the PV1500 you're talking about?

polkyson

obieone wrote: »

Is this the PV1500 you're talking about?

That's the one. I was hoping to hook it up to my power center and trigger it on when I turned my receiver on but found there were no trigger outputs on the back of my receiver. I found a few power strips that use the plug the receiver is plugged into to turn all the other outlets on but none of these a really made for low noise floor Home theater applications.

cnh

From what I've read and asked on this site...a lot of people just leave there power amps on 24/7. Seems to be no problem other than burning up a bit of wattage...and most amps idle at a fairly low wattage, in any case. This way you don't have to worry about turning the amp on or off?

cnh

bsoko2

Your Monster HTS 3500MKII powercenter, doesn't it have plug-ins for two amps? My 7000 does and thats what I use to power my three Outlaw 200 mono blocks (200 wpc) and Carver M1.5t amp (350 wpc). No problems with doing it this way. Then all you have to do is turn your powercenter on or off.

Bill

joeparaski

polkyson wrote: »

Hello,

I have recently decided to get an external amp for my front left/right speakers. Unfortunately my receiver (Pioneer 1018-AH) does not have a 12v trigger out put or switched power outlet. to turn on the amp automatically. Are there any solutions other than purchasing a new Receiver or preamp? The amp will be located in a closet on the opposite wall of my receiver do to fan noise. I do have a Monster HTS 3500MKII. Thanks for any help!

Why don't you just plug the receiver into the "pre-amp" outlet on the HTS and the amp in the "amp" outlet? Then, when you turn on the HTS, the receiver will engage and the amp will come on after a short delay. So essentially, it will be one button to turn both units on (of course you need to leave the switches on the receiver and amp to "on".)

Joe

PSOVLSK

bsoko2 wrote: »

Your Monster HTS 3500MKII powercenter, doesn't it have plug-ins for two amps? My 7000 does and thats what I use to power my three Outlaw 200 mono blocks (200 wpc) and Carver M1.5t amp (350 wpc). No problems with doing it this way. Then all you have to do is turn your powercenter on or off.

Bill

This is correct.

polkyson

bsoko2 wrote: »

Your Monster HTS 3500MKII powercenter, doesn't it have plug-ins for two amps? My 7000 does and thats what I use to power my three Outlaw 200 mono blocks (200 wpc) and Carver M1.5t amp (350 wpc). No problems with doing it this way. Then all you have to do is turn your powercenter on or off.

Bill

I had thought of this and it is probably the way I will go. I was trying to make it as easy as possible on the wife when she decides to use my theater for her exercise DVDs while I am out. I once came home late and went straight to bed. The next morning I found that she had left the projector on. There went hours of life off the bulb! Love her to death though. I since have everything on a harmony remote that does the trick, (well except that PS3...stupid bluetooth) This will just be another button she will have to push to feel the burn. As many of you have said, leaving the amp on wont hurt anything except a few more dollars on the power bill. Which if she leaves it on will be her fault! So maybe that will be a good training incentive. Thanks for all your help everyone. I am going to run the speaker cable, interconnects, and power cord from the amp closet to the front speakers tonight. After a recalibration I will pop in some music and movies and see if the increase in clean power makes a significant difference. I cant beat going from 110w to 300w a channel for free!! Maybe I could bi-amp using the receiver for the top and amp for the bottom? I have to resist this new urge for upgrading! I am afraid I will want to do it to all my theater equipment. God help me!

TECHNOKID

thsmith wrote: »

I don't think it is recommemnded to use your AVR's swutched power outlet with an AMP, pulls a lot power. Could be wrong but I only use the switched power outlet for my TT.

Sorry that I can offer not other help except maybe a BUMP

+1 AVR outlets are only for small gear as above mentioned (current rating is normally way too low for current guzzlers such as an amp). you could have a power bar by your main receiver to shut that amp down (cheap option) or buy a realy to trigger the amp from your main HT location.

TECHNOKID

polkyson wrote: »

Thanks. I have read that some people use a 12v adapter from there switched outlet to the trigger on the amp or power center if they don't have a dedicated 12v trigger out put on there receiver. it seems to work for them. Unfortunately I don't have either one so I think I may be out of luck. I will just have to settle on turning the amp on when needed and off when not in use. Leaving it on all the time will not be an option due to the wife's concern over how much power my theater uses already.

Yes, you could trigger the relay from your receiver however, the main power for the amp is coming from elswhere.

TECHNOKID

obieone wrote: »

Is this the PV1500 you're talking about?

wow, mighty big for simple trigger???

greg2350

My dad has a masters degree in electrical enginering. He says that plugging in an amp to the AVR power outlet will have no effect on the AVR power supply. He says the power plugs on the AVR is just a pass through and has nothing to do with the AVR power supply. He may be wrong but I think he knows what he is talking about with 35 yrs experience.

bsoko2

polkyson wrote: »

I had thought of this and it is probably the way I will go. I was trying to make it as easy as possible on the wife when she decides to use my theater for her exercise DVDs while I am out. I once came home late and went straight to bed. The next morning I found that she had left the projector on. There went hours of life off the bulb! Love her to death though. I since have everything on a harmony remote that does the trick, (well except that PS3...stupid bluetooth) This will just be another button she will have to push to feel the burn. As many of you have said, leaving the amp on wont hurt anything except a few more dollars on the power bill. Which if she leaves it on will be her fault! So maybe that will be a good training incentive. Thanks for all your help everyone. I am going to run the speaker cable, interconnects, and power cord from the amp closet to the front speakers tonight. After a recalibration I will pop in some music and movies and see if the increase in clean power makes a significant difference. I cant beat going from 110w to 300w a channel for free!! Maybe I could bi-amp using the receiver for the top and amp for the bottom? I have to resist this new urge for upgrading! I am afraid I will want to do it to all my theater equipment. God help me!

Same problem with my wife. I have ALL MY GEAR hooked up thru the powercenter and all she has to do is puch one button on the center and it shuts down everything.

Bill

DV1

bsoko2: This is the best simple solution.
polkyson: You can run a surge suppressor with extension to our amps and just turn the surge off to turn everything in your closet off!