seperates vs onkyo recievers

shondoman

hey guys i have an onkyo thx 803 reciever which is 7.1 and its great but does not it do just as good with it discrete amps built in and wrat technology or would adding seperate amp really make a difference and is this so?

jwhitakr

Hi shondo -

If I understood your post correctly, you are asking if adding a separate amp would make a difference to your 7.1 surround sound setup. The answer is yes - a quality amp (anywhere from 2 to 7 channel) will improve your overall sound and give you better dynamics from top to bottom. The question is how well your current setup will match with a new separate amp, and much you want to spend on it?

ben62670

What speakers are you trying to drive?

wutadumsn23

Yes, adding an external amp will def. make a dif. in overall sound quality. It looks like the 803 puts out about 105W per channel @ 8 ohms and from the looks of the pictures I was able to find on the web it also looks like it has pre-outs for adding an external amp. As Ben asked, what speakers are you looking to drive with them? Also are you planning on driving all seven speakers, five, or just three? What is your budget? A little more info and we should be able to help you solve this problem.

shondoman

im am using all polk speakers csi5 monitor 40 and 30 and fxdipole for surrounds and my sub is 12" velodyne dpl also looking to add hieght speakers with the new onkyo 607 which willalso be polks willing to spend 150.00 -200.00 max

comfortablycurt

Well, you'll want to keep in mind that the 607 doesn't have pre-outs, so you won't be able to connect an external amp to it. You might want to hold off until they release the 707 or 807.

Is the 150-200 dollar budget for an amp, or for the height speakers?

BlueFox

What are height speakers?

comfortablycurt

BlueFox wrote: »

What are height speakers?

That's what the new codec, Dolby ProLogic IIz utilizes. The new Onkyo AVR's are the first AVR's to utilize the codec. Denon has just released some that use it too.

It adds an additional pair of front speakers, that are mounted up high. It's for effects where planes fly over head etc.

It's nothing that I'm to excited about personally.

BlueFox

comfortablycurt wrote: »

That's what the new codec, Dolby ProLogic IIz utilizes. The new Onkyo AVR's are the first AVR's to utilize the codec. Denon has just released some that use it too.

It adds an additional pair of front speakers, that are mounted up high. It's for effects where planes fly over head etc.

It's nothing that I'm to excited about personally.

That's cool. It has potential. Someday the walls, ceiling, and floor will be covered with speakers, along with 3D holographic projection (Help me ObiWan). That will be a decent HT.

shondoman

hello c,curt that would be for a power amp. thanks for insight on on the 607 i forgot about the no pre-outs but arnt the onkyos internal amps enough to power my speakers the 803 has discrete amps for each channel doesnt it?

thuffman03

shondoman wrote: »

hello c,curt that would be for a power amp. thanks for insight on on the 607 i forgot about the no pre-outs but arnt the onkyos internal amps enough to power my speakers the 803 has discrete amps for each channel doesnt it?

You can never have too much power! LOL

McLoki

shondoman wrote: »

im am using all polk speakers csi5 monitor 40 and 30 and fxdipole for surrounds and my sub is 12" velodyne dpl also looking to add hieght speakers with the new onkyo 607 which willalso be polks willing to spend 150.00 -200.00 max

While adding an external amp will, in most cases, yeild some level of benefit over using the amp built into a reciever - I think you would get more bang for your buck by upgrading your montior series speakers to RTi or RTiA to better match your CSi5.

Based on your current AVR not having Pre-outs and the mix-match of speakers you are currently using - I would get the entire line up to the RTi series (whatever model floats your boat) and worry about amps once that is done....

Michael