External Amp Question

uncmike · July 2009

Just getting into external amps and have an opportunity to buy a Marantz MM-9000 5 channel power amplifier (specs state 150X5) for $250.

Is this a good deal? Will it work well with my set up:
Denon 4306
Rti-a7 rears
csi a6
rti a9 mains

I want it to power the speakers sufficiently and am willing to wait/pay a little more if another amp will work better. Didn't know if 150 wpc would make that big of a sound difference since the denon is rated 130 wpc.

Thanks for the help and sorry if this is a noop question.

WilliamM2 · July 2009

That's a good price if it's in good condition. I use one to power my center, surrounds and zone 2. Never tried it on my mains,so no real comments there.

concealer404 · July 2009

I would consider that a great deal. It will make a difference. Your Denon is rated at 130wpc, but i'd be surprised if it put that out without clipping. This will be cleaner power.

uncmike · July 2009

So this will power everything or would I be better of with a used adcom 2 or 3 channel putting out about 200 wpc to just the mains and having the denon power the rest?

apphd · July 2009

uncmike wrote: »

So this will power everything or would I be better of with a used adcom 2 or 3 channel putting out about 200 wpc to just the mains and having the denon power the rest?

That's a tough call. I think I would prefer the above option.
But it might come down to your room as to what would be better. Not knowing what used 2/3 ch Adcoms are going for the $250 price on the Marantz could be very tempting

uncmike · July 2009

Price for the adcom would be about the same, maybe $50-$60 more. I just didn't want to get the marantz and then find out that I would have been better off just giving the rti a9s more power.

It sounds like I'm getting confirmation that $250 is a good deal though and I'm leaning towards that.

Thanks for the quick replys, any other thoughts/suggestions?

BB3 · July 2009

uncmike, I feel the Marantz is definitely worth purchasing.

I think you will also notice a greater improvement in overall sound quality than you may have first thought,or realized.

And for what it is worth to you, I really like your Polk Audio speaker setup.

Take Care Of Yourself And Happy Listening.

B.B.3

GEBBY44 · July 2009

Those Marantz are good amps and should give better sound than the Denon. But everyone's ears are different.

uncmike · July 2009

Let me through another question out there about bi-amping if I can:

So to hook up the speakers I would run all of the cables from the top speaker posts to the external amp, and all of the cables from the bottom speaker posts to the 4306 receiver?

I would also use the denon's pre-outs to connect the speakers from the external amp to the 4306. So I would need 9 speaker cables (like aq type 4) and 5 interconnect cables, correct?

Is my understanding correct?

External Amp Question

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