Matching my AMP to my speakers?

hectic1n
hectic1n Posts: 6
edited December 2011 in Electronics
I?ve had my AMP for a while now and I think it?s time for an upgrade, it sounds alright with my current setup, but I don?t think it?s enough to power my speakers. This is my first surround sound setup so things may not have been perfectly matched. One thing that does standout noticeably is while watching movies I feel the voice/speech is very low and not sharp or loud enough. Would this be because there are not enough watts to power my entire setup?

I?ve never heard a Bose system, but walking through best buy the other day I heard one for the first time and it sounded fairly impressive with what such little hardware. The sounds were high and distinguishable almost in your face like listening experience. I?ve heard Bose isn?t that great with Music, but does fairly decent with movies. My setup doesn?t seem as great in movies, but does great with music. How can I find that balance with my setup?

If I need to replace my AMP, which would be recommend?

My current setup:
AMP: HK AVR247
Front: (2) Polk RTI 10?s
Center: (1) Polk CS2
Rear: (2) Polk RTI 4?s
Sub: (1) Velodyne DLS Series 4000R 12?
Post edited by hectic1n on
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Comments

  • PrazVT
    PrazVT Posts: 1,607
    edited December 2011
    Hi hectic1n - welcome to CP.

    I believe the HK AVR247 has 7.1 pre-amp outputs.

    You can easily upgrade the power by adding an external 5 or 7 channel high current amplifier. Unless you are missing features on the AVR, I don't think you need to replace it. If you get a 5ch amp, you can power your rears from the receiver and the rest via amp.

    There are a number of popular amp manufacturers - Parasound, NAD, Rotel, B&K, Adcom, Sunfire are a few. My mind is going blank w/ the others, but the other guys here can chime in.

    You can check Audiogon for prices on used ones - save yourself some $$ in the process.
    Dali Optikon 1Mk2
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    ..the rest are headphone setups.
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  • hectic1n
    hectic1n Posts: 6
    edited December 2011
    PrazVT wrote: »
    Hi hectic1n - welcome to CP.

    I believe the HK AVR247 has 7.1 pre-amp outputs.

    You can easily upgrade the power by adding an external 5 or 7 channel high current amplifier. Unless you are missing features on the AVR, I don't think you need to replace it. If you get a 5ch amp, you can power your rears from the receiver and the rest via amp.

    There are a number of popular amp manufacturers - Parasound, NAD, Rotel, B&K, Adcom, Sunfire are a few. My mind is going blank w/ the others, but the other guys here can chime in.

    You can check Audiogon for prices on used ones - save yourself some $$ in the process.


    Thanks for the welcome PrazVT.

    By high current AMP how high would be sufficient? How big are these AMPs, because I don?t really have much room to put an entire new AMP on top of my current one.

    If I only power the rears through the receiver that still only be 50 watts to each of those rear speakers, would that be enough because they currently are still on the quiet side?
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 33,065
    edited December 2011
    Have you tried turning up the speaker level for the center in your receivers setup menu ?
    HT SYSTEM-
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  • hectic1n
    hectic1n Posts: 6
    edited December 2011
    tonyb wrote: »
    Have you tried turning up the speaker level for the center in your receivers setup menu ?

    Yes, I have the center to +10 and it's not that loud. Dont get me wrong, i can hear speech, but it's just not as vivid and loud as the Bose sounded in the store.
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 33,065
    edited December 2011
    hectic1n wrote: »
    Yes, I have the center to +10 and it's not that loud. Dont get me wrong, i can hear speech, but it's just not as vivid and loud as the Bose sounded in the store.

    Wow, at that level it should be screamin'. One of 2 things comes to mind. One, your receiver just lacks the power to drive all your speakers sufficiantly, or two, you may have it wired out of phase. Check the wiring and make sure positive wire to pos. post and also make sure if your using bare wire that it's not touching the opposite post or that you don't have any of the plastic coating inside the post. Check both receiver and speaker ends.
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • SDA1C
    SDA1C Posts: 2,072
    edited December 2011
    How are you connected? does the voice come out more if you watch movies in stereo?
    Too much **** to list....
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  • hectic1n
    hectic1n Posts: 6
    edited December 2011
    tonyb wrote: »
    Wow, at that level it should be screamin'. One of 2 things comes to mind. One, your receiver just lacks the power to drive all your speakers sufficiantly, or two, you may have it wired out of phase. Check the wiring and make sure positive wire to pos. post and also make sure if your using bare wire that it's not touching the opposite post or that you don't have any of the plastic coating inside the post. Check both receiver and speaker ends.

    Well its not silent or anything, but I think it could do a lot better, especially after hearing the Bose in the store.

    I did check the wires although nothing has changed, so my setup has always been this way. Its really noticeable after listening to another system significantly smaller. The Red wire (+)and Black wire (-) are all setup correct on both speaker and AMP end. The wires are all connected via banana plugs so the wires shouldnt be able to touch one another.

    banana-plugs-for-speakers-150x150.jpg
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  • hectic1n
    hectic1n Posts: 6
    edited December 2011
    SDA1C wrote: »
    How are you connected? does the voice come out more if you watch movies in stereo?

    What do you mean how are they connected?

    They are connected with 12 gauage speaker wire with banana plugs on both ends.

    I have not tested watching a movie in stereo. I usually watch a movie on whatever sound the blu-ray is recorded with, Which on my receiver is either Dolby Digital or DTS.
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  • tommyt21
    tommyt21 Posts: 685
    edited December 2011
    From a quick internet search it seems your AVR might be the issue. That seems like one hell of a buggy machine. I also found several forum post regarding volume issues in a matter of minutes regarding the HK AVR247. Even issues such as loosing center channel volume completley when playing 1080p material.. Strange
    Living Room
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    Center: Csi A6 VR3 "Fortress Plus"
    Front Heights: Rti A1
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    Pioneer Pioneer Elite: SC-35-> Emotiva XPA-3
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  • tonyb
    tonyb Posts: 33,065
    edited December 2011
    Might lean towards Tommy's post then. Try hooking up another speaker to the center and see if you get volume out of it.
    HT SYSTEM-
    Sony 850c 4k
    Pioneer elite vhx 21
    Sony 4k BRP
    SVS SB-2000
    Polk Sig. 20's
    Polk FX500 surrounds

    Cables-
    Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
    Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
    Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
    Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable

    Kitchen

    Sonos zp90
    Grant Fidelity tube dac
    B&k 1420
    lsi 9's
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  • hectic1n
    hectic1n Posts: 6
    edited December 2011
    I get volume out of the center speaker, I wouldn?t say im to the point as those guys are in that post, but it doesn?t sound vivid. Hard to describe sound on a message board.
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  • SDA1C
    SDA1C Posts: 2,072
    edited December 2011
    hectic1n wrote: »
    What do you mean how are they connected?

    They are connected with 12 gauage speaker wire with banana plugs on both ends.

    I have not tested watching a movie in stereo. I usually watch a movie on whatever sound the blu-ray is recorded with, Which on my receiver is either Dolby Digital or DTS.

    Meaning ...if you are connected with left and right rca only and trying to obtain 5.1 you are missing 3 channels. The processor splits and fills in the rest sort of making it up as it goes along. If your setting aren't exactly right you may not be sending the right signal or strong enough signal to the center to begin with.


    I.e. if you are connected stereo and set on 3.1 you wont get sound from your surrounds. (just an example)
    Too much **** to list....
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