How do you connect a second amp?

trubluluc
trubluluc Posts: 2,067
edited April 2002 in Technical/Setup
Guys-

I want to hook up a second amp and power one set of front mains by the second amp, and the other set with my receiver.
I have a Yamaha receiver (rx-v1) with A/B mains.
I have a Sony es seperate 5.1 amp.
When I connect the pre-out main jacks to the the Sony amp, the speakers connected to the amp work,
but the speakers connected to the receiver don't.
Is there a way to make them both work at the same time?

-luc
Post edited by trubluluc on

Comments

  • nascarmann
    nascarmann Posts: 1,464
    edited April 2002
    luc, the way you have it should work. Are you shure you have the speakers turned on at the A/B speaker switch?
    Oh, the bottle has been to me, my closes friend, my worse enemy!
  • goingganzo
    goingganzo Posts: 2,793
    edited April 2002
    usaly when you plug in the pre amp out the onternal amp usaly is turned off i think
  • trubluluc
    trubluluc Posts: 2,067
    edited April 2002
    Yes,
    I have both a/b speakers on.
    If I unplug the main-out jacks, then both my a/b mains work.
    Seems like the entire signal is being switched to the external amp as soon as I plug in the jacks.

    The whole motivation for this is:
    I bought a second set of 800's.
    Want to run all four 800's on the a/b for music, as the second set are in the rear corners of the room.
    Then for movies, I could turn off the rear 800's
    and power the 1000's with the external amp for a bigger front stage.

    any suggestions?
    juice...arron..troy..dean..others

    -luc
  • nascarmann
    nascarmann Posts: 1,464
    edited April 2002
    Well , I have a Yamaha RX-V800 and for a while I had my 1C's running off the front pre-outs to an amp (M-70) and a set of M5's running off the front A speakers! :confused: Thought the V1 would do this as well?:confused: But, maybe not! I know the V1 doesn't have 5 channel stereo either!
    Oh, the bottle has been to me, my closes friend, my worse enemy!
  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited April 2002
    I just bought two Marantz mono block amps to power the fronts.
    haven't hooked them up yet.. they just arrived. but if trubluluc is correct.. my receiver would probably act the same as his. meaning when i plug the two mono blocks into the pre outs from the receiver.. then it will no longer power up the other speakers hooked up to the receiver. I guess i'll have to plug them in to make sure that's the case. I guess it's something I never imagined could or would happen. UGH! solution, get 3 more mono block amps. UGH!
    P.S. my receiver doesn't have A-B speaker switch on it.
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
  • joe logston
    joe logston Posts: 882
    edited April 2002
    hi trubluluc; look in the manual on page 68 about zone 2 rca out puts you mite hook your sony this and trun the 2nd. set of speakers off & on with your sony.
    . rt-7 mains
    rt-20p surounds
    cs-400i front center
    cs-350 ls rear center
    2 energy take 5, efects
    2- psw-650 , subs
    1- 15" audiosource sub

    lets all go to the next ces.
  • trubluluc
    trubluluc Posts: 2,067
    edited April 2002
    Nascarmann-
    Yeah I would have thought it would work, I used to run it that way with my old Sony 333es.

    Thanks Joe-
    I'm going there right now. Will let you know.

    Dangerboy-
    Hope your situation is different.

    onward and upward,

    -luc
  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited April 2002
    I hooked up my mono block amps to the front pre outs on my receiver and fired everything up.. success is a beautiful thing. :D

    From reading the trouble that trubluluc had when he hooked up his second amp.. i was fearing i would run into the same problem.
    That wasn't the case. Not sure if my Marantz receiver works different than most others or what.. but I hooked up the amps via a Cat Cable Silvercat cable and then the bananas to the amp.. turned everything on and it was noticeable right away that the RT800i's liked the increase in power. The receiver is 70wpc, the mono blocks are 125wpc.

    It added a small amount of bass, but what I really noticed is that that amps cleaned up the highs the most. They are a little brighter now.. but not to the point that they cause fatigue.. good thing too. I can now hear better and cleaner musical instruments that are in the higher frequencies. Not a huge improvement.. but a improvement nonetheless. I'm glad I added them to my system. Later this year i'll add the remaining three amps, as $$ permits.

    trubluluc I hope you find a solution.. if so.. it could make a difference in your sound too.
    good luck
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
  • trubluluc
    trubluluc Posts: 2,067
    edited April 2002
    Dangerboy-

    For whatever reason, when you connect to a pre-out on the rx-v1 it shuts off that particular signal to the internal amp. The center and surrounds continue to work but...
    Glad to hear of your success.
    My ol' Sony es receiver would run both no problem too.

    -luc