Amp Question

[ParanoidAndroid]

I currently have a set of floor standing speakers connected to a TEAC system (radio, cd, Ipod input). However in the same room I also run a seperate amp and surround sound setup for home cinema. Due to the position of the TV, I decided against using my floor standers as part of the home cinema setup and instead have some smaller speakers covering this.

My question is could I run the floor standers from a decent home cinema amp for use when playing music and then use same amp connected to my surround sound speakers when playing films thereby removing the need for the seperate TEAC system? I guess the other option is to ditch the floor standers & Teac and just use the home cinema system for music but to be honest I think I'd rather the first option.

Appologies if this is a stupid question, fairly new to this and want to upgrade the current setup!

Cheers
Graham

[Fatman2]

ParanoidAndroid said:

I currently have a set of floor standing speakers connected to a TEAC system (radio, cd, Ipod input). However in the same room I also run a seperate amp and surround sound setup for home cinema. Due to the position of the TV, I decided against using my floor standers as part of the home cinema setup and instead have some smaller speakers covering this.

My question is could I run the floor standers from a decent home cinema amp for use when playing music and then use same amp connected to my surround sound speakers when playing films thereby removing the need for the seperate TEAC system? I guess the other option is to ditch the floor standers & Teac and just use the home cinema system for music but to be honest I think I'd rather the first option.

Appologies if this is a stupid question, fairly new to this and want to upgrade the current setup!

Cheers
Graham

If I'm reading you correctly then you could achieve what you're after with a sound processor, if you can still buy them.

I bought a Yamaha DSP-E800 many moons ago and it just powers the centre channel and rears. It then feeds a line level output to your hi-fi amp so you can still keep your regular amp and speakers.

I think this is more normal than using a home cinema setup for playing music but maybe the waters are muddied nowadays with some seriously good home cinema kit being sold on the market by the likes of Naim etc.

I'm sure you can do either but depends on what you're ultimately after.

Hope this helps.

[vetrof]

I think I am reading it differently. You just need an amp with A and B speaker options as I read it. Definitely available.

My Sony STR DA2400 (oldish) has 'Front A' and 'Front B' speaker outputs. Cycles through A, B or A+B with the push of a button.

http://www.productwiki.com/upload/images/sony_str_...

[stargazer30]

Op the main issue you need to deal with will be the AV amps lack of quality vs a traditional stereo amp. For movies its not so noticable but on music if you run a decent stereo amp vs a decent AV amp of similar sort of price, the AV amp will sound poo on music. So I'd agree with the earlier post get an AV amp with line outs for the front channels and use the stereo amp with it.

Either that or pay much more for a better quality AV amp, or keep them separate.

I made a compromise, I went for a half decent AV amp and lost a bit music quality. Would have been into the near £1000 mark for the AV amp to get the same audio quality as the Arcam stereo amp I had.

Oh as for using the current AV system for music. If its a cheaper sat + sub system it will sound really poo. For music floor stander speakers have a massive advantage over sats. Try them out side by side on a few of your favourite songs, you'll see. Especially in the mid range freqs.

Edited by stargazer30 on Tuesday 27th March 07:45

[Autopilot]

stargazer30 said:

Op the main issue you need to deal with will be the AV amps lack of quality vs a traditional stereo amp. For movies its not so noticable but on music if you run a decent stereo amp vs a decent AV amp of similar sort of price, the AV amp will sound poo on music. So I'd agree with the earlier post get an AV amp with line outs for the front channels and use the stereo amp with it.

Either that or pay much more for a better quality AV amp, or keep them separate.

I made a compromise, I went for a half decent AV amp and lost a bit music quality. Would have been into the near £1000 mark for the AV amp to get the same audio quality as the Arcam stereo amp I had.

Oh as for using the current AV system for music. If its a cheaper sat + sub system it will sound really poo. For music floor stander speakers have a massive advantage over sats. Try them out side by side on a few of your favourite songs, you'll see. Especially in the mid range freqs.

Edited by stargazer30 on Tuesday 27th March 07:45

^^ This

Essentially, yes, you can get an AV Amp that offers 'Zones' and allows switching between speakers, but as mentioned above, you then have the difference in quality between an AV Amp and a Stereo Amp to contend with.

If you're not an audiophile and don't do a comparison between types of amp, then an AV receiver will do the job. If you're after top quality and want the best from your system, a line out to a stereo amp will yield the best results. When I installed my system, I thought about this option but as the acoustics on the ground floor in my place are far from idea it didn't seem worth the effort so stuck with an AV Amp and am very happy with the results.

[Cock Womble 7]

Don't most AV receivers have some kind of "direct" setting, that bypasses all the AV gubbins and delivers "pure" two channel sound?

[vetrof]

They do, but it doesn't make a 500pound 6 or 8 channel amp sound as good as a 500pound 2 channel amp. Basically the pound to channel ratio will give you an idea of the relative quality.

[Hoover.]

I've got the set-up described above...

av amp (Yamaha RX V765) with pre-outs which go to my stereo amp (Roksan Kandy 111).

The av amp powers centre/rears and send signal to sub, and stereo amp which powers the fronts.... when in AV mode.... or just use the stereo amp on its own for music in the traditional way...

however I don't think this answers the OP question

yes you can get rid of the teac, as said you'll need an av amp which has A & B switchable speaker zones so you can choose which main speakers you are powering ie AV fronts L&R or Stereo L&R
Yes the av amp for music would not be the same quality as a good reasonable hi-fi amp, but my guessing is that it would be on a par with your teac system or slightly better

my yamaha has built in radio tuner and a vinyl input as well.....

[ParanoidAndroid]

Hi guys, sorry for delayed reply, many thanks for the advice, lots to think about. If I'm understanding correctly I'm better keeping things seperate rather than one to do all approach however may look at some choice kit upgrades instead.

Cheers
Graham