Recommend a 5 channel amp

[Trevor Schell]

Hi!,

I am looking down the road to add a 5 channel amp to my system. My speakers are the Paradigm Reference Studio's all around with the 100's in the mains postion. I would configure the 5 channel amp in such a way that I would use 2 channels each to bi-amp the mains (Studio 100's/ 350 watt handling capabilities each) and the 5th remaining channel to power the center channel. This would keep the front soundstage consistant in the sound quality provided by a different amp..The Denon 5800 would then drive the 4 rear surround speakers keeping the rear feild consistent in sound quality and balance.

I would like to audition before I purchase ,,but realize this would be impossible with some brands that I could not get locally.

Any suggestions as what to look into.
I will compile a list to further research.

Thanks for any input on this!,




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[JonMarsh]

Hi Trevor,

There's lots of options out there, but some easier than others. One amp I have is a Sony TAE9000 5X 120 watt amp, which is configurable for stereo bridged, 4 channel, or five channel. It's got quite decent sound, is well built, and from a Sony Outlet store was reasonably priced. But, it doesn't match the transparency of my Aragons. There's a new 8008X5, which in one package (heavy!) offers five channels equivalanet in performance to an 8008ST. That's over 200W at 8 ohms, double at four, and drives two ohm loads comforably. All you'd need to bridge would be a balanced output feeding one signal to each of two channels.
At a reasonble price, I'd be inclined towards 8002's, or a combo of 8008BB and 8008X3, or 8008X3 and 8002 for rears. I'm not personally a big fan of 5 channels per chasis, but I know most people don't have a bunch of monoblocks like I do.

There are many other brands and offerens in the 5 channel market; Anthem is another I've heard, that I can endorese. Listen before you leap, preferrably in your own system; it's you who will have to live with them, after all!

Regards,

Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[John Kotches]

Trevor,

I see a couple of potential issues with doing this.....

One, if the internal amplifiers and the standalone amplifiers don't have identical gain, you could very well have a serious problem keeping the speakers outputs balanced as you change the volume of your receiver.

Two, the center channel has the single biggest power requirement besides the subwoofer (which is usually stand alone).

Three, passive bi-amping in my experience isn't as good as a single higher powered amplifier going to the speaker.

I honestly don't think this is an ideal solution.

Also, how much are you willing to spend for the solution, personally in your boat, if I was spending out to about US$3000 I'd take a serious look at the Aragon 8008x3B which is a superb amplifier and will have more than sufficient output to drive all but the most inefficient loudspeakers to reference levels.

Regards,




---
Editor, PC/Home Theater
Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity
My Home Theater
NEC LT-150 specific page.

[Lexman]

Check the used market for a Proceed. If you could find an HPA-3, or maybe an AMP5, for say 2500-3K? If.

But that may be out of budget, I don't know. I also like the Aragon suggestion. I hear they make tremendous amps.

Lex

[Ken McDaniel]

I also disagree with bi-amping. I don't think you'd get the same quality pre-amp signal from the 5800 that you'd get from a B&K Ref 30. Because of this I think bi-amping would be moot. You need a super sensitive ears to hear the difference between biamping and just a plain great amp. There are so many great amps around these days that when bi-wired with the right pair of speakers sound fantastic.

Depending on your budget I would recommend a great 5 channel amp. Then go ahead and bi-wire those 100's. If you're running 7 speakers pick up a boffo 2 or 3 channel. Hey, what is your budget by the way?




Ken

[Crimson]

I, too, used to have a Sony N-9000ES. Worked great for movies, but something was missing in 2-channel when driving my 1.6's. When I purchased the 3.6's, my shortlist were the Palladiums and Bryston's. I chose the Bryston's over the Palladiums because they had slightly better low-end control (to my ears) which the Maggies need. The mids and highs were comparable, and with an upgrade path of biamping the Maggies, was not much of a concern. The Bryston 9B is conservatively rated at 125x5, or you can wait for the soon-to-be realeased 6B, 250x3 at 8 ohms. I've heard a lot of good things abpout the Proceed gear but have not actually heard them. Another contender would be the SimAudio 5-channel amp which is 'supposed' to be phenomenal.




Q.

[Trevor Schell]

Thanks guys,,I always figured that Bi-amping was the best solution,,This way you would double your wattage,,I guess I was incorrect.
I have never tried Bi-wiring before, however not sure if the Denon is capable of this since I use banana plugs.

My price range would be max of $3K U.S.

My best bet then, would be to go with a beefy three channel amp for the fronts and center and continue to use the Denon for the four rear surrounds.




Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

[Andrew Pratt]

Trevr remember that bryston is a cdn manufacture as such we tend to get some pretty good deals on their amps. RAF over on HTF used the MA700 monoblocks from Marantz with great success so those might be a viable eoption since you can buy them as needed...ie buy three and then add more later for the rears etc. Given the choice though I've always wanted to own a bryston Maybe ask Bing to bring his over for a demo ine evening...