Pairing RSX 1056 with other brands' stereo Amps

[VladDracul]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum. I've owned a RSX 1056 for the past 3 months. I bought this model with an eye to eventually pairing it with a separate stereo amp to drive the fronts. I think I'm ready to do this and have been researching the following amps:

NAD C272
Rotel RB-1080
Arcam P35
Halo A23
B&K 125.2 S2

Of these, I think the best buy is the NAD C272 as I love the NAD sound and I believe it is the least expensive on this list; however, I'm yet to audition all of these, so I'm not sure what I'll do yet.

My questions are:

(1) Is there anything I should be aware of when pairing the 1056 with any of these units? I don't suppose sonic quality at the amp level is that important once you have the system calibrated properly; but I'm just guessing.

(2) When using a Arcam A32 integrated amp along with the P35, one is able to bi-amp the fronts by using the P35 to power one set of drivers and the A32 to power the other set. Would this be possible at all with the RSX 1056? I looked at the manual and I don't see this anywhere. The only things it mentions is that when using the unit along with a separate stereo amp, one would be able to use the front channels on the 1056 to power a second zone or to power Center Back channels in a 7.1 setup. I'm not intereste in either of these two options; but I wonder if I'd be able to bi-amp instead.

Thanks for your help.

[Kevin P]

1) You should hear an improvement in sound quality by using an external amp instead of the ones built into your receiver. As for which amp you choose, that's a matter of taste.

2) Yes, you can bi-amp, by using Y splitters on the pre-outs on the 1056. A true "bi-amp" configuration involves using an active crossover between the pre-outs and the amp ins, but this is optional in most cases. Personally, I would use the same make/model of amp for both drivers when bi-amping, but you don't strictly have to. With careful mixing and matching, you could get great results with two different amps in a bi-amp configuration.

You could even bi-amp using an external amp for the lows and the 1056 for the highs (or vice versa), but I don't really recommend this, as you won't get the sound quality you would get by getting away from using the receiver's amps completely. Also, you wouldn't be able to use an active crossover in this scenario either.