Simple Question

Barks · 25 Jun 2010 at 19:16

Hi guys,

Current amp: Nad C320BEE (50W RMS/Channel 8ohms)

If I bought a home cinema amplifer, for example the PIONEER VSX820 (100W RMS per Channel 8ohms) would it be better for driving the speakers for music?

To answer my own question, I'm assuming the speakers could be driven more loudly but the quality wouldn't be as good?

Also can you mix and match different brands of speakers to the front/rear?

Cheers

Barks · 27 Jun 2010 at 16:27

Sorry for bumping this would really appreciate an answer

Would there be any point in keeping my current amp?

marscay · 27 Jun 2010 at 17:08

Generally home cinema amps don't make for decent stereo amps, a £300 stereo amp will arguably sound better than a £1k receiver for stereo duties....most receivers just sound quite flat and uninspiring but there are always exceptions so YMMV. It isn't until you hit the more exotic class of multi channel amps/processors that they start holding up against dedicated stereo amps.

Rear speakers aren't nearly so important so a mismatch isn't a disaster.

Barks · 27 Jun 2010 at 17:16

marscay said:
Generally home cinema amps don't make for decent stereo amps, a £300 stereo amp will arguably sound better than a £1k receiver for stereo duties....most receivers just sound quite flat and uninspiring but there are always exceptions so YMMV. It isn't until you hit the more exotic class of multi channel amps/processors that they start holding up against dedicated stereo amps.

Rear speakers aren't nearly so important so a mismatch isn't a disaster.

Thanks mate. It is definitely safe though to mix and match the speakers, do they all have to be the same Ohms or are they amplified by independent circuits?

Rather than spend £500 on a home cinema amp, do you think I'm better off cutting my budget and putting what's left over to a superior stereo amp. My current NAD is simply not powerful enough to drive my speakers at loud volumes, it's always annoying at parties/get together when it switches itself off to cool down.

I think I'm looking at Onkyo home cinema receivers.

probedb · 27 Jun 2010 at 17:30

Try before selling. Audiophile types like to believe stuff like this but to be honest it's down to your ears. Just make sure if you listen back to back that it's done blind. Make sure you still the AVR in direct mode as they generally shut down video systems but again you may not notice the difference.

I have KEF across my front 3 and Eltax rears. I think speakers from the same brand will give a more consistent sound but most AVRs have auto setup with EQs which should make it mostly irrelevant.

marscay · 27 Jun 2010 at 18:29

scott212 said:
Thanks mate. It is definitely safe though to mix and match the speakers, do they all have to be the same Ohms or are they amplified by independent circuits?

Good question, i've used rears without drama which had different impedence to the fronts ....it won't matter as long as you're amp can drive that particular impedence.

scott212 said:
Rather than spend £500 on a home cinema amp, do you think I'm better off cutting my budget and putting what's left over to a superior stereo amp. My current NAD is simply not powerful enough to drive my speakers at loud volumes, it's always annoying at parties/get together when it switches itself off to cool down.

I think I'm looking at Onkyo home cinema receivers.

Apart from more power it will be hard to match SQ in stereo over your NAD on either a single receiver purchase or a receiver/stereo split at new RRP.

With a £500 budget have you considered going 2nd hand?

You could pick up an older Onkyo 805 which has hdmi and hd decoding for e.g. for 250-300 and a more powerful NAD or maybe an Arcam A85/A90 with the rest.

I just wouldn't spend 500 on a receiver if you value stereo quality, they really aren't upto it. Demo some at RicherSounds and you will see for yourself but don't let them bully you

Barks · 29 Jun 2010 at 13:17

Right. I'm going to keep the NAD for the time being and look in the second hand market for a decent home cinema amp for circa £300. I want to invest in something future proof though. I take it one can still use the NAD in conjunction with the home cinema amp to drive the front speakers? Also I don't have a centre speaker, can one configure it so that the centre channel audio is directed to the front channels, ie a 4.1 setup.

lucid · 29 Jun 2010 at 22:47

The recommendation for an 805 is a good one. It's as up-to-date as you need for Blu-ray compatibility and it has the pre-out sockets you'll need for running the NAD as the 2ch stereo amp.

I'm a bit concerned that you find a 50W hi-fi amp underpowered. NAD is a well respected brand, and it knows how to make amps with good power supplies that can control speakers well. If you are finding that there's not enough volume then that suggests one of two things: Either you want club-like sound levels at your party, or your current speakers aren't that sensitive. I'm betting it's the latter.

Have a look at the specs on your current speakers. If the sensitivity is less than 89-90 dB then you'll be losing quite a bit of the amps power.

SimonR · 30 Jun 2010 at 01:46

FYI with a £500 you could buy a new Onkyo 807 which was over £800 when launched. You can run a full 7.1 set up with AV speakers and run your current stereo pair off Zone 2, if you wished. Oh and it will quite happily drive your speakers LOUD with 180W per channel on tap.
Before you write off AV amps as being inferior to your NAD, go and have a listen, you may find one amp will meet your needs.

Mushii

Barks · 30 Jun 2010 at 18:55

SimonR said:
FYI with a £500 you could buy a new Onkyo 807 which was over £800 when launched. You can run a full 7.1 set up with AV speakers and run your current stereo pair off Zone 2, if you wished. Oh and it will quite happily drive your speakers LOUD with 180W per channel on tap.
Before you write off AV amps as being inferior to your NAD, go and have a listen, you may find one amp will meet your needs.

Mushii

I can't find that anywhere for £500 but it does look awesome.

With Home Cinema amps is there usually a music mode that will drive stereo music through ALL the channels simultaneously. Thus at parties could you place speakers in different rooms and drive them all.

That thing looks like a beast.

EDIT: Found it on S-Fi for 499. I swear it was a lot more than that the other day as I looked carefully through the Onkyo amps and none of them at that price range could drive speakers at 180W/channel at 6ohms

Barks · 30 Jun 2010 at 18:56

lucid said:
The recommendation for an 805 is a good one. It's as up-to-date as you need for Blu-ray compatibility and it has the pre-out sockets you'll need for running the NAD as the 2ch stereo amp.

I'm a bit concerned that you find a 50W hi-fi amp underpowered. NAD is a well respected brand, and it knows how to make amps with good power supplies that can control speakers well. If you are finding that there's not enough volume then that suggests one of two things: Either you want club-like sound levels at your party, or your current speakers aren't that sensitive. I'm betting it's the latter.

Have a look at the specs on your current speakers. If the sensitivity is less than 89-90 dB then you'll be losing quite a bit of the amps power.

Hi there,

The speakers are 90dB, 6Ohms and recommended amplifier power is 10-150W.

You seem to know what you're talking about. When I'm listening to music I value quality and listen to it at moderate levels, but yes when we have parties we are in search of 'club volume' so to speak. Now with Hi-Fi is it actually possible to obtain this or am I better off investing £250 in some cheap DJ grade amp/speakers for this purpose? Would buying a more powerful amp actually improve the speakers detailed above because I guess they do get stupidly loud but you don't get that room-shaking bass one might expect and they do tend to distort easily.

Cheers