2 pairs of speakers..what sort of Amp would i need?

SideWinder

SideWinder

SideWinder

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Quick question for the future...

I now have 2 pairs of speakers; B&W 685s and AE Aegis Neo 3 floor standers. Now i'd love to connect them both to a large Amp but what Amp would be suitable and what exactly do i need to look for that tells me the Amp has enough connectors for 4 speakers? The number of channels?

Edit: Did a quick search, seems i need to go through the power amp/pre amp route...so i need brand new kit? Well, another two boxes as i'm sure there are second hand thingys..
Edit2: NAD C372 AMPLIFIER..ooo..that has speaker A and speaker B connectors...perhaps get one of those?
 
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any amp with A + B speaker connections will do it. As long as the two sets are the same impedance you should have no problems.
 
don't you think that would create a strange sound?

two different types of speaker with different specs and will most likely be giving out a different volume of sound?
 
Go for the Nad C372, it will do the job perfectly, very nice amp, I've been wanting one myself for a while now, many people on here are hi-fi extremists and will recommend that you should only use 2 speakers if your using the amp purely for music, it is true that two speakers will create a better/more realistic sound-stage and a more balanced sound but I've been running 2 pairs of different speakers off an amps A&B terminals for years because I much prefer having the sound surrounding me, sometimes though I'll just turn off the 'B' speakers and place a chair in front of the primary front 'A' speakers and enjoy the music and sound-stage properly and then when I just want background music on that surrounds me then I have the optional choice of just hitting the 'B' switch and having the rears come on,

strange as it may seem but as I've stated, I know that having just two speakers positioned correctly will sound better but I actually don't want to listen to music like that all the time as I know I'll get to used to it, I prefer to treat myself to enveloping myself in the sound stage properly only every now and again, usually when I get a new album for example, I'm the same when it comes to 5.1/Pro-Logic as well, even though my sky box is connected to my av-amp I very rarely use it for normal TV like I've seen many others do because I find myself getting too used to the surround sound effects and when I come to watch a decent DVD that I've been waiting for I just don't enjoy the ac3/dts as much.
 
i don't understand how 4 speakers all pointing in different directions will sound better than a single pair positioned to create a perfect sound stage.

You would effectively have to sit in the middle of the four? to hear anything other than a mess?
 
Reality Bites said:
i don't understand how 4 speakers all pointing in different directions will sound better than a single pair positioned to create a perfect sound stage.

You would effectively have to sit in the middle of the four? to hear anything other than a mess?
Click to expand...

Yeah I dont get it either? Surely you want to connect them up in 5.1 with the weaker pair as the rear speakers if anything? Seems overkill. More money than sense? ;)
 
Begbie said:
Are you looking for 5.1.

If its just for playing music, only use one of the pairs.
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This i agree with.

When i was a wee nipper i connected about 5 speakers to each channel of a budget AIWA stereo. The sound was big and initially impressive but far from musical or accurate.

Not only is positioning an issue but also the mixing of two different sounding speakers. A final consideration is that you may overload some amps if you were to play at volume. The AIWA i mentioned above always shut down if i played loud music for more than half an hour! :eek:

I'd audition each of those speakers and pick your favourite pair for music listening. If you got a surround processor to power the second set you could have a high quality surround set up.

I did something similar in that i use a Cyrus Smartpower running Wharfedale Pi40's for music and then use a Yamaha AX1 av amp to send the front audio signal to the Cyrus and use the Yamaha to power a set of B&W CDM2SE's as the rears.

Good luck! :)

gt
 
Hi

I Have a Denon surround sound amp,

I have it set to play CD/music through the front speakers only (called cd direct on the setup) this switches off all processing and all speakers other than the front pair.

When I play DVDs etc I have it set to Dolby Digital (auto) - this checks for an active signal on my coax/optical ins - if detected it sets itself to DD or DTS etc. as required - this of cause also brings in the rears and the centre speaker.

I would presume any Denon would have the same set up - the only thing you lose here is the musical ability you'd get from a dedicated hifi amp.
I went from a Quad 777 system to this and honestly didnt really notice too much of a loss quality wise but immidiately got the oomph of the 5.1 :)

As for mismatched speakers in 5.1 I have DRM 600s at the front with another set of floorstanders at the rear and there really isn't that big a diff (obviously you have to balance the sound using a test sequence or meter to avoid impedance diffs) but unless you're listening for a change 99% of the time it has no impact - and believe me with decent floorstanders all round there's no lack of impact in action movies - I certainly don't feel the need to add in a subwoofer with this set up.

Hope this helps,

Just check the spec of a decent 5.1 amp for the settings I described and you're off (unless you feel the sound of the two diff sets is too far apart - I certainly don't think you need to go the separates route unless you really want to - go that route for performance not just to accomodate two sets of speakers).

DinAlt
 
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