5.1 with seperate stereo amp or 7.1 system?

[denislc]

I have a few questions on the best way to set up my system. I currently have a 5.1 system consisting of a Denon AVR-1906 amp running through Kef KHT 2005.2 speakers. When I bought the Kef speakers, I registered them on the Kef website and won the prize draw for a set of Kef iQ1 speakers. At the moment, these are connected to my stereo system consisting of a Denon PMA-355UK amp and a Denon DCD-685 CD player. I’m thinking of connecting the iQ1’s up to my surround amp and having a 7.1 setup. My questions are:

1) Does the AVR-1906 have good enough stereo performance to get rid of the stereo amp altogether?

2) If not, can I simply connect the stereo and surround amps at the same time using the bi-wire terminals on the iQ1’s with the bridge still in place or could this damage the speakers? Obviously I would only be using 1 amp at a time.

3) If I did go for the 7.1 setup, would I be better getting a new centre speaker as well?

4) If so, would the iQ6c be overkill?

Sorry about the huge amount of questions. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

1) No definitely not IMO.

2) No, I think that would damage the speakers. What you can do though is keep your stereo setup as it is, disconnect the current AV front L/R speakers, and then use a stereo interconnect to patch the front L/R preouts to a spare input on the stereo amp. This means the AVR is driving the centre and rears and the PMA is driving the fronts. Obviously you need both amps on to listen to AV, and you'll need to work out what volume to set the PMA to to match the other speakers - usually 12 o'clock works well, as a first guess.

3) Probably. I'd guess the existing isn't a tonal match for the IQ6s. You might want to do this even if you stay with 5.1.

4) Sorry, don't know.

HTH.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

I don't know what your Denon stereo amp is like but you could connect your iQ1s to your stereo amp and then connect your stereo amp to your receiver using pre out on your receiver. This would allow you to use your front two as your stereo sound from your stereo amp and then also as your left and right of your surround sound. This would also allow you to have an extra two speakers for a 7.1 (depending on the shape of your room you could place them in a number of places). From what I've read (I will end up doing similar myself), you have your stereo amp on as well as your receiver when watching a film and you have it set to the input your pre out leads are connected to your receiver. For example, you put the leads into the AUX, you have your stereo amp set to AUX when watching films and your receiver set to as it was before. Then when you listen to cds, you have the stereo amp set to CD and only your stereo amp needs to be on. Not bad winning the speakers!

 

[denislc]

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'll have a fiddle this weekend and see what sounds best.