Adding a Stereo Amp to a Home Cinema

[admin_exported]

Hello Forum: I have the Marantz SR 5003 AV Receiver. I have to say that is really good for the money with music and films. I have it connected to a B&W 685 homecinema speakers set. I’m very happy with it.

I ‘m thinking, when I have saved enough money, to improve the hi-fi feature of my set adding a stereo amp. I have many questions to do the right choice. I would be very grateful if you would could help me.

These are the questions:

a. Do you think it drastically will improve the sound quality with music, worth the extra expense?

b. Do you think the cinema feature will keep its sound quality?

c. Is better to acquire an amp of the same mark as the receiver in order to warrant the sonic coherence of the set ?

d. The av receiver can output 90 W per channel, have I to join with an amp of similar output to obtain a balanced set ?

e. What amp do you recommend me for my current set?

f. Andrew Everard helps us in a post describing how to connect an AV receiver through it’s preouts to a stereo amp. Is possible other option?

Thank you for your help forum.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

a. Obviously depends on which stereo amp you go for but most of the highly rated amps above the £250 mark would give you a decent improvement.
b. The surround sound will be the same.
c. "Same mark", do you mean same make? If so, no, not really.
d. No.
e. Need your budget and musical preferences to help answer that one.
f. There is a more fiddly way but you need to buy a switcher. Using pre outs is by far the easiest - I went through all this before setting mine up.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much Gerrardsnails for your quick an interesting replay.

I give you the information you asked me:

My budget is around 400-500 ? (260-330 pounds aprox). I use to hear all kind of music :75% Pop-Rock /25% (Classical-other). What do you consider the minimum power of the stereo amp that matches my setup ? Could the new marantz Pm 6003 be a good choice? (it has only 45 w power output 8 ohms). Remember with the 685 the amp must not be very neutral .

The option of the switch is for switching the amp - av receiver /speaker wires , isn't it? I supose It will use a remote control , Is very expensive ? What option do you prefer this or the preouts ?

Tank you very much again for your helpful advise !

 

[Gerrardasnails]

spfrank:
Thank you very much Gerrardsnails for your quick an interesting replay.

I give you the information you asked me:

My budget is around 400-500 ? (260-330 pounds aprox). I use to hear all kind of music :75% Pop-Rock /25% (Classical-other). What do you consider the minimum power of the stereo amp that matches my setup ? Could the new marantz Pm 6003 be a good choice? (it has only 45 w power output 8 ohms). Remember with the 685 the amp must not be very neutral .

The option of the switch is for switching the amp - av receiver /speaker wires , isn't it? I supose It will use a remote control , Is very expensive ? What option do you prefer this or the preouts ?

Tank you very much again for your helpful advise !

The alternative is a speaker switch box. I tried one from a company in the US called Niles Audio. It is manually operated! Pre outs is definitely the way to go.

I have no idea of the prices in Europe (I'm assuming you live outside of the UK as you mentioned Euros) so it's hard for me to help you amp wise. Don't worry about the power of the stereo amp. Your receiver may be capable of 95w per channel but it's never going to give you even half that power. The PM6003 would work fine although I reckon there are better stereo amps out there within your budget. What other amps are there that are accessible to you and within your budget?

 

[Anonymous]

Hello Gerrardsnails I live in Spain, an example of other amps to consider are:

Rotel RA-04 (but it hasn't remote)

Cambridge Audio 650 A

NAD C315 BEE

If you have other option it will be wellcome

Kind regards from Spain. Thank you very much for your help

 

[Gerrardasnails]

spfrank:
Hello Gerrardsnails I live in Spain, an example of other amps to consider are:

Rotel RA-04 (but it hasn't remote)

Cambridge Audio 650 A

NAD C315 BEE

If you have other option it will be wellcome

Kind regards from Spain. Thank you very much for your help

The 650A would be my choice. It's brand new out and has been given rave reviews.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much for your advise Gerrardsnails , i'll let you know what amp i finally buy .

Kind regards.