Adding a stereo amp

[Sliced Bread]

Hi All,

Has anyone tried adding a stereo amplifier to there AV amplifier? Does this have a negative effect on the soundstage as you have two channels with different sonic characteristics.

Also, what would I need to spend on a stereo amplifier to get a noticeable improvement on my Onkyo 905.

Thanks

 

[daveh75]

JohnNewman:Hi All, Has anyone tried adding a stereo amplifier to there AV amplifier?Yes.JohnNewman:Hi All, Has anyone tried adding a stereo amplifier to there AV amplifier? Does this have a negative effect on the soundstage as you have two channels with different sonic characteristics.No, not that i've noticed, but to be fair i'm using all Arcam amplification so it all intergrates very nicely! But there are plenty of people on the forums using receiver's and amp's from different manufacturer's with good results by all account's.JohnNewman:.Also, what would I need to spend on a stereo amplifier to get a noticeable improvement on my Onkyo 905. Thanks IIRC it's been mentioned that A/V receivers compete musically with stereo amp's about 1/3 of the budget of a receiver, so i guess you'd have to spend around the £500 mark to better your 905.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

JohnNewman:Hi All,

Has anyone tried adding a stereo amplifier to there AV amplifier? Does this have a negative effect on the soundstage as you have two channels with different sonic characteristics.

Also, what would I need to spend on a stereo amplifier to get a noticeable improvement on my Onkyo 905.

Thanks

I think quite a lot of people on here do this. It works great for me. The stereo amp only does power amp duties for your AV system and on stereo duty the receiver does nothing at all, so there is no lack in quality, if anything, it might even improve the front left and right on your AV set up.

I would guess that the 905 in stereo is pretty good for a receiver. However, you should notice a jump in class if you buy the right amp for your speakers. Now, here is the bit you won't want to hear; if you buy a stereo amp in the say £500-700 range, you might find that your speakers would then be holding it back a bit. Auditioning will be key as your speakers are knocking on a bit.

 

[margetti]

Yes, I have this set-up and don't notice any difference in soundstaging etc, although I have not done an A/B comparison between the Onkyo by itself and with the stereo amp in the loop. Levels obviously have to be set as you would any AV set up, and I did bump the bass setting up a couple of notches on the left and right front speakers when doing this. But that was at a time when I was going through a very fussy tweaking stage, lol!

As daveh75 says, spending about 1/3 of the cost of the 905 on a stereo amp is a good place to start - depends somewhat on how dramatic you want the improvement of 2-channel music to be by adding a stereo amp. ÿ

 

[Sliced Bread]

Thanks everyone. Unfortunately my budget will not currently stretch to speakers and amplifier, however one option I am toying with is to sell the whole system and use it to part fund a stereo system and watch my films via that...hmm although on second thoughts I may miss the surround sound.

Either way I am looking for a significant upgrade to the stereo sound...I was thinking along the lines of a Naim amplifier and using a squeeze box connected to an external DAC as the source.

It is a difficult decision.

 

[Anonymous]

I've been thinking about this myself recently and looking to do the same thing. I've been looking at the Cyrus options due to their compact size and they would fit in nicely with my unit.
What I am not sure of is the best power options to use when used as the front end in an AV set up.
I'm thinking pre amp and two mono power amps or maybe the one stereo power amp, I'm looking for a very nice high end dedicated HiFi to go with what I have, the speakers will be an option later on.

 

[John Duncan]

JohnNewman:Thanks everyone. Unfortunately my budget will not currently stretch to speakers and amplifier, however one option I am toying with is to sell the whole system and use it to part fund a stereo system and watch my films via that...hmm although on second thoughts I may miss the surround sound.

Either way I am looking for a significant upgrade to the stereo sound...I was thinking along the lines of a Naim amplifier and using a squeeze box connected to an external DAC as the source.

It is a difficult decision.

I'm watching the football via virtual dolby on a stereo pair and it's great fun - no rear effects obviously but enormous width.

 

[John Duncan]

And am now watching The Dark Knight through the DACMagic with Virtual Surround on on the DVD player (can you tell Mrs D is away?), and it's enormous fun. Not quite the totally immersive 5/6/7.1 experience, but if you're system doesn't have to be totally filmcentric, it may be perfectly adequate. Try it at a dealer...

 

[Sliced Bread]

Thanks John, that is good to know.

I'm starting to come to the conclusion that I'm fussier when it comes to music than I am with films (although having said that I watched Spiderman 2 last night and it does sound good through the Onkyo).

I'm back and forth on this decision. I think that you're right and I need to do some listening.

Out of curiosity, do you use this setup instead of an AV set-up or do you have both?

 

[John Duncan]

This was a temp setup while Mrs JD was away - all the gear piled up on a coffee table with the telly in the middle and speakers either side. Normally our TV viewing is the telly sound only (primarily to do with relative positioning of the TV and the stereo). Years ago I bought an AV amp and had the whole 5.1 thing but I was a) a bit underwhelmed and b) under pressure to remove all those speakers I'd just set up, so it went in the hifi drawer in the end.

So last night was the first time I had it set up in stereo for a very long time, and it sounded really good - the 'surround' effect provided by the (very cheap Pioneer) DVD player was pretty good - not 360ø 'enveloping' but kind of 180ø+ 'wrapping', with a smattering of things behind me. Was plenty good enough for me.

EDIT - only works if your DVD player has a 'surround' mode obviously - never really paid attention to whether this is prevalent or not....

 

[Sliced Bread]

JohnDuncan:Years ago I bought an AV amp and had the whole 5.1 thing but I was a) a bit underwhelmed and b) under pressure to remove all those speakers I'd just set up, so it went in the hifi drawer in the end.

I know what you mean...I've spent a fortune on AV gear over the years and while I'm happy with Movie performance (although only since I bought the Onkyo and not my first two AV amps), I still find music a bit boring through the system. All the sounds are there but they are just not musical. Whenever I walk into a hi-fi shop and listen to a half-decent stereo setup, I can't help but feel that my AV system sounds quite crude in comparison.

If movies are acceptable through a stereo setup then I just might trade it in and switch to the 'other side'.

 

[John Duncan]

Acceptable *to me*, yeah. I suspect others here would disagree.

 

[ear]

I myself wont put another 5.1 system back. i dont find natural that sound is coming from the back.surely a centre speaker is much better that just 2 stereo speakers, but if they are right aside the tv and as johnduncan mentioned,with the surround modes for just 2 speakers, it also sounds very good to me.it's all about scale of sound.

 

[professorhat]

JohnDuncan:Acceptable *to me*, yeah. I suspect others here would disagree.

But then of course movies is my top concern in the living room - since getting my Epoz AktiMates, virtually all music listening is now done in the office.

If however music was my primary concern in the living room, I would almost definitely have a stereo amp hooked into the preouts of my Onkyo 905.

 

[pwiles1968]

I have gone a slightly different direction I have an AV amp which is very musical (possibly at the expense of all round AV Feature) and I have added Mono-Block Power amps to this to Bi-Amplify my front speakers, and I set the amp to Pure direct for Stereo listening.

Before my recent Amp upgrade I have reviewed my system back to back with both a separate stereo amp (Roksan) and also by substituting the AV amp with a pre-amp, I was very happy with my system performance and never felt the need to go the pure stereo route.