Adding a stereo power-amp to an onkyo 606: worth it?

[admin_exported]

I'm thinking of getting the new 606 after the good reviews it's getting but i'm still concerned about music performance.

One of the solutions I've been thinking about is getting a seperate power amp to drive the front speakers and improve the (stereo)music performance. This should work on my current Yamaha 5.1 receiver as well but I'm unsure if it will make any difference? Is the quality of sound dictated by the pre- or power-amp, and would it make enough difference?

Maybe someone here has tried or heard this solution and I'm curious about your opinions.

 

[John Duncan]

606 doesn't have pre-outs so wouldn't work anyway.

But the better way to do it is to get a stereo integrated (not power), which allows you to avoid the receiver's preamp altogether (provided it has preouts).

 

[Anonymous]

Hadn't even gone over the specs to see if it did, thanx for mentioning it!

But how would your solution work exactly? All my kit is hooked up to the receiver via digital connections (both optical and coax). My current rec. has pre-outs for all channels but I always thought that volume control and pre-amplification was carried out by the receiver if you used them.

 

[John Duncan]

1) The front left and right preouts of the Yamaha go to an input on the stereo amp.
2) Some stereo amps (not many) have a fixed-level input especially for this purpose so you can miss this step out: set the volume of your stereo amp to about half and run your speaker calibration routine on the receiver. Then always use this volume setting on the stereo amp whenever you watch AV - overall volume is handled by the receiver.
3) When watching AV, have both amps on - the stereo amp will handle the front speakers, the AV amp will handle the rest.
4) When watching stereo, the AV amp is out of the equation so won;t degrade the sound.

That's it. You could do what you suggest to get more musical performance from the power amp, but the preamp would still be in the receiver, which is sub-optimal. You may have to choose the stereo amp a little carefully, as some folks have had issues with particular models not working (gerrardasnails and his Creek Evo, for example), but I've done it no probs.

 

[Anonymous]

That sounds logical but if I'm not mistaken it would mean that;
1. I would have to have a second set of interconnects from the cd/dvd to the stereo-amplifier?
2. Everytime I use the amp for music I'd have to change the volume to a more reasonable setting?

Both are no problem of course but I want to be sure I understand correctly.

 

[John Duncan]

1. It depends on whether you have a separate CD player and DVD player for movie and music - the scenario I outline above presumes you have a CD player, which would plug directly into the stereo amp, so you then have a music system that avoids the AV amp altogether. If you use your DVD player for music, then it depends on how good it is as to whether you would want to plug it directly into the stereo amp or use the DAC in the receiver.

2. Yes, if it doesn't have a fixed-input setting. Some Cambridges and Arcams do, though there are probably others.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm using my dvd-player for both and since it's not anything special I think the Yamaha DAC probably does a better job.

I'll look into the fixed-input spec, see if I can find models that support this feature.

Theoretically though, a power-amplifier could work but the pre-amp in the receiver would likely be holding it back?

Thanks for your help!

 

[John Duncan]

Well, in order to use the DAC in the receiver, you would need to use it's preamp anyway, so a power amp would work, yes. This would likely be an improvement (receiver depending), but the next step up would be to separate CD and DVD duties and go down the stereo amp route.

This all presumes you haven't got the money to go down the serious AV setup route, like a Roksan/Cyrus/Primare/Arcam preamp + five channel power setup.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll have a long hard look at the financials for the coming months and decide ...

but it's good to know that:
1. A power amp could work ...
2. There's an alternative (integrated amp with fixed-line input)

Thanks again!

 

[John Duncan]

bart0913:2. There's an alternative (integrated amp with fixed-line input)

Or, just to reiterate, one without a fixed input, you just have to set the volume the same whenever you use it for AV.

 

[Anonymous]

You're right, only problem could be forgetting to put the volume back to normal after watching movies .... I probably would remember but my wife ... I'm not so sure!

 

[John Duncan]

I hear you. Newer Arcams, Cambridge 740 and 840 are ones that I'm aware of.

jd

 

[Gerrardasnails]

JohnDuncan:I hear you. Newer Arcams, Cambridge 740 and 840 are ones that I'm aware of.

jd

I wasn't sure about the 740 John but I take your word for it. With my 840 it does make it easier as I have mine set at just over half way and it would blow peoples heads off if they turned the cd player on and it started that loud! By the way, the new Sony 2400 has pre outs and HD audio (I'm presuming you want that as you were looking at the 606). Still believe that lack of preouts is a major flaw in that machine's spec and worthy of a star docking!!

 

[John Duncan]

They'll be on the 607, if anybody's paying attention to these forums......

S'funny, must be just the UK - my yamaha has preouts, but only the UK model, not the Euro spec ones..........

 

[Gerrardasnails]

JohnDuncan:They'll be on the 607, if anybody's paying attention to these forums......

S'funny, must be just the UK - my yamaha has preouts, but only the UK model, not the Euro spec ones..........

For sure if Clare and Andrew answered my posts about docking stars for the lack of spec against the rivals! I can understand the argument that it's for home cinema but a lot of people (more if they actually knew they could do it) use their front speakers as their stereo speakers.

 

[professorhat]

Hmm, I know where you're coming from, but I can't understand this thought of docking a star for a piece of equipment for not having a feature it's not designed for. Would you dock a star off an amazing stereo integrated amp because it doesn't have a headphone socket? No? With good reason you wouldn't because it's not designed for headphones. But if it did have one, it would be a nice added feature. The same is true on the 606 - it doesn't have stereo pre-outs, but it's clearly designed as an all out home cinema amp. If you want music, go elsewhere!
Now when someone brings out a home cinema receiver which is as good as the 606, with all the same features for the same price and it also has pre-outs, then I'm sure we'll see a star or two docked.