Passive centre instead of active front L and R?

[AlmaataKZ]

I use active speakers for my main L and R. It is all good when I listen to stereo music. but when I watch TV I cannot stop thinking that all this power (350w per channel class a) is wasted if I just watch the news or smth.

an obvious solution would be to use the TV speakers, but they sound really bad so I tought maybe I can use the centre channel speaker via the receiver. but is this possilbe in terms of having speaker configurations stored and activated in the receiver?

I plan to get a modern receiver shourtly and wonder if I can, without much set-up every time I switch, have the following speaker configurations selectable:

- for 'news and the like' - receiver driving the centre channel speaker with TV sound (both L and R channels in case of stereo broadcast)

- for 'full sound', stereo or multichannel - receiver driving the main R and L via pre-outs to active speaekrs and the C, RL and RR as usual.

Is this possible?

 

[The_Lhc]

Couple of questions, how do you connect you current stereo sources to the active speakers and do the speakers have more than one input?

Basically, where's your pre-amp?

 

[AlmaataKZ]

the receiver's pre out goes into another pre's input, the main L and R speakers are fed from that pre (like in HT bypass).

the system is optimised for stereo (mac - dac/pre - active speaktrs). it is when it is integrated with the mulitchannel side that it gets a bit more complex than usual.

 

[The_Lhc]

AlmaataKZ:
the receiver's pre out goes into another pre's input, the main L and R speakers are fed from that pre (like in HT bypass).

Sorry I don't understand, you have a receiver now?

the system is optimised for stereo (mac - dac/pre - active speaktrs). it is when it is integrated with the mulitchannel side that it gets a bit more complex than usual.

So what's the centre channel speaker connected to at the moment? Does the DAC have analogue inputs?

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Sorry if I have confused things. yes, I do have a receiver now but it is an old one and will be replaced soon. the reason I mentioned the new receiver as part ofthe question is becasue maybe new or more advanced ones can have more speaker assignement options (?).

centre at the moment is connected to the receiver. the dac does have analog input and also works as a pre (has input selector and vol control). Benchmark Dac1 HDR.

I actually have a sketch...(note the current receiver is non-hdmi one, the sketch is for the future receiver).

 

[The_Lhc]

The connections look ok, although having the sub in the dac means you won't get the LFE channel when watching blu-ray as the sub would need to be connected to the AVR's low level output (unless the sub has a low level input that you could also connect to the AVR?).

Just to clarify, when you're watching the news or whatever do you just want to hear the sound through the TV speakers plus the centre speaker? Usually most people just put both amps on when watching TV/Blu-ray or just the stereo amp when listening to music. In that case there's no requirement for any special "speaker assignments", as far as I can see.