two systems connected to one pair of speakers. is it safe?

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I have a home cinema amp to power a dvd player. i also have a stereo amp powering a cd player. is it possible to connect both amps to the same pair of speakers safely?
i prefer the sound of the stereo amp to run the cd player and do not want to run both the cd and dvd player from the cinema amp.
 

matengawhat

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no not really - which HC amp do you have and does it have a full set of outputs? depending which HC amp you have its possible to output the front channels to your stereo amp so the stereo amp is always connected to your front and receive the signal from your av amp - so never two amps connected to same set of speakersso everything is safe!!!
 

matthewpiano

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Do not connect both to the same speakers unless you have some kind of switching in place. Does your cinema amp have pre-outs? If so connect these to your stereo amp so that this drives the front speakers and leave the cinema amp to drive the other speakers for the DVD player. The alternative is to buy a switching box but this would compromise both by introducing another mechanical switch into the signal path.

Could you afford to budget for a better cinema amp? A model by Arcam, one of the better Yamahas or a Sony ES series receiver would serve both your music and movies well. The Sony STR-DA1200ES is still around at some corking prices these days.
 
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Anonymous

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i have a denon avr 2700 which is a decent amp. it cost £600 when it first came out. it seems to have plenty of connections. if connecting the stereo amp to the denon amp to run the front speakers, will i still be hearing the stereo amps true sound quality or will i be hearing the sound quality of the denon amp
 

Gerrardasnails

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[quote user="paulsr"]
i have a denon avr 2700 which is a decent amp. it cost £600 when it first came out. it seems to have plenty of connections. if connecting the stereo amp to the denon amp to run the front speakers, will i still be hearing the stereo amps true sound quality or will i be hearing the sound quality of the denon amp

[/quote] You will have the front left and right connected to the stereo amp only so yes it will be the same quality. The remaining speakers will run off your AV receiver. Your receiver will need front left and right pre outs.
 

Andrew Everard

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The Denon has a full set of pre-outs, so will be fine in this respect. As Mr Snails says, connect your music sources to the stereo amp, and the AV ones to the Denone receiver - I taught that boy well, clearly!
emotion-1.gif


Connect your front left and right speakers to the outputs of the stereo amp ONLY, and the front channel preouts of the Denon to a spare input on the stereo amp.

Select that input, set the volume on the stereo amp to a level you can easily remember - 10 or 12 o'clock will be fine - and then use the receiver's set-up system to balance up the level of the front L/R channels with that of the centre speaker.

Then when you want to watch surround stuff you just choose the input to which the receiver is connected, and set the stereo amp's volume control to the predetermined setting - the receiver's volume control then takes over level setting for the whole system.

When listening to music sources, you use the stereo amp as normal, and the receiver plays no part whatsoever.

(Note to self - we must do a 'how to' video on the new whathifi.com website when it's launched, showing how to do this)
 
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Anonymous

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thanks for all your help.

it is all so easy now that i know what to do.
 

Gerrardasnails

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[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
The Denon has a full set of pre-outs, so will be fine in this respect. As Mr Snails says, connect your music sources to the stereo amp, and the AV ones to the Denone receiver - I taught that boy well, clearly!
emotion-1.gif


Connect your front left and right speakers to the outputs of the stereo amp ONLY, and the front channel preouts of the Denon to a spare input on the stereo amp.

Select that input, set the volume on the stereo amp to a level you can easily remember - 10 or 12 o'clock will be fine - and then use the receiver's set-up system to balance up the level of the front L/R channels with that of the centre speaker.

Then when you want to watch surround stuff you just choose the input to which the receiver is connected, and set the stereo amp's volume control to the predetermined setting - the receiver's volume control then takes over level setting for the whole system.

When listening to music sources, you use the stereo amp as normal, and the receiver plays no part whatsoever.

(Note to self - we must do a 'how to' video on the new whathifi.com website when it's launched, showing how to do this)

[/quote] Yes, master you taught me well! Since I got mine set up, I reckon I've explained the format on here at least half a dozen times - I don't mind though, I remember how enfuriating I found it. By the way Mr E, I have to mention this again, as this is obviously a big thing for a lot of people, I do think that it should be mentioned (maybe on the "against" list) when reviewing receivers when they don't have front and left preouts. For instance the Onk 605 and 606s are off my list purely for this reason - and the have almost flawless reviews without this being mentioned. Just a thought.
 

Gerrardasnails

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Mr E, I just realised that this really should be on the Home Cinema forum - could I at least ask that preouts are mentioned on future reviews so that we know if that particular receiver has them or not. Cheers.
 
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Anonymous

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[quote user="Andrew Everard"]set the volume on the stereo amp to a level you can easily remember - 10 or 12 o'clock will be fine - and then use the receiver's set-up system to balance up the level of the front L/R channels with that of the centre speaker.[/quote]

Don't forget/ignore that bit, or your surround sound experience will be shot to pieces!
 

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