Using a stereo amp as a power amp in AV set up

[Dermondo]

1) The front left and right preouts of the A/V Receiver go to an input on the stereo amp (Tape 2 for example)
2) Some stereo amps (not many) have a fixed-level input especially for this purpose so you can miss this step out: otherwise set the volume of your stereo amp to about 10 o’clock 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 listening to music, the AV amp is out of the equation so won;t degrade the sound.

Hi all, just to clarify will the above mentioned procedure work with any stereo amp and AV amp (with preouts)

Is there much difference in the Arcam A80 & A85, many thanks in advance to all who reply.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Dermondo:
1) The front left and right preouts of the A/V Receiver go to an input on the stereo amp (Tape 2 for example)
2) Some stereo amps (not many) have a fixed-level input especially for this purpose so you can miss this step out: otherwise set the volume of your stereo amp to about 10 o'clock 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 listening to music, the AV amp is out of the equation so won;t degrade the sound.

Hi all, just to clarify will the above mentioned procedure work with any stereo amp and AV amp (with preouts)

Is there much difference in the Arcam A80 & A85, many thanks in advance to all who reply.

You are spot on with how to do it all. I had a Creek Evo amp which would not let me do this - it wouldn't let me separate pre and power so I can categorically say that not ALL stereo amps allow you to do this. However, 99% will. And yes, if the AV amp had front left and right pre outs, it will work.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Don't know much about the Arcams.

But I have this in my AV setup, mrantz sr5003, fornt and L+R preouts to Kandy K2 - this has a bypass input which bypasses the pre-amp section of the amp and sends the signal to the power amp section - so the av receiver works as the pre-amp and the stereo amp as the power

You just need to make sure that the stereo amp you choose has this functionality (not sure if this is called "bypass input" on all or just roksan stuff though) and the AV reveicer has pre-outs.

Hope that helped a bit.

Dan.

 

[Dermondo]

Many thanks guys it has given me food for thought.

 

[Trahern]

Using a stereo amp with an av bypass or equivalent is definitely worth having. The Arcam A22 FMJ amp I used to have didn't have this (although the more recent models certainly in the FMJ range do I believe) as does the Primare Pre30 I use (not sure about the integrated version).

The main problem I found was constantly having to manually adjust the volume on the stereo amp without a bypass depending on whether you were watching a film or listening to music. Now I press one button and the level is set by the AV amp for films (where the settings have already been calibrated) or defaults to a suitable level for listening to music when the bypass is switched off.

 

[Anonymous]

Many thanks for the above info.