Post by ac2011 on Sept 28, 2015 7:23:54 GMT -5
Guessing this won't come as any surprise to many folks here, but might be useful to those considering external amplification options.
I recently added XPA-100's to my front left and right; center is still running off my XPA-3, and switched the other channels of the XPA-3 to the surrounds.
(FYI, I am running a 7.2 system, with front presence speakers; my surrounds are bi-poles)
As I posted in another thread, my initial reaction was that the front sound stage seemed to be a bit more "there". Not sure what the real correct term is here - present; forward; noticeable? Any, it just seemed to have a bit more oomph to my ears.
Over the weekend, however, I noticed something else. The surrounds seem to giving a bit more now as well (connected to the XPA-3). I first noticed this when I was listening to some music (streamed through my Sonos Connect attached to my AVR), which I was listening to in multi-channel surround mode. Some different things seemed to be coming from the surrounds.
Also have started noticing this even when watching TV - the ambient/background sounds definitely have a little more punch now, to the point of surprising me at times, and making me check over my shoulder!
So, I guess I answered my own question from the thread I previously started about whether surrounds can benefit from external amplification!
I'm considering adding rear surrounds to the mix, to go to a 9.2 system (maybe eventually moving to a 7.2.4), and now thinking that I need to change out my XPA-3 for an XPA-5!
I recently added XPA-100's to my front left and right; center is still running off my XPA-3, and switched the other channels of the XPA-3 to the surrounds.
(FYI, I am running a 7.2 system, with front presence speakers; my surrounds are bi-poles)
As I posted in another thread, my initial reaction was that the front sound stage seemed to be a bit more "there". Not sure what the real correct term is here - present; forward; noticeable? Any, it just seemed to have a bit more oomph to my ears.
Over the weekend, however, I noticed something else. The surrounds seem to giving a bit more now as well (connected to the XPA-3). I first noticed this when I was listening to some music (streamed through my Sonos Connect attached to my AVR), which I was listening to in multi-channel surround mode. Some different things seemed to be coming from the surrounds.
Also have started noticing this even when watching TV - the ambient/background sounds definitely have a little more punch now, to the point of surprising me at times, and making me check over my shoulder!
So, I guess I answered my own question from the thread I previously started about whether surrounds can benefit from external amplification!
I'm considering adding rear surrounds to the mix, to go to a 9.2 system (maybe eventually moving to a 7.2.4), and now thinking that I need to change out my XPA-3 for an XPA-5!
