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Post by red71rum on Dec 26, 2023 10:59:49 GMT -5
I have a yamaha receiver and utilize an Emotiva XPA 3 gen 1 for the LCR. I had left and right surrounds and rear surrounds that I let the Yamaha amp power. Is there any reason to get an external amp for the 4 surround speakers? I know that they do not use as much power, and I am not playing at reference levels lol. Just wondering if I am missing out some how.
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novisnick
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Post by novisnick on Dec 26, 2023 11:43:09 GMT -5
I have a system that utilizes the Yamaha for surround duty, plenty of power and its free!
Edit: Is the room extremely large? That would be the only reason to further evaluate your question IMO
ENJOY 😁
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Post by copperband on Dec 26, 2023 12:59:49 GMT -5
I have the same thought recently, most people say don't need it....
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Post by red71rum on Dec 26, 2023 13:27:00 GMT -5
I have a system that utilizes the Yamaha for surround duty, plenty of power and its free! Edit: Is the room extremely large? That would be the only reason to further evaluate your question IMO ENJOY 😁 This is a Yamaha TSR 7810 dolby atmos AVR. I am about 10 feet from the the speakers. It is a carpeted room with vaulted ceilings. I have wall treatments on either side of the listening area. From -80 on my receiver, I only go to around -55 in volume if that helps, maybe -50. I do not play at 0 lol. I just dont trust the amps in the receivers for some reason. |
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novisnick
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Post by novisnick on Dec 26, 2023 13:36:49 GMT -5
Yamaha has been around for a very long time. As a matter of fact they also built musical instruments and many other types of gear for the industry. I have been using Yamaha for the past 4 decades and I really can not find a single complaint about the company.
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Post by red71rum on Dec 26, 2023 14:15:06 GMT -5
![]() Yamaha has been around for a very long time. As a matter of fact they also built musical instruments and many other types of gear for the industry. I have been using Yamaha for the past 4 decades and I really can not find a single complaint about the company. Yes, Yamaha is pretty great, although I am not the biggest fan of YPAO. Here is one of my old Yamaha receivers and a pic of one of my Yamaha S4115H from some of my two channel stuff -   ![]() |
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novisnick
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Post by novisnick on Dec 26, 2023 14:59:59 GMT -5
LOL, YPAO is n art-form for sure but once mastered and the use of other acquired knowledge is implemented I find it rather useful. Everyone has a different preference for how they prefer their music.
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Post by red71rum on Dec 27, 2023 10:28:45 GMT -5
LOL, YPAO is n art-form for sure but once mastered and the use of other acquired knowledge is implemented I find it rather useful. Everyone has a different preference for how they prefer their music. I only use my emotiva/YPAO for home theater duty really. I have the YPAO well setup, but I look at DIRAC longingly lol |
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Post by Zombie on Dec 27, 2023 11:41:01 GMT -5
I seriously doubt you’d see any noticeable differences going to an external amp vs. powered by the AVR unless maybe you’re pushing it really hard. I use a Yamaha Preamp so I have to use external amps and love my set-up. I’ve had the Yamaha 3-4 years now and it has been flawless. I’m probably in the minority but I actually like YPAO. Isn’t perfect (or close to it) but I think it helps for a good starting point. A few tweaks here and there and it doesn’t take much to make it sound great. I recently sold my house and the buyer was eyeing my set-up. Since Yamaha no longer makes a dedicated preamp it’s staying in the family and traveling to Boerne (Texas) with us. 🙂
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Post by leonski on Dec 27, 2023 16:24:15 GMT -5
And not to forget that with only 4 channels powered, you have plenty of power supply for those channels.....
If you were trying to run all 7 or 9 or MORE channels, 'all channels driven' power can drop like a stone.
You'll be OK at less than nose-bleed levels......
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Post by pedrocols on Dec 27, 2023 17:50:31 GMT -5
If you'd needed external power for home theater applications all commercial AVRs companies would be out of business. The short answer is that you don't.
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Post by leonski on Dec 27, 2023 18:02:47 GMT -5
You know, Ped....you have a point. The solution arrived at were Easy to drive speakers of modest sensitivity. In that way, the amplifiers
of most AV receivers have few issues. My 4ohm, low sensitivity panels would DESTROY most HT receivers.....
You may get SOME benefit from easing the power supply load of your AV receiver by running a L/ C/ R external amp.......
but that benefit would generally be noted under only special conditions. Larger room? Less sensitive speakers? LOUD!
Helping such AV gear run COOLER does noting but help it last longer. Last time I was in an AV oriented sound room, it was WARM.
Running my hands over some of the running gear disclosed some pretty darn warm running equipment........
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Post by 405x5 on Dec 27, 2023 22:02:55 GMT -5
I have a yamaha receiver and utilize an Emotiva XPA 3 gen 1 for the LCR. I had left and right surrounds and rear surrounds that I let the Yamaha amp power. Is there any reason to get an external amp for the 4 surround speakers? I know that they do not use as much power, and I am not playing at reference levels lol. Just wondering if I am missing out some how. The question underscores my biggest complaint about the object based audio system….all of the individual “channel” power demands for who knows what and how much. You’re not going to get answers from those that design where those sounds go…just have to give it a best guess….no thank you. That being said, my Atmos collection that was sold to me whether I wanted it or not sound fantastic lossless non ATMOS state when played back in conventional 5 or 7.ever how many and you can bet the farm that’s how most end users end up hearing them…..(just sayin). |
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Lsc
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Post by Lsc on Dec 27, 2023 23:57:38 GMT -5
I have a yamaha receiver and utilize an Emotiva XPA 3 gen 1 for the LCR. I had left and right surrounds and rear surrounds that I let the Yamaha amp power. Is there any reason to get an external amp for the 4 surround speakers? I know that they do not use as much power, and I am not playing at reference levels lol. Just wondering if I am missing out some how. Why did you buy the XPA-3 in the first place? It really depends what you are looking for…you could have just used the receiver for all 7 channels. |
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Post by leonski on Dec 28, 2023 1:42:36 GMT -5
I think ONE good reason for external amps is to reduce heat in the HT receiver. Even a 3ch Bass-X would work and easily equal or better the issued amp.
This also opens up the speaker possibilities since this amp will work with speakers the HT receiver may not be 'happy' running.
Heat is the big enemy and any reduction is measured in reliablilty and longevity.....
You also get more available power for the remaining channels.....
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Post by vcautokid on Dec 28, 2023 6:32:14 GMT -5
The front stage is where the heavy work happens mostly. Your receiver will be fine on the surrounds. No need to spend more for them.
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cawgijoe
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Post by cawgijoe on Dec 28, 2023 7:48:57 GMT -5
It really depends on how power hungry your speakers are. If they are efficient, most receivers are designed to work just fine using the internal amps. If they are not, you benefit greatly using an external amp, especially for the front three channels as vcautokid mentions.
A real world example...when I bought my Thiel cs1.6 speakers years ago all I had was a Pioneer Elite receiver. The Thiels are rated at 4ohm, but go down to 3ohm or lower. They need power to sound their best. I noticed right away that the sound was "thin" and even more troubling, the receiver was getting much warmer than it did with my previous speakers. I purchased a three channel amp to drive the front three speakers and used the receiver's internal amps to drive the surrounds. The sound was much improved and the receiver again was running cool.
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Post by red71rum on Dec 28, 2023 9:59:49 GMT -5
I have a yamaha receiver and utilize an Emotiva XPA 3 gen 1 for the LCR. I had left and right surrounds and rear surrounds that I let the Yamaha amp power. Is there any reason to get an external amp for the 4 surround speakers? I know that they do not use as much power, and I am not playing at reference levels lol. Just wondering if I am missing out some how. Why did you buy the XPA-3 in the first place? It really depends what you are looking for…you could have just used the receiver for all 7 channels. I have never trusted any of my receivers to run all the channels, I always have used an external amp, except maybe in the early 90's. My LCR is efficient, I have JBL SR 4732A with rebuilt crossovers, and my Paradigm center CC390 V6. I have recently bought the some Klipsch RP502 for my left and right surround. I still use Fluance XLBP as my rears, which are my least efficient speakers. *****Anyway, it seems the overall consensus is I do not need another external amp, which is good. I can save my money. I appreciate all the replies and info. |
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Lsc
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Post by Lsc on Dec 28, 2023 11:15:57 GMT -5
Why did you buy the XPA-3 in the first place? It really depends what you are looking for…you could have just used the receiver for all 7 channels. I have never trusted any of my receivers to run all the channels, I always have used an external amp, except maybe in the early 90's. My LCR is efficient, I have JBL SR 4732A with rebuilt crossovers, and my Paradigm center CC390 V6. I have recently bought the some Klipsch RP502 for my left and right surround. I still use Fluance XLBP as my rears, which are my least efficient speakers. *****Anyway, it seems the overall consensus is I do not need another external amp, which is good. I can save my money. I appreciate all the replies and info. I try to have the same amp quality for the surrounds vs the mains even though my surround speaker is much cheaper than my mains. But having lower quality amps to drive the surrounds will also work. |
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bman
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Post by bman on Dec 28, 2023 14:48:15 GMT -5
I have a yamaha receiver and utilize an Emotiva XPA 3 gen 1 for the LCR. I had left and right surrounds and rear surrounds that I let the Yamaha amp power. Is there any reason to get an external amp for the 4 surround speakers? I know that they do not use as much power, and I am not playing at reference levels lol. Just wondering if I am missing out some how. Consider this. By using all external amps to drive your speakers you can turn OFF the amps in the Receiver (at least you can with Denon and Marantz), this in turn will allow your receiver to run much cooler. Right now I am running with my current receiver a Denon X4700H, the ATMOS speakers the way you describe, using the Receiver to drive them. But with my next Receiver, I am going to purchase a second BasX A4 driving my height and surround speakers, then will turn off internal amps in my new Marantz Cinema 50. Between disabling the Receiver Amps and my AC Infinity coolers, my hope is everything runs much cooler. We all know "heat" kills. Just my opinion. |
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