A new approach to separates (1 Viewer)

[Jason Caudill]

What happens when a college senior takes 100 level classes? Well you start to think about things that normally would not be worth your time.
Okay, I have been interested in moving to seperates for some time now and the introduction of the Outlaw piece makes that much more possible. I thought the natural thing to do would be to add a amp to my Yamaha HTR-5280, and then when I get a little bit more money (read: a real job) I would pick up whatever preamp fit the budget.
Back to my pondering. What if instead of purchasing an amp first I just used the 6 channel inputs on the receiver to use the amp part of the reciever and added a preamp?
Now I can't come up with an extra $500 to pick up a decent 5 channel amp, so I am not going to have $900 to buy a preamp (although if they don't charge until they ship, I may be able to use my 401k ). But I was wondering if anyone had actually tried this before?
Unfortunately not all my classes are 100's so back to studying (that's in case my parents see this post ).
Jason

 

[Camp]

Don't use your 401k!!
The only problem with buying a preamp first is that preamps go obsolete...amps generally don't. If you buy an amp now you're likely to get several years of use out of it.

 

[Saurav]

Are you sure the 6 channel inputs go straight to the amp section? If you have even a volume control on that input, it probably goes through the preamp section of your receiver. If that's the case, you don't really gain much by buying a separate preamp.

 

[Sihan Goi]

I agree with Camp's statement. In fact I was gonna post it but then I read that Camp's already done it, so I'll just re-iteratate what he said.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I don't think you can do what you want. You'd need "pre amp outs" (which you do have, for adding external amps to the Yamaha), but you probably don't have "main inputs" which is what you'd need to just use the amp channels in your receiver.
Get the amp first. I had a Yamaha RX-V793 that I 1st used as a receiver, then a pre pro with external amps, then fully to separates. Yamaha makes great sounding equipment by the way. I wouldn't be so quick to want to get rid of it!

 

[chung]

Jason:
You can certainly get a new preamp and feed the 5.1 outputs of the preamp into you receiver's 5.1 analog inputs. I guess that may be worth doing if you believe your new preamp's digital signal processor is really superior to your Yamaha receiver's. You would have two sets of volume controls in series, but that is manageable, albeit a little clumsy.
Given that you're still in college and money appears to be somewhat tight, I would recommend not making any purchases. Wait until you get a job and have your own place. Then upgrade your speakers first, since that upgrade has the biggest impact on overall performance. Then pick a receiver/amp suitable for those speakers, and go from there.
I thought seniors should be taking challenging classes

 

[Mike Nep]

I was recently a senior in college (not taking 100 levels though) and besides thinking about beer, girls and studying in that order, I was hooked on home theater. I was broke but managed to somehow fork out money for speakers and the sort. If I were you I would hold out until you get out into the job market where your choices on what to buy exponentially increase due to your newfound buying power. You're a senior, it's not that long. I finished school in June and at that time I had paradigm mini monitors, a paradigm cc and a yamaha amp. Good stuff, not great, but pretty good for a college kid. It sounds like you're pulling a me by justifying to yourself that you can go with sub par stuff and be happy (okay, pretty much everyone who participates in this forum). In a couple of months you'll be looking again. Now that I'm working, my equipment list has completely phased out everything I had in college. IMO, once you finish and start working that's when you do your purchasing. I'd buy a new amp first and then once the whole outlaw fiasco is over (read: who knows, maybe months) the Outlaw will be heavily reviewed and ready for you to purchase without wait if its that good. Receiver amps are never as good as dedicated amps. Oh, one more thing, DON'T USE YOUR 401K FOR ANYTHING UNLESS IT'S A HOUSE, YOU WILL HATE YOURSELF IN THIRTY YEARS. Compounding interest is the key! GOOD LUCK.

Sorry so long but I had a flashback of myself!

 

[Jason Caudill]

The 401k thing was a joke. I meant that I would be ready to retire by the time it shipped.

I was more curious if someone had ever tried such a thing than I was in actually doing it. I am in a pretty good place right now with my current setup (yamaha, paradigm monitor 5s). The next purchase will be either the aforementioned amp or a HDTV. I am just a little hesitant because of all the changes they say are yet to come.

Thanks for the input guys! Jason

 

[Kevin Alexander]

Jason,

I did, a couple of years ago, exactly what you are trying to do. I had the Sony TAE-9000ES preamp fed into a Pioneer Elite reciever via the 5.1 analog inputs in the back. IT DOES WORK!

 

[Holadem]

I asked the same question several months ago and didn't really receive an answer.

I am thinking of doing this also. My present receiver has no pre-out, so amps would be useless to me at this point. A preamp now, then a amp later seems like a good solution to me.

--

Holadem

 

[Wes]

Check this thread out!
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...458#post773594
Wes

 

[Jason Caudill]

Wes,

I posted this about 2 months ago. Thanks for the interest.

I have actually decided to add the Rotel RMB-1066 to my Yamaha receiver and then pick up the RSP-1066 sometime later this year. I really like the flexibility that amp offers because I am running 5 channel now, but will be going to 3 channel in a year or so when I move into an apartment. After that I will hopefully move to 7.1. Thanks for the reply anyway, Jason