Do I HAVE to have an amp? (1 Viewer)

[Jason Kass]

Hi,
I am building a new house and am starting to build a modest system. Outlaw 950 pre/pro (yes..I am still waiting), Klipsch RF3 fronts, Klipsch RCW3 in wall for the rear center (6.1), and the HSU VTF-3 so far. The house is not quite done yet so I have a couple of weeks at least to get the rest. My question is with the 950 do I have to have an amp or does it power the speakers enough to get by for a while. I assume that if and when I get an amp it would improve the quantity of sound but does it also improve the quality? And my next question would be what would be a good mid level amp for my situation? I will be completing the system with the Klipsch RS3 surround and the RC3 center.
Thanks,
Jason

 

[Bruce N]

The 950 will not power your speakers. An external amplifier is required.

Bruce

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Jason,

As Bruce said, this is not an issue of quality - rather the fact that the Outlaw 950 is not a receiver- it is strictly a preamplifier. It has no amplifier stage in it at all, so there is no power in that unit to drive speakers (it simply puts out a line level output designed to then be sent to amplfiers).

The signal the 950 produces is at the same level as the analog output from a CD player-- just imagine trying to connect speakers directly to the RCA jacks on your CD player- this output is only about 1 volt of signal-- not nearly enough to drive a speaker (it has less output level than a headphone jack!!)

So- your issue of an amplifier is not a luxury, rather an absolute requirement. You have to have some unit to drive the speakers. So, you must have a amplifier, or at minimum an old receiver with 6 channel input which could serve to drive speakers...

-V