need amp suggestions/help (1 Viewer)

[Benny G]

Here is my current audio equipment:
Harman Kardon AVR310
Acoustic Research S50 mains
Acoustic Research S20 surrounds
Acoustic Research AR-4C center
Sony SA-WM40 sub
Would a 5ch amp be worth the money?? My system goes loud enough, but what about sound quality? Would I see much gain in that area??
I have also noticed that I prefer to listen to music in one of the following formats: no surround (just the two mains), prologic, 3-ch stereo. Does the 5ch stereo suck just because there isn't enough power?? I've also noticed that in all formats except the above 3, the sub doesn't put out as much as I'd like. THat's why I use the above three formats.
DD 5.1 & DTS already sound just grand.
If anyone has advice or information for me..please feel free to share!! I'd appreciate amp recommendations as well (please include appx. price!). My current budget would be ~$500, but of course I can save up and get something better within a half year or so.
Thanks for your time!

 

[Benny G]

Surely someone must know a bit about amps and be willing to offer a sentence or two.

 

[Jeffrey_Jones]

Hello,
Given your price range I would recommend that you focus on a nicer two channel amp to handle your main speakers and let your receiver power the center and rears for now. I doubt that buying a $500 dollar five channel amp is going to give you much of a sound quality improvement. You can always get another multi-channel amp for your other speakers later.
I really like Rotel amps but there are so many brands that it's hard to make a recommendation without knowing more about your preferences. I would search this site for recomendations and then check the classifieds/used ads for a really good deal on a high quality two channel amp. The technology doesn't change that much so good deals are fairly easy to come by.
Thanks,
Jeff
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[Brandon B]

Jeff is right. Unless you find some ridiculous used deal, $500 is not going to get you a worthwhile 5Ch amp.
For recommendations on 2 ch, you might check out Nohr Le amps. Their monoblocks are $500 per pair.
BB

 

[Brian Fellmeth]

I have nothing to add, just wanted to pile on and state that the two posts above are excellent advice. The nOrh units are great BTW.

 

[Michael Yung]

Benny,
The only 5-channel amp that fits your budget range and would also give you a boost in performance would be the Acurus A125x5 available at Ubid.com. With a little luck and patience you should be able to get it somewhere between $500 to $600. Mine came out to be $614 with overnight shipping. This is almost two months ago. It arrived brand new in a double packed box and it works flawlessly in my system. You can find a few reviews at AudioReview.com and also at Digital Theater forum. If you do a search on Acurus in all forums in the past year there are a lot of discussions about Acurus equipments. If you still want more information, go directly to the source. Acurus is manufactured by Mondial which is now part of Klipsch. Go to it's website and find the forum which has a thread on Acurus.
I am also using an H/K AVR310 as the pre/pro for the Acurus for the time being. When I first got the Acurus, I didn’t have enough interconnect cables so I was only using the front L/R channels and leaving the center and surround duties to the AVR310. From what I observed, the Acurus overpowered the AVR310 to the point where it wasn’t enjoyable for me to watch movies. I had to turn the center channel all the way up just to be able to hear the dialogs. Whenever the front channels kicks in, the sound just didn’t match the center and surround channels and it was distracting. So if you decide to spend your money on a nice two-channel amp instead of a five-channel, make sure the amp works well with the AVR.
My experience is that the AVR310 is a pretty nice receiver for H/T and reasonable for stereo music listening. But going with a nice amp should definitely still increase your enjoyment of music and H/T if you decide to go the separates route. Another area you might consider improving is your subwoofer. For music, IMHO, the Sony SA-WM40 just doesn’t cut it. So instead of spending your $500 on an amp, maybe you should consider getting a nice sub like the Hsu Research VTF-2.
Hope this helps.

 

[GordonL]

For $500, your best bet would be ebay. I've seen the Parasound HCA-855A 5 channels @ 85wpc available for $500 (New). I've also seen Adcoms go for under $500.

 

[Jay H]

FYI, there is a Paraound HCA-855a on sale at Sound City Outlet, $595 but it should be more trustworthy than buying from Ebay.
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I just happen to be looking for 3-channel amps and was checking Sound City out...
Jay

 

[Mike Witt]

Check out this ubid auction that is about to close for the Parasound:
http://www.ubid.com/actn/opn/getpage...tionId=6135112

 

[Matthew Anderson]

If you are able to save up for a little while I would definitely consider the Outlaw 750 5chan amp which is an outstanding value not to metion a fantastic amp. I got a B stock one last year and it has been so nice-what difference I have heard compared to my receiver which is now being used as a preamp.