please help!!! (1 Viewer)

[biggish]

Hi everyone a little help or advice would be great my home theater has become my obbsesion i wold like to increase the sound the receiver im running is kenwood vr-4090 great product ijust want more power my Question is do i need to get a pre amp a power amp or a surrond amp i did come a cross a kenwood km897 power amp but have not hooked it up i dont want alot of componets as im limited to space right know so the wife says!! any advice would be great and price wise i dont want to spend alot of money a few hundred mabey thanks again

kenwood vr4090,
kenwood cd403,
toshiba dr4 multidrive dvd recorder,
sony 52" big screen
soundstage speakers
home made pioneer 12" powered sub

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Some people get a receiver , others get a preamp with a multichannel amp. Typically, (with exceptions) receivers are compromises. The fit everything in one chassis, and to meet a price point they skimp on the power supplies and amplifiers. Going with a two piece set up (seperates) is more expensive than a receiver, but usually gets you better performance. One of the best bang for the buck seperates combo is by outlaw audio: http://www.outlawaudio.com/ As to the extra AMP, I don't understand why you would use it. Your receiver does 120wpc, and the 2 channel kenwood amp is a 100wpc. You would be losing 20wpc.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Hi Biggish. Welcome to HTF!

Adam is correct: your receiver is already a power-house for HT. While separate amps DO give a bit better sound for music, they really dont make a difference in a dialog-heavy movie system.

To be honest: it's not usually the L/C/R.. speakers that need tons of power. But the subwoofer is a different story. This is what makes a powerful-sounding HT system.

Try this: tell the receiver all your speakers are "small". This will keep the receiver from trying to waste power sending low-frequency sounds to 5 poorly-placed surround speakers. ('poorly-placed' for low-frequency sounds that is. )

Corner load the sub. Put it in the corner of the 2 longest, un-broken walls in your room to get the maximum wall-reflection. Then level-adjust the speakers with a SPL meter and Avia or Digital Video Essentials.

Leave the system this way for 1-2 weeks. If you still feel the system is under-powered, it might be time to get a second subwoofer.

Hope this helps.

 

[biggish]

Thanks for the advice i will try that and see how it goes thanks again