proceed amp2/amp3 question (1 Viewer)

[Len Cheong]

For people with similar setups, do you hook up the amp 2 to your L and R speakers and then the C, SR, SL to the amp 3

OR

L, C, R - amp 3

SR, SL - amp 2

My brother in law measured the watt/channel capacity using some equipment involving a light bulb (!) and found the amp2 to be more powerful - rated at 150 but actually measured to be nearly 200/channel at 8 ohms. This is why I was wondering how to hook them up.

 

[Phil A]

The answer may be somewhat dependent on whether you are more into HT or music. I have a HPA3 on the front three channels and a BPA2 on the rears. Proceed, somewhere on their website used to recommend for more into music, an HPA2 on the L&R and a BPA3 on the center and surrounds. The surrounds during the entirety of a movie or music piece will likely not draw as much as the center. In your case, I would use the 2-channel amp on the L&R and the 3-channel amp on the center and surrounds. They are sonically very similar and unless you have 3 identical speakers up front, I would doubt that you would be able to tell. If you do have 3 identical speakers up front you could try an experiment.

 

[Justin Doring]

For obvious reasons, I would highly recommend using the two channel amp for the mains and the three channel amp for the center and surrounds.

 

[rajiv]

I'm using an HPA-2 for the mains and a BPA-3 for the center & surrounds.

The BPA series of amps is considered a better design than the AMP-2 and AMP-3 lineup. This is becasue of filtering and fault protection. I suggest you see one and discuss this with your Madrigal dealer.

The HPA series of amps are absolutely wonderful and I kick myself for not getting the HPA-3 instead of the BPA-3. The only thing better than the HPA series are actual Mark Levinson amps.

 

[Phil A]

The amp series was also convertible from a 2-channel to a 3-channel amp for $1k. I'm actually checking to see if my BPA-2 for the rears can be upgraded to a BPA-3 if I go 6.1. I think it might be as would the HPA series.

 

[Terrell]

Well, I have two HPA3s. But if I were in your situation, I would hook the AMP2 to the left and right speaker, and the AMP3 to the center and surrounds.

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

If I remeber correctly, the amp 2 and amp 3 were monoblock amplifiers for each channel and have separate transformers and power supplies for each channel therefor it really should not make any difference.