Using a Reciever and Amps (1 Viewer)

[John_F]

I have a Denon 2700 with pre outs for the front (L/R/C). I've read of people using an external amp(s) to power their fronts and was thinking of going this route. I was wondering if this works "well"?

I'm sure it would sound good, but what about other considerations/usability?

Right now I have the speaker/volume levels set using the internal test tones and a Radio Shack sound meter. If I use a seperate amp(s), would the sound levels match at different sound levels? What I mean is if I have the volume display set to -20 and the levels are all matched, what if I turn the volume display to -40, would the levels still be matched? The Denon says it is rated at 75 watts, and one of the amps I am looking at says it is rated at 125 watts.

Thank for the help,
John Flegert

 

[Yogi]

Firstly you should notice an immediate improvement in sound from external amplification.

Secondly if you matched the speaker levels at a given master volume level then the outputs should be matched at any other output level on the receiver. This ofcourse assumes that the output of both, the amp and the preamp is linear. During normal operating range this assumption holds quite well. If however you are operating at extreme output levels of your preamp or amp then this assumption is no longer valid and you could have a nonlinear output, i.e. for a given db gain in preamp output you could have a different db gain from your amps output. This is however in theory and I have never seen any indication in my use or heard of anybody else verify this by measurements. So for all practical purposes this should not be an issue and you shouldn't be worried about it.

 

[DanaA]

If I hadn't joined HTF a little less than a year ago, I would have never considered adding on an external amp. After reading so many posts on how much this improved even really nice receivers, I bit when I found what I considered a good deal. The improvement in power and sound quality was immense. I used to think of my system as "nice" or "good", but, to be honest, deep down I wasn't a totally satisfied listener. It served its purpose, but didn't exactly send chills up my spine. When I got my external amp, all changed. Now, I've moved up to complete separates with a kind of low end (as things go) preamp/processor, and, once again, things got much better. I'm only trying to not think about how those people are with the really high end stuff, and, to be honest, I can do it. I really love my system now. I'd say go for it, but make sure you have available the option to return it if it doesn't wet your whistle.