Yamaha HTR-5960 enough to push Ascends+SVS??? (1 Viewer)

[steveKlein]

Hey guys. I'm about to dump a couple thousand on some audio equipment and am looking at getting Ascend 340SE's on the fronts/center, with Ascend HTM-200s in the back... along with a SVS PB-12 NSD (or possibly an Hsu VTF-3 MKII) sub.

Will the receiver have enough power to pump the whole system?

I've never owned a dedicated amplifier before... so I wouldn't even know where to begin to shop for one or anything. I'd like to avoid it if possible, but if the receiver isn't enough, then I may have to.

Or should I just look at getting a better receiver?

 

[John Garcia]

No, it isn't enough. It will work, but I'd say it would be pushing it a bit. Those speakers will really shine with plenty of power. It does have preamp outputs, so you can add an external amp. Doing this would mean you could upgrade the receiver later and keep the amp.

Just a note - the Yamahas are relatively revealing, as are the Ascends, which may result in a brighter overall presentation.

 

[Tom Donaghue]

I wouldn't necessarily say it isn't enough without knowing the size of the listening environment, but the Ascends can pretty much take whatever power you want to throw at them.

Steve, couple of questions on this:
- what are the dimensions of the room you'll be running this system in?
- what are your general listening habits (movies to music ratio)?

The Ascends are fairly sensitive, so it shouldn't take much to power them and either of those subs are more than capable in a mid to mid-large sized room (~2,000-2,800 cu. ft.) and won't draw any power from the receiver. As John mentioned, more power would make the Ascends shine, they have quite a bit of handling power, but before you even consider using external amplification, the answers to the questions above may prove it would be overkill in your setup... -TD

 

[John Garcia]

I was guessing at the typical size room, and I think we discussed his room size in another thread, and it is relatively large IIRC.

 

[Tom Donaghue]

If that's the case, it may not be enough to power that setup. According to one of Steve's previous posts, it's less than 2,000 cu.ft., which is a medium sized room. I would still recommend seeing how this receiver fares by itself instead of allocating more money for a receiver w/a more robust amp section.

If it doesn't quite fit the bill, an external 2, 3 or 5 channel amp is an easy add-on and from a price for performance standpoint, the 5960 and an external amp would a very good solution. If you did decide to go this route, Steve, hooking up an external amplifier to a pre/pro or using a receiver as a pre/pro is quite simple... -TD

 

[John Garcia]

I agree, no need to go off buying an amp until you've tried it out for sure, but you can start looking for used amps now anyway I'd like to see them with more power, but like I said, it will work - though it also depends on what you consider "loud"

 

[steveKlein]

90% movies, 10% music.
dimensions of room = ~17x11 10' ceilings, room opens to a 11x19 kitchen/dining area, also with 10' ceilings.

here's another question. could i use my current receiver as an amp? it is the receiver that came with the Kenwood HTiB 504 in 2001. 100 watts x5 channels. could i at least power say my rear speakers somehow using this? that might take enough load off the yamaha receiver for it to work better?

oh... and i'm also now considering the Onkyo TX-SR703. how do you guys think that stacks up compared to the yamaha i mentioned?

 

[Tom Donaghue]

Those dimensions generally define your listening area as a small to mid-sized room, leaning towards mid-sized w/the opening. The Yamaha excels in movie/live entertainment (sports, concerts, etc.) reproduction. This is not to say it doesn't sound good with music, just that it does that much better with movies/TV. The 703 is a good receiver in this price range as well and stacks up pretty good, however I think in your situation, you'll get more out of the Yamaha than the Onkyo.

You'd only want to use external amplification in the event that the receiver, after calibration and performing listening tests, was straining to reproduce the level and clarity you desire. I don't think it would be possible to use the Kenwood in this capacity, but I can almost guarantee you the amps on the Yamaha would be better, anyway.

If you did want to add amplification, a simple and relatively inexpensive solution would be to integrate a two channel 100 watt amplifier that would run anywhere from $150-$300. This would ease the load on the Yamaha's amp section by freeing up the L/R channels on the Yamaha and putting the load on the dedicated amplifier, open up the sound on your mains providing you w/a bit more headroom and allow you to play at louder levels with less distortion.

If you wanted to go bananas and implement a 3, 5 or 7 channel amp, this will provide you with much more power to work with for your center, surrounds and surround backs, but it obviously would come with a price. However, if the listening levels w/just the receiver are more than enough from an output level and clean signal perspective, putting more money into an external amplifier for power you're not going to use may be pointless... -TD