Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Axiom 8 Channel amp or multiple 2 channel amps

There shouldn't be that much difference between those two receiver. I'd say the largest difference would be in the rooms. The room has a bigger effect than the receiver, and even the speakers. You could try the Denon in your father's room.

Aspicer1

You will find two types of people. Those that believe all amplifiers sound the same, and those that don't. I have done some limited testing and tend to believe that they pretty much, at least to my ears, all sound the same.

But regardless whether you hear a difference or not, you need to understand the concept of headroom. Headroom is the reserve that you amplifier needs during peak volumes. If you don’t have enough headroom you could drive your amplifier to clipping, and that could damage your speakers. So depending on the sensitivity of your speakers, the SPL level or volume you listen, and the size of your room, will determine how much power you need to prevent your amplifier into clipping. I am sure there is a formula out there somewhere for this.

A receiver can only be architected to be only so powerful. That is because it is using one transformer for not only the amplifier section, but for the pre / processor section also. There are design limits to doing all of this in one box.

The good news is the Axiom speaker’s sensitivity is pretty good compared to other manufactures. Which means you need less power to drive them? This is why so many people here are happy with their Denon receivers. Also remember that you need more power to drive lower frequencies than higher frequencies. So if you have floor standing speakers and want to use the full range of them, (setting your speakers to Large in the processor) you will need more power. That is why subwoofers, good ones at least, all have huge amplifiers in them.

I have separates because I needed more power in my large room than a standard receiver could deliver.

Remember, under powered amplifiers damage speakers, and you can always use more headroom!

Hope that helps.

paul

His room is different so you can't compare, the room is the second most important part of the equation.

Watts = volume, the more watts the louder you can play. Clarity comes mostly from the speakers and their postion and the room affects how these speakers are going to sound and lastly the electronics can have a certain amount of influence on the overall sound.

Forgot to add that yes there is a HUGE improvement moving up to his sub.

Keep in mind a lot of the guys on the forum using an external amp are using the M80's (such as Micah), which is a harder to drive speaker than the M60, or any other speaker in Axiom's line, really. Guys like grunt and I am sure a few others are running M80's with only the receiver (albeit a nice one) without a problem. Grunt was saying it took about 90 minutes of 100 dB listening to shut his receiver down. Heck, he runs three of them a lot of the time.

In terms of sound quality, I agree with the others, is the perhaps 10% better sound worth the money?

I think it is hard to quantify the amount of better(I use the word loosely) sound. I could easily tell there was punchier, more pronounced(?) bass at any sound level , well any that was worth listening to and the highs were also that much crsiper, airy, (insert your own favorite audiophile word here). Was it a 10, 20, 30% increase in sound quality? I don't know. Is it worth the added expense for the A1400? To me it is. Can I afford the A1400? No . Am I going to feel I am lacking anything when I finally get into the new house and fire up the M80s, 3808 and the rest of the system, not really. The system still plays incredibly detailed and low and I feel I would have to spend BIG bucks to improve upon it significantly for me to justify the expense.

As I have said I am looking for that outboard amp but it has to WOW me like the A1400 did and I am not so sure the cheaper ones will.

Great stuff guys! I think that the room really must be the difference. My room is 18x18x8. His room is 24x16x10. Perhaps I should focus more on speaker placement than power. Im thinking of going to a 9.2 also so perhaps rather than spending the money on an amp i can spend it on a reciever and add another sub. Forgive me for this question. Are the other 2 speakers (7 to 9) additional surrounds or other?

Aaron, unless your 3806 doesn't put out enough power to drive your speakers to a safe volume level at your listening position(highly unlikely)there's no good reason to spend more money on yet more maximum power capacity. More isn't better if more isn't used, and unused headroom is simply that: unused.

As to a possible 9.2 setup, the additional two speakers would most likely be best used as "height" speakers situated several feet directly above the mains and which would be fed(if the receiver has the processing capability)with sound extracted from other channels which is considered to be heard best from an upward angle.

Aaron, just enjoy your equipment you have, then later if you think you need more power you can look at other options. My room is 31 x 30 x 9 and my 3808 gives me all the volume I need.

And this from a guy who had seperate amps and sold them.

My room is 35 x 35 x 9, and my 4802 gave me all the volume I 'needed', but I like going beyond what I need occasionally. I would say your Denon takes you 95% of the way to audio zen, and external amplification squeezes out the last 5%. I totally understand why most people don't feel inclined to pay so much to extract that last 5% out of their system. But it's also my belief that once you do experience that last 5% of performance, it changes your outlook on the equation as a whole. It's not 100%, but a very good percentage of those who take the plunge never look back.

But honestly, external amplification is like icing on the cake, at best it's the very last step you want to take. Once you have everything else dialed in, then add more power if you still want it. Outboard amps aren't a cure-all by any stretch of the imagination. If you're having issues with your system more power isn't going to fix anything. If you think it through logically, more amplification is only going to take whatever audible problems you might be having, and amplify them... right? So don't think of separate amps as a solution, think of them as taking a well sorted system to another (volume) level.