Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions 7 Channel Amps

A comment was made on a different thread on this board about not running your receiver/ amplifier without a load (speaker). It is my strong opinion that any "good" audio amplifier should be designed with both short circuit and open circuit protection just as a matter of fact. Operation without a load (speaker) should cause no problem, period. Of course, we all know that there are well designed receivers/ amplifiers and then there are others that are not so well designed. So, maybe, the comment errs on the side of safety.

Anyhow, it made me wonder what you folks with 7 channel receivers/ amplifiers do with the unused channels if you are only using 5 speakers???

1. Has anyone tried to turn off the 2 unused channels? Can you even do it?

2. Has anyone tried to terminate the output in some sort of load?

3. For those of you who eventually went to 7 speakers, did the two unused channels work when you hooked up the speakers?

What say the tribe?

On my speaker setup, I have the back surrounds set to none. I assume this works for speaker connections and preouts. On the monos, if a speaker is off, the amp goes to standby. Also load conditions must not be a problem because the amps are set to music on and the stay on for 10-15 minutes after I power down the receiver.

On my HK 7200 I have the option of using the second set of rear speaker inputs as part of the 7.1 system or to power a set of speakers in a separate room. Just have to make a change in the menu.
I'm running a 5.1 set-up. The receiver doesn't sense any speaker connections for the extra rears and sends no signal. There is a graphic on the front of the receiver which shows which channels are running. The speaker icons blink when switching between sound formats (DD5.1 to DTS) because there is no signal for a second.

Unless I move to a larger room, those second inputs will not be used. But I like having that option.

Here's one BIG difference between tube and solid state amps. You CAN'T run a tube amp without a load ... for more than a few seconds. Power tubes will 'run away' stuff will fry.

Thanks 2x6. That's one thing I make sure to do if I'm switching speakers between amps. Don't want to burn anything up.

2X6: I still maintain that ANY audio amplifier that doesn't have open circuit/ short circuit protection is poorly designed. Doesn't matter if it is tube or solid state.

For the price that some tube manufacturers are charging you ought to be able to run them all day, shorted, open or at rated load.

Just one man's strong opinion.

Anyone here bought the new Denon 4806 yet?????

Anyone here bought any new amplifier lately??

Bug excepted.

LOL!!

There are many tube amp circuit designs. I don't know about OTL amps though I hear they sound terrific, but the tube amps I've had all require a load to avoid trouble.

I think sound quality should be the overriding design goal of a tube amp. I've had tube amps for years and have never come close to driving one without speakers on line. I guess once you know not to it's simple. I'd agree that solid state amps should be idiot proof given the mass market target.

In reply to:

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Anyone here bought any new amplifier lately??

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I don't know if this counts, seeing how this is a 7 channel amp thread, but I've been running an Odyssey Audio Khartago amp to power the main channels in my HT set-up. I've had it for about three weeks now. Still going through the manufacturer's recommended "break-in" period. Ran it for two channels the other day. I'll give it another spin tomorrow with some CDs.