Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions mono blocks

I have a denon 4802r with pre-outs. Now my plan is to start a 2-ch system with a set of mono's first. So initially i would setup in my HT and run my m60's with the amps. Is this possible or would I have to unhook the amps to watch movies and then hook them up again to listen to 2-ch music? Or can I leave them always hooked up and then my fronts would then be always powered by the amps and the rest of my speakers powered by the denon?

With monoblocks is there a separate volume control or would my receiver control all five speakers and the amps?

Sorry if these are dumb questions.

I guess I'm basically asking how mono's operate/function when hooked up to my pre-outs.

edit - Sorry I should mention that I have not chosen a brand yet but it will be a mid-higher end amp

no dumb questions...

The receiver controls the volume. You just use the pre-outs for the main L & R channels and hook the monoblocks up to that. You'll need to re-calibrate your levels, of course, but that's all there is to it. Everything else will work the same as you expect, whether it's 2-channel or full surround.

I believe the AVR will still do all the decoding/processing of the signal, the Monoblocks are just amps, so they would be powering the mains, and the AVR built in amps would be powering the rest of your setup.

My question is why do you think you need mono's?

My 2805 drives my 7.1 system with no problem at insane volume levels.

Thanks Peter, any recommendations on a company?

I did a search and saw some talk about Odyssey, maybe Bryston?

Any suggestions are appreciated

If you really think you need mono's, I would recommend http://www.outlawaudio.com . Many Axiom owners have Outlaw products, and they are a great company like Axiom that deals direct to the customer, no middle man. For the price, their mono's are second to none.

"If you really think you need mono's"


This would just be the foundation of a 2-ch (maybe 2.1) to come. I definitely don't need them for my HT.

So how long until the M100's come out?

re: outlaw

I might be missig it, but all their amps look multichannel except for the m-block m2200.

I was thinking a little bigger around 300 watts at 8 ohm

This is a real nice amp based on monoblocks in a chassis configuration. You can start with 2-channel and add channels as needed.

I have Outlaw M200 monoblocks which are the older model of Outlaw's M2200 product.

Warren, although your question mainly relates to appropriate amplifiers, there's an underlying theme which draws a comment: why would you intentionally limit yourself to using only two speakers? If you have a multiple speaker setup now you should consider making the best use of all of them, even with two-channel source material, through the excellent ambience steering available(e.g. DPLII, Logic 7, Neo:6).

Hi John,yes the underlying theme is that sometimes I prefer 2-ch music. I will definitely be keeping my multi-channel set-up.

Over time i would replace my ep-175 with probably the ep-500
and the 175 would go to the 2-ch room.

I would still need a set of speakers for the 2-ch room ( m100's?)

The reason for this is that I could (and sometimes do ) "tie" up the HT for hours listening to music. So to share/compromise I may have to have a music room.

I blame Axiom for turning me into an audio junkie

I'm starting with the amps because I have a good set of speakers (60's) to run and I can't afford to do the whole shot at once. Hopefully the g.f. is too busy watching movies to notice the cost of the 2-ch system