Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Receiver problem

Hi,

I have a Sony STR-DG910 Receiver that I use to power my M80 speakers. My problem is that I need more power from my receiver. I was considering using a separate amplifier that would use the pre amp from the Sony. The problem is that the Sony does not have pre amp out connectors. Can I use the speaker outputs and put RCA connectors on the end of the speaker wires for the inputs to the amplifier? Will the quality of sound be OK? What brand of amplifiers would you recommended for a requirement of 200 watts rms per channel into 4 ohms? The amplifier needs to be 7.1.

Unfortunately I think your best bet would be a more capable receiver. One of the recommended brands for the M80s like Denon, HK, Sherwood, Rotel.

Do not try to run an amplifier from the speaker outputs of your receiver; the power output is far too high and will most likely destroy the input stage of the amp. The input stage of the amp needs a signal with just a few volts, the output from the receiver probably exceeds that 10 fold or more.

There are speaker level too line level converters you might consider if replacing the receiver is not an option.
http://www.hometech.com/audio/spline.html

Regards

As Rick said, go for a more capable receiver or seperates. There was a link kicking around for an amp that was able to take high level inputs(speaker output from a receiver) and amplify it for more power...hmmmm, where is it?

Anyway the best idea would be to get a new 7.1 capable receiver from Onkyo, Denon, H/K, NAD, Axiom sells Sherwood Newcastle because they will drive the M80s as well.

Many of us on the forum have been able to find deals for Denon's 3808. If you are in the States, you can get the 3808 from 6ave.com for $1099. You have to call them and request the AVSforums member special price to purchase it for this amount.

If you want to go the seperates route, Outlaw Audio, Emotiva are a couple of ID companies that sell good products for a reasonable price.

I would seriously recommend not pushing your Sony too much with the 80’s. Sony receivers tend to get very over heated if not specifically designed to run a 4 Ohm load. Don’t kill your equipment!!

I have been running my 80's for over six months now and had not had any probs with overheating on the Sony. I have pushed the Sony very hard over this time and it seems fine.
I live in Australia and receivers are pretty expensive here and buying one from US would probably mean that I won't be able to use the tuner as the broadcast frequency range I assume is different. This means I wouldn't be able to pick up any radio stations with the inbuilt tuner.
Has anyone tried the speaker level to line level converters? Are they likely to produce a lower quality signal?
What if I used the heaphone jack as a pre amp out signal. The only thing is I don't know if plugging in a head phone plug may cut of all speaker outputs.

Has anyone heard of E&W Power amplifiers. I found one on ebay that is rated for 1000 watts per channel into 4 ohms.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/E-W-PS2000-POWER-...%3A1|240%3A1318

Is this type of amp suitable for home theatre?

Grant,

You can't use your speaker connections on your Sony to the Line In on an amplifier. You would be better getting a different receiver. Never heard of E&W, sorry.

Why do you think you need more power? At 100watts per channel the Sony should play to very loud levels, the 80's require very little power to play very loud.

How loud do you listen and how big is your room?

The E&W here looks like like a pro amp. Something used on stage or in a recording studio. It would work in an HT setting, but it doesn't look like it has RCA connections, so you would have to stick with XLR connections. You would then have to make sure your pre/pro had XLR, this could get expensive. It also looks like it has 2 big fans for cooling, which would mean it proably is pretty noisey. If it were me, I'd stay away from it for HT applications.



paul

I’m not sure but the headphone output might be the sum of all 5/7 channels, not a good thing in considering what you want to try.
As for your question about the headphone jack turning the mains off, if you have headphones, plug them in and see what happens.

Regards