Need some suggestions:
Does anyone here know of an Atmos receiver whose internal amplification can be assigned to power 4 Atmos overhead/ceiling speakers and has pre-outs allowing for a 7 channel external amp to be connected for the lower bed of channels {7}.

thanks in advance,
Jeff

AVRX6700H?

Thanks for the suggestion, appreciate it.
Jeff

I like this one:

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/av_receivers_amps/rx-a3080_u/index.html

You guys are looking at $2k+ receivers ... in that territory I'm usually thinking prepro. Tend to look for receivers under or around $1k ... I figure receivers are a placeholder for a prepro. Plan is that new stuff goes into main HT ... the HT stuff goes to the playroom and the playroom stuff goes to the bed room ... the bedroom stuff to freinds and family or gets donated.

So, I bought a SR5014 refurb for the playroom's HT ($700 us) ...
It's last years lowest-end receiver with pre-outs from a somewhat decent company ... Marantz
Figured it would be good enough to drive the ADA1000 till I needed it down stairs. After which I may need another amp ... guess the kids can work their way though collage

Jeff needs an 11-channel receiver with pre-outs. I don't know if they get any cheaper.

How about what you suggested in a refurb ...

https://www.accessories4less.com/ma...h-x-140-watts-a/v-receiver-w/heos/1.html

Just check everything out thoroughly ...

Apparently refurbs have metal film resistors replaced with carbon.

Good find Rlev, I may end up with one of those!

I’ve bought a few things from these guys over the years. I’ve also had to send items back because I found an issue. They are pretty good about it and pay for the round trip ... but you have to discover the problem and verify it’s a real one (not just something which could be solved with a reset). So, within a few days I check every input, output and Try most of the signal paths. I do this with most audio stuff I buy because exchanging it with the store is far easier than dealing with warranty service. Especially the electronic mass production kind.

Jeff, just a tip... if you are going the Denon / Marantz route, you don't need to go all the way up to the 6700H for your use case.
The 9.2 channel models like the x3700H or x4500H have pre outs for 7.2.4, they just cant power all those channels. ( Need to have at least 2 channels on external amplification, which you do. )

Video to show how that's set up : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuFqhCHc7KY

Anthem should have a product that fits the bill.

https://www.anthemav.com/products-current/type=av-receiver/model=mrx-720/page=overview

As quickly as features change or improve with technical advances I like the idea of staying around a 1000 to 1200$ for an AVR. My 7 channel amp is 200/300 watts 8/4 ohms with all channels driven, plenty of power for 7 speakers. I imagine a 100 or so watts should be enough for Atmos ceiling speakers. I need to read more on some of this priced units to see how flexible they might be with assigning the internal amp usage.
thanks everyone,
Jeff

I’m wondering, perhaps the 2020 model, Marantz SR-6015 at $1599 might do the trick.
More reading or maybe an email to Marantz.
Jeff

Do you know where that company is out of?

The Marantz is 9 channel and you need 11.

It's not about "RMS" Watts. It's about peak Watts.

Unless I’m misreading the receivers summary it looks like it has 11.2 processing, that should satisfy the 7.2.4 for Atmos and DTS:x.

Jeff

I don't see 11.2 in the link below.

https://www.us.marantz.com/en/shop/avreceivers/sr6015

Within the “Specifications “ page lies the info on the processing capabilities, with a limit of 11.2 pre amp processing. It does only have 9 channels of internal amplification though.
Jeff

Thanks. I missed the "specs" hyperlink.

One very interesting feature about that amp is a "pre-amp only" mode. When using pre-amp outs on a receiver, the signal can get distorted because the amp section is not disconnected. This distortion becomes significant at higher volumes and of course causes the external amp to amplify garbage.

I don't know if that mode works on a per channel-basis.

It also has per sub control.

Page 64 of the SR6015 user manual. Very cool! This ought to be standard in every receiver.

I do hate that porthole display though.

Quite unfortunate it’s an all or nothing option. I agree it’s attractive and certainly makes sense. It would be very useful if the user could , such as in my case, shut off 5 of the amps leaving 4 internal amps available to be assigned to Atmos ceiling speaker duty.

Jeff

Does anyone know if Yamaha Adventage RX-A860 is all or nothing on using pre-amp?

Jeff, I totally agree. Really there is no additional significant manufacturing cost to per-channel control. Additional test cases have to be added for sure at least during dev testing but that's quite a minor non-recurring engineering cost. The other thing that is very puzzling to me is how this very important feature is buried in the document. It ought to be advertised as a key feature. I'd really love to know by the way what the difference to THD+N is with the amp off and on.

Rebulx, I did not see such a control in the RX-A860 manual when I was looking at it.

I personally would never pay the extra dough for a pre/pro unless the manufacturer can prove their numbers to me for the production unit I am buying. I will bet there isn't a single manufacturer out there who can satisfy me. I won't call out any manufacturers, but there are ones selling processors for tens of thousands of $ who don't publish any specs and for the ones that do, their specs are worthless. I damn well know how difficult the performance game is and that performance includes noise control. The other side of this of course is there are very few people who would pay for "spec perfection". It is very possible and yet so very expensive.

The masses have no clue. Even many engineers don't. This is a good write-up on audio specs that just begins to scratch the surface. Reflect!

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/Mathew-AudioPrecisionSpecifications.pdf

Mojo, Good article, great share, thanks!