Can i connect AV RECIVERS with POWER AMP ?

Question

Can i connect AV RECIVERS with POWER AMP ?

Answer 1

Yes on most receivers you can use them as a pre amp and connect to a power amp. But how and what are dependent on what receiver and power amp you are thinking of.

Answer 2

Most mid range and higher end receivers have connections on the back labeled "Preouts" and each connection will have small lettering stating what speaker the preout runs.  Say you buy an outboard two channel amp to run your main speakers.  Hook up a set of RCA cables to the preouts that say FL (Front Left) and FR (Front Right).  Anyway run those cables from the preouts to the amplifiers RCA pre-ins (they will just say Left and Right) So FL to Left and FR to Right.  Now when you turn on the receiver and the amp, the amp is now pushing (or driving) the audio signal and not your receivers internal amp.  By doing this, you are now allowing the receivers internal amp to now have more power to the Center and rear channels, because the receivers internal amp doesn't have to worry about also running the main speakers.

Now make sure your outboard amp is at least what your receivers rated wattage output is (higher is better).  So if your receiver is rated at 100 watts per channel, you really want an outboard amp that is at minimum 100 watts per channel.  Going higher is better, but realize that doubling the power only gains you 3 db more in sound.  Having more power is always better than not having enough power which can destroy your speakers.

I have three stereo amps hooked up to my Onkyo 805 in my main HT system and one five channel amp hooked up to my Denon 3808 receiver in my master bedroom HT system.  I get more headroom, better clarity and knowing I am not pushing the reciever to it's maximum by adding outboard amps.

When you add more speakers to a reciever, it actually decreases the wattage ratings for a reciever.  For example your reciever may be rated at 100 watts per channel, but that could be with two speakers driven (which means two speakers hooked up.)  Now say you go with a 5.1 setup, your reciever is now only pushing say 50 watts per speaker, because that recievers amp doesnt have enough power to give 100 watts out to five speakers at the same time.

Most outboard amps are designed to give what they are rated at, so if you get a five channel amp rated at 200 watts per channel, more than likely the amp will deliver that amount per channel.

If you are running high effeciency speakers, then you may not need to worry about getting an outboard amp, say a speaker rated at 92db per one watt of power is easier to drive than a speaker rated at 84db per one watt.  Lower effeciency speakers always benefit from using an outboard amp, because they now have adequate power to run them.

Hope I didn't confuse you.

Answer 3

Yes, as long your using the low outputs on the receiver connected to the power amps low power in. This is usually done with a pair of RCA cables.