I need help sorting out watts with my 7.1 reciever and a 7 channel amplifier?

Question

OK, I have a 7.1 receiver that puts out 155 watts per channel and i want to juice that up a bit. if i get a 7 channel amplifier that puts out 160 watts and use it with the 7.1 receiver, will the 160 watts from the amplifier add onto the 155 watts of the 7.1 receiver and give me 315 watts per channel?

Answer 1

No.

First - you feed the external amp with line-level outputs. This means your receiver must have RCA output jacks for all the speakers to feed the external amp.

The internal amp on your receiver is un-used if you do this.

Second - On average your receiver pumps only 8-10 watts per channel.  When the sound swells it must put out many times that amount, but only for a short time.

A 155 watt per channel is either already a very powerful receiver, or the numbers are inflated.

Many flagship receivers selling for $3,000 only put out about 100 - 120 watts per channel.

And frankly - a music system tries to blow eardrums out from the other room. But a HT system surrounds 1-3 chairs with an array of speakers. Lots of power is not usually needed or desired.

What DOES impress is a powerful subwoofer.  If you dont already have a good sub, consider this as your first upgrade.

Answer 2

It doesn't work like that, beside finding a cheap 7 channels amplifier is hard enough you would be better finding a more powerful receiver, anyway what type of speakers do you have that you need so much power ?