Help! Amplifier Noob needs help!

SunDragonYoga

Member
Apr 24, 2019
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Hello everyone! I am an old man that loves his simple set up for his home theater - Rotel RSX 1057 receiver, B&W CM1 L and R channel, B&W Center channel CM5 and an Outlaw 12 inch floor firing sub. I am thinking of upgrading to a standalone amplifier. 95% of the time this is used for home theater. I am not looking to add more speakers, surround doesn’t seem to work for my ears, it just sounds weird to me. What would be the best marriage for the Rotel? I am John Snow. I know nothing.
 

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Bodhi

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2014
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Welcome to the forum John. I've been looking into this myself lately. From your post, I gather you're looking for a 3-channel amp to drive your front & centre channels? You didn't mention budget, but as a good value proposition, I like the Hegel C53 3-channel amp. It is a class a/b amp with 150 watts/channel, a very high damping factor of 2000 & is rack-mountable. High damping factor basically has the effect of lowering the output impedance of the amp and improving the control/grip of the loudspeakers. Price is around $6kUS & Hegel custom-specify the amp to your needs. You can also order the amp with 4 or 5 channels as required.
 
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NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
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Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Something's wrong with your Rotel?

95% of the time you use it for home theater...in a 3.1-channel setup (you have a powered subwoofer). Me I think that you don't need an external amplifier, not with bookshelf speakers & sub.
But, we only have a certain number of days to live on planet Earth ... :)
https://emotiva.com/products/xpa-3-gen3

You truly don't need it (I checked the Rotel and B&W measurements).
 

SunDragonYoga

Member
Apr 24, 2019
3
1
8
47
Welcome to the forum John. I've been looking into this myself lately. From your post, I gather you're looking for a 3-channel amp to drive your front & centre channels? You didn't mention budget, but as a good value proposition, I like the Hegel C53 3-channel amp. It is a class a/b amp with 150 watts/channel, a very high damping factor of 2000 & is rack-mountable. High damping factor basically has the effect of lowering the output impedance of the amp and improving the control/grip of the loudspeakers. Price is around $6kUS & Hegel custom-specify the amp to your needs. You can also order the amp with 4 or 5 channels as required.
Welcome to the forum John. I've been looking into this myself lately. From your post, I gather you're looking for a 3-channel amp to drive your front & centre channels? You didn't mention budget, but as a good value proposition, I like the Hegel C53 3-channel amp. It is a class a/b amp with 150 watts/channel, a very high damping factor of 2000 & is rack-mountable. High damping factor basically has the effect of lowering the output impedance of the amp and improving the control/grip of the loudspeakers. Price is around $6kUS & Hegel custom-specify the amp to your needs. You can also order the amp with 4 or 5 channels as required.
Thanks for your response, Bodhi! I greatly appreciate it. I have been looking into Emotiva XPA DR3, it comes in at $2k which fits my budget and is in line with the specs that you mentioned.
 
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SunDragonYoga

Member
Apr 24, 2019
3
1
8
47
Something's wrong with your Rotel?

95% of the time you use it for home theater...in a 3.1-channel setup (you have a powered subwoofer). Me I think that you don't need an external amplifier, not with bookshelf speakers & sub.
But, we only have a certain number of days to live on planet Earth ... :)
https://emotiva.com/products/xpa-3-gen3

You truly don't need it (I checked the Rotel and B&W measurements).
NorthStar, thanks for responding and taking the time to check things out. There really is nothing wrong with my Rotel, I actually love the thing. I just was thinking that it may improve it if it were pushed by a stand alone amp. I have been looking at Emotiva, thanks for that, I appreciate it.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
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Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
I think it would be fun also to add only two more speakers, surrounds. ...For an overall 5.1 system.
...Slightly to the sides rear...@ 110°. Your Rotel has extra amps to power them, and they can be smaller bookshelf speakers or on stands or roughly a foot above your ears on the side walls.
...Depending of your room's architecture.

With 95% of the time dedicated to home theater why not. It's a minimal investment in your case, and you might have already two extra speakers and enough speaker wires too. Then it's no cost to have fun experimenting, regardless of age.

Plus there are multichannel music recordings (5.1 surround) that are fun (Classical, and other genres). They are on Blu-ray music video concerts, SACD hybrid multichannel surround.
 

Empirical Audio

Industry Expert
Oct 12, 2017
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Great Pacific Northwest
www.empiricalaudio.com
If you want to really improve things, improve your sources by reclocking them with an iFi SPDIF iPurifier. Best $149 you will ever spend. Get it at amazon.com.

https://www.amazon.com/IFI-iPurifie...=8-1-fkmrnull-spons&psc=1&smid=A2763VQ7SN6URD

Just plug this little device into the coax inputs or toslink inputs in the back of your SS receiver and cable using coax or toslink optical to the source. The clarity of all your TV sources will be improved dramatically.

Connect this reclocker between Blu-ray player, Smart TV and cable/satellite boxes and your SS receiver. If you have enough inputs on your receiver, get three or however many sources you have. If you need new toslink cables, get this excellent inexpensive cable in the length you need, but not shorter than 3 feet:

https://btpa.com/TOSLINK-XXX.html

If you must upgrade, I highly recommend this receiver. I heard at my neighbors house with the iPurifiers and it is simply stunning:

Denon AVR-X1300W

enjoy!
Steve N.
 

Empirical Audio

Industry Expert
Oct 12, 2017
1,169
207
150
Great Pacific Northwest
www.empiricalaudio.com
Steve, they make them also for HDMI connections?
This is the first time I've seen this device.

HDMI is no good for audio. Change to Toslink and iPurifier for audio feed. You will never look back, even with the high-end SS processor. Separate video and audio for best quality.

I actually use 4 of them. I put two in series for even lower jitter and better clarity. It's actually pretty good and supports Dolby Digital and DTS. It has 10X the jitter of my Synchro-Mesh, but it only supports PCM.

Steve N.
 

Empirical Audio

Industry Expert
Oct 12, 2017
1,169
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Great Pacific Northwest
www.empiricalaudio.com
That's right, only for Blu-ray movies, streamed movies and cable feed etc..
I use a high-quality coax for my Blu-Ray. The other sources only have toslink outputs.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
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435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
The OP I believe didn't mention his source(s). ...Only that 95% is dedicated to home theater duties. He's also an old man from what he said, and 3.1 is his speaker setup...no surrounds as it sounds weird to him.

He has a nice Rotel AV receiver (RSX-1057) and some nice bookshelf B&W speakers (Left front, Center & Right front) plus an Outlaw sub.
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/rotel-rsx-1057-av-receiver

That's it. I'd like to know his movie source as it's the bulk (95%) of his listening/watching.
...And the connection he uses.

The Rotel is a 2006 model, so for movies it is Lossy multichannel 3.1 (no hi-res audio codecs supported thirteen years ago).
Then Toslink and Coaxial connections are it for Audio.
And the HDMI for video, or both.

We know not much @ all on his setup, and exactly what kind of improvement he's looking for.
Why a new amp for older ears; to turn it up louder and cleaner ... the Lossy audio transmission from what ... DVD?

If he wants to share more on his setup perhaps we can discuss in the right direction?
....What best help we can suggest. To me it is an incomplete set of information.

If I was into movies, wanting a good sound from them, I would upgrade to Blu-ray with Lossless multichannel audio...a Blu-ray player or hi-res movie server or hi-res movie streaming, a new modern receiver or pre/pro (some are only $399), perhaps a Universal 4K Blu-ray player like the Sony UBP-X800 ($199), fully loaded to play anything ultra high definition video and ultra high resolution audio.

Adding an external 3-channel power amp for $2,000 wouldn't be my first option.
Not in the situation he's in right now.

So, I think he is quite restricted in the informations he provided. It is simply incomplete.
 

Empirical Audio

Industry Expert
Oct 12, 2017
1,169
207
150
Great Pacific Northwest
www.empiricalaudio.com
The Denon AVR-X1300W is around $400 now and many used ones available for less. It will kill any 2006 technology IMO. This plus a couple of SPDIF iPurifiers for $300 and 2 toslink cables for $65 = fantastic sound quality for $765
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
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435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
I agree Steve in regards to today's newest AV receivers and SSPs.
For movies in hires audio and music too.

The 2006 Rotel is still a nice machine for DVDs and stereo music.

* The SPDIF iPutifier devices are totally new to me. And I bet they are too for the OP and many members here. Thx for bringing it up because I'm going to search further about them.
I always trust your expertise in everything's life, not just Audio.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
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435
Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
The 1057 has HDMI version 1.1
- Support for DVD Audio.



 
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