AVR v. Preamp

[Pycroft]

Question for you all that know higher end gear. I recently purchased a Parasound Amp and Preamp. I bought them together, but really only thought I needed the Amp. The gear is : Parasound HCA 806 amp and Parasound P/SP 1500 THX preamp. Here is my current gear:

AVR: HK AVR 354
Speakers: Center: Polk Audio CS400, Fronts: RTA 11TL's, Surrounds: Monitor 30's, Sub: Def. Tech Prosub800.
Amp: Parasound (See Above).

The question is, how could/should I use the preamp? Is a preamp, within a home theatre setup, take the place of an AVR, or is it used with the AVR somehow? I was told that this pre would outdo the AVR because its only function is sound, whereas an AVR is an amp, pre, and tuner. If this is true, it doesn't do HDMI, or decode the latest codecs. Would it really sound better? If I shouldn't, how else could I use this? I currently have a decent 2 channel setup with a B&K amp, Polk Audio Monitor 7c's, adn a Technics Preamp. Could I use it in this setup instead of the technics? It's a 5 channel pre (I believe), so not sure if it's strictly for HT use. Thanks,

Pycroft

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by Pycroft

Question for you all that know higher end gear. I recently purchased a Parasound Amp and Preamp. I bought them together, but really only thought I needed the Amp. The gear is : Parasound HCA 806 amp and Parasound P/SP 1500 THX preamp. Here is my current gear:

AVR: HK AVR 354
Speakers: Center: Polk Audio CS400, Fronts: RTA 11TL's, Surrounds: Monitor 30's, Sub: Def. Tech Prosub800.
Amp: Parasound (See Above).

The question is, how could/should I use the preamp? Is a preamp, within a home theatre setup, take the place of an AVR, or is it used with the AVR somehow? I was told that this pre would outdo the AVR because its only function is sound, whereas an AVR is an amp, pre, and tuner. If this is true, it doesn't do HDMI, or decode the latest codecs. Would it really sound better? If I shouldn't, how else could I use this? I currently have a decent 2 channel setup with a B&K amp, Polk Audio Monitor 7c's, adn a Technics Preamp. Could I use it in this setup instead of the technics? It's a 5 channel pre (I believe), so not sure if it's strictly for HT use. Thanks,

Pycroft

the main difference between the avr & the preamp is the source that the speakers are driven by. with the avr you have a built in power source that powers/drives the speakers & you are limited to that source whatever it may be rated at. with the preamp there is no source to drive the speakers only output signals for an external source, an amp. the advantage there is you can have whatever amount of power on the other side of the pre-amp you want/need and or can afford!

if you have an avr with pre-outs then you can use them to send a signal out to a power amp and drive your speakers off of that and not use the built in power source provided by the avr.

if your looking to drive those polks then, connect all your devices to the pre-amp, then connect your amp(s) to the pre-amp via pre-outs using interconnects then connect your speakers to the amp(s), calibrate it to suit your room and taste then your in business.

i am almost completely in seperates with my system, i'm using my receivers pre-outs to drive my amp which drives my speakers. soon i am going to get a dedicated pre-amp and then i'm set. your polks will thank you for the raw true power of the amp over the avr!

hope this helps, keep us posted and slap some pictures up in a gallery so we can see what your working with.

[Pycroft]

I have both an AVR with preouts, and the preamp. I currently have the Parasound powering the front 3 speakers (fronts at 80WPC, Center bridged at 180 I believe). I wasn't sure if that was a better setup than using the preamp instead of the AVR. Basically, which is better?

[lokir1]

Originally Posted by Pycroft

I have both an AVR with preouts, and the preamp. I currently have the Parasound powering the front 3 speakers (fronts at 80WPC, Center bridged at 180 I believe). I wasn't sure if that was a better setup than using the preamp instead of the AVR. Basically, which is better?

ive wonderd bout this as well as im bout to move up into an emotiva xpa 3 to power my front soundstage and let my avr power my surrounds but i too wondered if there was any advantage to using a pre with an avr. I was told no just and amp with the avr the pre amp is basically ur avr without an internal amp n this is mainly used to piece together a system w/o an avr like connect you sat box sacd cd tuner game system to the pre then pre to amp amp to speakers but since i have an avr its not necessary n no advantages would to using a pre jus a seperate dedicated amp is all thats necessary any opinions or views on this?

[solarrdadd]

right now i have 5 of my 7 channels being powered by my XPA-5 amp via preouts from my 805. my two surround back channels are being powered by my 805. there are three reasons i am going to a preamp.

i want to upgrade to the latest feature set and options that my 805 doesn't have.

i want to use XLR connectors to my XPA-5 and my 805 doesn't support it.

i don't like that i am always having my receiver's powersupply on doing nothing unless i'm using 7.1, i'm just wasting electricity (of course the power company is fine with that) with a preamp and a two channel amp for the 2 surround back channels, i can turn off the 2 channel amp if i'm only going 7.1. i'll also save on my electric bill too.

other than that functionality wise, my current setup works fine.

hope that helps and keep us posted!

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by lokir1

ive wonderd bout this as well as im bout to move up into an emotiva xpa 3 to power my front soundstage and let my avr power my surrounds but i too wondered if there was any advantage to using a pre with an avr. I was told no just and amp with the avr the pre amp is basically ur avr without an internal amp n this is mainly used to piece together a system w/o an avr like connect you sat box sacd cd tuner game system to the pre then pre to amp amp to speakers but since i have an avr its not necessary n no advantages would to using a pre jus a seperate dedicated amp is all thats necessary any opinions or views on this?

no, if your avr has pre-outs use them or move completly to an avr, you don't need to have both it will take up space, cost you money and electric bill will be higher.

imo, use either or, but, not both.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

right now i have 5 of my 7 channels being powered by my XPA-5 amp via preouts from my 805. my two surround back channels are being powered by my 805. there are three reasons i am going to a preamp.

i want to upgrade to the latest feature set and options that my 805 doesn't have.

i want to use XLR connectors to my XPA-5 and my 805 doesn't support it.

RCA to XLR cables is the next best thing. That is what I do on my 6-channel Cinepro amplifier. I have 6 RCA-to-XLR cables going from the Denon receiver to the back of the Cinepro. The cables from Monoprice are excellent.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/se...+Male&x=26&y=8

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

RCA to XLR cables is the next best thing. That is what I do on my 6-channel Cinepro amplifier. I have 6 RCA-to-XLR cables going from the Denon receiver to the back of the Cinepro. The cables from Monoprice are excellent.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/se...+Male&x=26&y=8

i purchased my XLR cables from monoprice BD, i'm gonna get (by the end of the first quarter of 2010) the Onkyo PR-SC5507P pre-amp and it has 9.2 XLR outs so, the XLR's out to my XPA-5 are covered, i will be using two RCA's out to my soon to have (next two weeks) UPA-2 for my surround back two channels.
I really like the XLR's from monoprice as they offer the largest conductor size i've seen yet on those cables, they use 16awg, most places only offer 24 or 22awg. I'll have the cables next week. just getting everything in place for my pre-pro!

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

[Beerserker]

Originally Posted by Pycroft

The question is, how could/should I use the preamp? Is a preamp, within a home theatre setup, take the place of an AVR, or is it used with the AVR somehow? I was told that this pre would outdo the AVR because its only function is sound, whereas an AVR is an amp, pre, and tuner. If this is true, it doesn't do HDMI, or decode the latest codecs. Would it really sound better? If I shouldn't, how else could I use this? I currently have a decent 2 channel setup with a B&K amp, Polk Audio Monitor 7c's, adn a Technics Preamp. Could I use it in this setup instead of the technics? It's a 5 channel pre (I believe), so not sure if it's strictly for HT use. Thanks,

Pycroft

I just posted some thoughts on this in another thread. Copy/Paste

"...I agree with my comrades above in that a pre/pro system is the ultimate setup for audio. Sometimes I wonder though if the processors are really worth the extra money compared to using an AVR as the Processor. AVR's typically are on the forefront in the features department and usually for substantially less money.

When I bought my Dennon 3808ci I was looking at receivers and preamps that offered the new Audyssy MultiEQ XT. Few Preamps even offered it, and the ones that did were twice the money.

The AVR's do offer the things that really matter, and if there is one thing that is their weakness it is the power stage. Hence, using an AVR as processor and external amps as power.

I think you start to pay alot of money for a little improvement with the processors. Then again flux capacitors and DAC's blessed by the tears of a virgin Elf don't come cheap these days."

In your case I'd continue using the HK for theater to get the HD audio, unless your Blu-ray player also decodes lossless. It's up to you what to do with the the Parasound. I'm sure it's a good unit just no lossless decoding.

[DiverSpear]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

right now i have 5 of my 7 channels being powered by my XPA-5 amp via preouts from my 805. my two surround back channels are being powered by my 805. there are three reasons i am going to a preamp.

i want to upgrade to the latest feature set and options that my 805 doesn't have.

i want to use XLR connectors to my XPA-5 and my 805 doesn't support it.

i don't like that i am always having my receiver's powersupply on doing nothing unless i'm using 7.1, i'm just wasting electricity (of course the power company is fine with that) with a preamp and a two channel amp for the 2 surround back channels, i can turn off the 2 channel amp if i'm only going 7.1. i'll also save on my electric bill too.

other than that functionality wise, my current setup works fine.

hope that helps and keep us posted!

SD just curious, have you amped out that ckt. I did with my setup and was surprised. Granted with the AVR working as an amp I was pulling 13A, with it working as a pre-amp it was around 3A. Curious as to what a dedicated pre-amp pulls.