2. home-theater
  3. 1130426046

How do I easily add surround to my 2 channel setup

Well first things first. My current system is:
iMac Lossless iTunes Music Collection >> Lossless to Airport Express >> toslink >> X-DACv3 >> Old Junky Integra reciever >> Totem Acoustic Sttaf's

I have been waiting to aquire a Jolida 302b to put in place of the old Integra to give tubes a try ...I am not dead set on this though ...i picked it based on review and price point (can't audition it here in Indianapolis).

My dilema is that we have decided to buy a condo and it allready has 2 in-wall and 2 in-ceiling wired speaker cavities in the main room, and 2 additional installed in-walls in the bedroom (all wiried to one jack behind drywall). I don't care a great deal about having a super surround system, but since there are there ...why not use the speakers. I watch a few movies and a lot of sports, but mainly listen to music. (maybe 25%/75% movies+sports to music). I would probably just do a 5.0 surround setup and use the totems for my L/R and ceilings as surrounds and maybe the 2 in-walls as center? (they are about 4 feet apart ...so

I am thinking of getting something like a Marantz SR5600. It is 90 Watts (my totems have a sensitivity of 88) and it has Pre-outs for each channel ...this way mayby I could just get a dedicated AMP? for the Left/Right. I dont want to spend a ton of money here (less than 1G) and I could sacrafice the x-Dac if the reciever had toslink and a decent Dac (maybe use that money for a dedicated amp for the front channels?). Also if there is an integrated surround that performs well in stereo I am open to suggestions.

Budget ~$1000 if I keep my Xdac ...~$2000 if I sell the x-dac and use the receivers.

I listend to Jazz, Americana and watch sports and movies.
shawnparslow
c123666
871 posts
 
technics sch500

sony spd9ES (close enough0

above two are inexpensive ways to add quality dolby digital sound to an existing system...the sony sounds wonderful; have no experience with the technics but it adds DTS....

a basic quality RCA switchbox is the way to go; ie, run the main outs from the processor and your two channel preamp into the box...select the one you want to use and run the outputs into your two channel amp

used multichannel amps are cheap....best value is from parasound, adcom, and harmon kardom. If you can find a HK PA5800 they usually go for 400, or so, and are excellent five channel amps with 80wpc. The insides look more like a Proceed or levinson product than cheap japanese crap; really. For a lot more power the parasound hca 1206 is a six channel amp rated at 135/channel from all six channels. Four of the six can be bridged for 350 watts. About 800 used; original box is worth the extra money as it is a good one.
shawnparslow OP
23 posts
 
I am confusued now ...

DAC > PRE
> RCA Switcher > AMP > Speakers
Surround

Is there any way to eliminate the PRE and Switcher you descrive? I was thinking the Dolby receiver would be my PRE and I could hook things up as I stated above:

x-dac > receiever (pass through) > AMP > Totems

The reciever would pass/pre out the L/R to the AMP and drive the surrounds itself.

I am just trying to see if I can eliminate components that I might not need.
shawnparslow OP
23 posts
 
DAC > PRE
> RCA Switcher > AMP > Speakers
Surround

means

DAC > PRE
                      > RCA Switcher > AMP > Speakers
Surround Rec
reubent
7,048 posts
 
Shawn,

You will get a lot of different answers here and you will have to decide which is most appropriate for you. I can give you a suggestion based on my experience. I've owned lots of dedicate 2-channel music systems priced $500-$5000+. I'm nearing a move to a new home, so I currently have a combined 2-channel music and 5.1 Channel HT system and I'm very happy with the performance. Here is what I'm using:

Sony STR-DA5000ES HT Receiver

The Sony uses the newer digital switching amp technology and it is very good. It is so good that you would likely not need an external power amp to drive your totems, however it has pre-outs for all 7.1 channels, so you could use an external amp if you wanted. Also its internal DAC is so good that you would likely not need or want the X.Dac. I've heard that the digital design for this amp was done by a very well known designer of $10,000 DACs and I can believe it.

I use the A/B speaker switch on the Sony to connect the A pair to my Reference 3A MM DeCapo monitors. I use the B connection for my L&R front on-wall speakers and have an on-wall center and surrounds connected too. A sub adds the rest of the 5.1 channels for HT duty. There is also a configuble zone-2 that you could use the remaining 2 channels of the 7.1 channel amp to drive the speakers in your bedroom. It also comes with two remotes, one main and one for the second zone.

Don't just take my word for it. Check out the post on www.Audiocircle.com and www.oade.com (tapers forum section). This receiver is very, very good and it can do everything you want, very well. It will also allow you to use all of your speakers and get rid of some unnecessary components (external amp and DAC).

If you choose to buy a Sony STR-DA5000ES, try to get one with the "A" designation (a big "A" on the box). The A version has some firmware fixes included that make it work and sound better.

Lastly, if you have $1100-$1200 to spend, the new Sony STR-DA7100ES is even better still! I've read a review that compared it favorably to the $4000+ Sony STR-DA9000ES from last year. Check out the review at AVGuide:http://www.avguide.com/receivers,_tuners,_and_integrated_amps/audio_video_receivers/sony/str-da7100es/3291.jsp . You will have to download the full review (its free!), but it's worth a read.

Check it out. I think it would meet your needs very well.

Enjoy,

TIC
c123666
871 posts
 
The method I propose assume you have a quality stereo preamp you wish to have remain in service for stereo listening. If a receiver with a high quality preamp section, in analogue mode (NO digital conversion for analogue sources!), is available than that is a simpler solution.

I had good luck with an Arcam AVR200. It has a pretty good preamp analogue stereo section. Now, this preamp is not as good as a quality tubed stereo preamp and I have yet to hear a solid state receiver that does. Some come close and the convenience may be an acceptable trade off for many.

The other method to eliminate the RCA switchbox is to acquire a high quality preamp that has a home theatre pass through. Or, if you are only interested in two channel performance (even with Dolby Digital sources) then you can simply run the stereo preamp outs from the TAPE OUT to an Auxiliary line level input of your preamp and simply treat the receiver/dolby digital sources as another component.

I have the extra speakers for multi channel reproduction but prefer to simply use the Lowthers (so far).
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