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What is the best way to add a 5:1 system

Ok..totally new in this forum but not new to Mac equipment. Just got my first new system in 30 yrs.! MC 402, C46, MVP 871, 4 B&W speakers. Still using my MR77 tuner and an older turntable for present. Planning on picking up a sub soon as well. This has led me to consider setting myself up for some 5:1 down the road. I know I need a center speaker and 3 more channels of amplification, but not sure how best to integrate this with current set up. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. It was reading much of the discussion on this forum that led me to choose the new system.

regards to all
rroderick
bdgregory
1,716 posts
 
. . . what Jeff said. This is how I did it and it works great. It's also key that you choose a center channel speaker and amp matched to your mains. Likewise (but less so) for your surround speakers/amps.
rroderick OP
4 posts
 
Thanx much for the tips. It will be a while before this happens, but thought I would get a vision for it should look like. Sounds like I will need a processor and another amp with 3 channels, or would it be easier to have one amp for the 5:1 and the 402 strictly stereo? That is how most of my time is spent.

It sure is nice to be back into new listening. Am actually keeping all of my previous system for another location. Can't bear to part with it!
Ag insider logo xs@2x
dbphd
1,631 posts
 
Jeff,

I'm attracted to the notion of an Integra 9.9 processor for surround SACD via HDMI and newer codecs for films, but I'd still like to use my Proceed PAV/PDSD for stereo music. (Maybe the PDSD would be redundant.) Just to be explicit, are you saying I could take the pre-outs from the 9.9 to any unused input of the PAV? I assume the PAV (or PDSD) XLR outputs would still go to the Proceed Amp 2 for the front LR speakers, but the 9.9 XLR outputs would go to the Amp 3 for the center and surround speakers. Am I understanding you correctly?

db
bdgregory
1,716 posts
 
db . . . it will work fine. I have a PAV that I use for Stereo (amazing stereo pre) and I moved it to my HT, using my Lexicon MC-1 for 5.1 input to the PAV. It worked fine, but because of ventilation issues in my HT rack it over heated so I had to move it to another system.
bdgregory
1,716 posts
 
Thanx much for the tips. It will be a while before this happens, but thought I would get a vision for it should look like. Sounds like I will need a processor and another amp with 3 channels, or would it be easier to have one amp for the 5:1 and the 402 strictly stereo? That is how most of my time is spent.
I would go with your best/most favored amp for stereo and add another 3 channels of amplification for the surround. depending on your configuration you can get a 3 channel amp for the ctr/rears, or if you're like me and like to use short speaker cables, get a mono amp for the center (somewhat matched to your 402), and a pair of mono's or a stereo amp for the rears. If you get a 3 channel amp you'll need long speaker cable runs to your rear channels. Of course alternately you need long interconnect run.

The problem with getting a 5 channel amp for 5.1 is you need to swap cables, which is a big pain.
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