Questions on next steps with my power amp

Okay would be nice if you could return the amp but if not no use crying over spilled watts.

You keep saying DAC but I'm not seeing anything makes me think you need a DAC. Since you inherited all this from your dad I would assume he had everything you need to - ie, he was playing records so he must have had a phono stage either built into the Onkyo or the record player. Let's go for the simplest first- look on the back of the Onkyo for RCA input that says PHONO. Let me know.

Next there's different things you can do. My advice is you do what you can do now and for free or cheap and not be in a hurry to spend money until you have a much better idea what you're doing. 

What you can do now and for next to nothing: Hook everything up to the Onkyo and enjoy.

While you're listening spend a minute thinking about what you're hearing. What you're hearing is the sound coming from the tape (or record) through a wire (interconnect), into the pre-amp stage of the receiver, then the power amp in the receiver, then through more wire (speaker wire), finally to the speakers. All of it powered by electricity that came from a wall through more wire (power cords). Every single one of these (and more I haven't mentioned) contributes for bad or good to what you hear. Its not just the amp and speakers. Its the interconnects, speaker wire, and power cords. Its everything.

So next step very cheap, you go on-line to some place like partsexpress.com and buy for next to nothing ($6, something like that) this thing called a Line Out Converter or LOC. None of these are very high quality and unlike most things you really don't get more when you pay more and this is probably not something you'll be using for long anyway so one of those rare times when it really is okay to go cheap.

The LOC will allow you to use the Onkyo as a pre-amp. So you will be able to hear exactly the difference between the amp in the Onkyo and the Outlaw amp you bought. Probably you're hoping the Outlaw sounds a lot better but that's not the point. The point is you learn the only way of knowing which is better and by how much is to actually compare by listening side by side. 

First things first though. Does the Onkyo have a phono input?

Thank you Miller. So I ended up running just through the Onkyo and the sound is ok. I was able to find an audio out and ran it through the Outlaw Power Amp. The only problem is that I was not able to control the volume through the Onkyo. It was set a certain volume level. Quite high actually. And I couldn't turn it down. Is this normal?

I think I need to buy a new integrated amp or pre-amp to take the place of the old Onkyo. I'm still not clear on what to get. 

@sftitan,

I am not a fan of using an outboard amp with an integrated amp that has no preouts. Line level outputs are really not designed to hook up to an amp. What Onkyo integrated do you have? What model is the Outlaw Audio?

Bill

So what you did was take a line out from the Onkyo and run it into your amp. The line out probably says Tape Out and is intended for tape recording. As such it is line level, ie about 1-3 volts in level and fixed. So in other words you are using the Onkyo as a phono stage and nothing more. Which is fine. Because now you have that Onkyo phono stage as a baseline. 

If its not clear don't worry that's normal. Most people just hook stuff up, never do understand what's going on.

This is how it works. You hook up, you listen, you compare. Or you run around throwing money, which is what most guys do. Listen and compare takes longer but you actually learn a lot more and go a lot further in the long run.

Like, already you have heard and learned what the phono stage inside your Onkyo sounds like. The pure phono stage, without even a volume control on it. That's not nothing. That's your first baseline component. You have just auditioned your first phono stage.

Now for $6 plus shipping you can get one of these https://www.parts-express.com/boss-b65n-speaker-level-to-line-level-output-converter--265-4040
Connect the wires to the Onkyo speaker terminals, connect the RCA to your amp, and now you can use the Onkyo as a pre-amp. Yes you can do a lot better- but not for $6!

Doing this will remove the urgency to "do something" and you will also now have another baseline from which to compare: pre-amp. So now if you want you can bring home a pre-amp to audition, or another power amp, or even an integrated and use the Onkyo phono-stage, see?

Because ultimately what you are probably going to want is a new amp, pre-amp, and phono stage. But remember we're talking functionally. You do not necessarily need those three components. You may find an integrated with built-in phono stage that sounds fantastic. Or you may find an integrated with a separate stand-alone phono stage that sounds even better for the same combined price. Or who knows, you might even find a pre-amp with phono stage that together with your existing amp sounds great. I think that is rather unlikely. Everything multi-channel for HT is almost always pure crap, sound quality-wise. But you never know. Everything works together. Could be the money you save using the amp lets you buy a much better phono stage that sounds so much better it makes up for the HT amp.

See what's going on here? The only way this works is by trying this stuff out and actually listening to it. I could never adequately explain how well this works, but I think it will become clear if you actually do it enough. 

Something else to keep in mind while you're doing this- everything works together. Everything. Everything includes speaker cables, interconnects, power cords. Pay attention when you go into stores what they are using to connect everything. Don't just listen to a component, have them change and let you listen to different interconnects and speaker cables too. Done right, taking time to try out and compare all these options, takes longer but you will be shocked how much difference it makes in the end.

Miller and everyone that responded thank you for taking the time. Millercarbon I did order your part just now. I’m very happy to see a part like this can turn my receiver into a pre-amp. We will now see what the speakers sound like with the Outlaw 5000 amp. I would like to ask why you are so negative on the Outlaw amp that I bought (if I can be so direct)? If you take a look at this review it does nothing but praise the amp and that it can drive Status Acoustics 8T speakers very well. I guess I bought the amp on this review and thought I would build the components around the amplifier. I realize this may not be the best strategy but when I read such a strong review I didn’t see that much harm with buying it and then finding the right components to compliment it.

I’m looking forward to getting the LOC and seeing what the amp sounds like.

https://www.audioholics.com/amplifier-reviews/outlaw-5000