When Should You Add External Amps to Your Home Theater?

[@oszkarhathazi2305]

Youthman and Bradley Cooper from American Sniper 😂

[@Barleyleg]

I can relate to the comment around 32:00 about simply having the extra power to not have to worry about anything. I have a BasX A3 that was running my Polk es50 and es35 - plenty of power for my apartment environment; never going to run out. I recently upgraded to the R200’s and R350 and will add a XPA 3 in the spring. I’ll never need that kind of power here, but at least I’ll want for nothing - and be somewhat future proofed. And if all the neighbors decide to go somewhere at the same time, then I’ll have the extra power to be able to open these babies up full throttle! Lol. Cheers, everyone! Happy Holidays!

[@rethanmakena8796]

Greetings from Kenya... Am building my Homethearter based on what i have learnt from your tutorials. I am positive it will sound awesome thankyou man am a huge fan✌️

[@mcoluga]

Finally a comment I can relate with... there are hardly Kenyans in these forums

[@MrSmith-zo6po]

Great video, thank you. I have a Denon 3700H running a 5.1.4 setup in a 10 X 12 ft room. I have a BasX A7 for the 5 ear level and have the AVR power the heights. It sounds great, and when I added the external amp, I didn't really notice a difference. I don't think I needed the external amp, but bought that one for two reasons, I wanted one that would go into standby mode when the AVR powers off, and I got the A7 if I wanted to go to 7 ear level speakers in the future. Since I don't listen at loud levels, I'm probably using only a few watts - 4 max, so I didn't need the external amp for the power. It was really just ease of use and future set up.

[@SoCalVipers]

My home theater journey began decades ago with a 19" TV mixed brands of speakers and a small sub. I'd fire up the Laser Disc, pull my chair close and had a great time. Soon after, 1994 or so, I bought a standard definition CRT projector that was 8 feet wide and 4:3. I had a real sub, and mediocre 5.1 receiver and the LCR speakers were Tannoy PBM 6.5 studio monitors (2-way 6.5" woofer, soft dome tweeter). It was okay, but it sounded very small. I thought I needed bigger speakers to fill my room. But the first thing I did was add an Outlaw 200watt per channel amp. That made those little speakers fill the room beautifully! The amp made huge difference. It's now 2023, and I am still using that 5 channel Outlaw amp. I'm also still using the 18" Bag-end sub from 1994. A good amp is a long-term investment. You can add more channels, and you'll likely need to replace the pre-pro and projector every 6 to 10 years. But a good amp will be a good amp for decades.

[@mudfan061]

Just AVR, for now. Will be adding 3-channel amp in future

[@tg9891]

I’m in components. Currently running external amps all at 200W/ch @ 8ohms; 350w/ch @4ohms - Adcom Amps

[@tg9891]

Forgot to add, this is in a 5.1 system. Preamp-Processor is Integra DTC 9.8

[@michaelwyckoff7593]

I hope it was a good Livestream Mike.

[@Youthman]

We had a great time Michael

[@WardoUSA]

I added my first external amp to an avr this year. Noticeably better separation, clarity and more natural sound if using pure direct. Very loud listening is a total game changer. You can’t understand what overhead means until you hear ultra low distortion at max volume. I am now intrigued about going full separates. Avr is a Yamaha RX -A2A Amp is a old Marantz Mm9000, thx certified 170 watts with all channels driven. Bi-amp the front and rear channels into SVS ultra bookshelves. Sounds killer even in my big room with terrible acoustics.

[@robertmason9465]

Well explained have Amps drive your speakers will be a big benefit. When I sold home theater years ago this is how I explained it when you have a AVR I will compromise the audio quality the AVR has to do a lot. So in choosing AVR depending on your budget is to choose one with Pre outs for separate amps And the more efficient your speakers are the less amp power is needed to run the speakers without distortion and amp clipping

[@doublet147]

Great show as always! Keep up the great work 👍

[@D.L.W.]

To answer the question, no, I do not run a separate power amp. I have a 7.2.4 system and all my speakers are 87dB sensitivity. My AVR is 150 watts R.M.S. into 2 channels and has an internal 600 watt power supply. Occasionally I crank it up pretty loud and I've never detected any distortion. My sound system consists of 4 SVS Ultra Bookshelf speakers (2 for the mains and 2 for the side channels), an SVS Ultra Center speaker, 6 SVS Prime Elevation speakers (4 ceiling mounted for Dolby Atmos and 2 mounted on the back wall for the rear channels) and 2 SVS SB-3000 Subwoofers. The system is powered by a Yamaha Aventage RX-A8A 11 channel AVR connected to a Panamax M5400-PM Power Conditioner.

[@scruffy8861]

When listening to Youthman be sure to set your processor to Church mode.

[@pyrocrew17]

You should get that mode

[@Youthman]

I hear it’s not only good for your ears, but also great for your soul. 😉

[@pyrocrew17]

@@Youthman amen brother

[@frankvanderlee6690]

Greetings from Eindhoven, the Netherlands

[@zelko0768]

Thanks guys very informative. One thing that I always get stuck at is speaker wattage compared to power requirements. So let’s say your speakers are rated at 100 to 200watts what power would you require. 100,200 or watts per channel?

[@andrewz925]

If your speakers are rated for 100-200w RMS then ideally you would use a 200w RMS amp because that ensures you're able to extract the maximum amount of safe performance out of your speakers, but an amp as low as 100w RMS would also be okay. You also want to make sure your amp is rated for that amount of power at whatever impedance your speakers are, for example, 200w RMS at 8 ohms for both the speaker and amp.

[@vincentaerts1927]

Hi guys, bi-amping doubles the damping factor from the amp, which does allow for better driver control . Apart from that, amplifiers age much better than processors, sole exception being Storm or Trinnov I think.

[@SealedOrPorted]

A good sign that external amps may be needed is if you experience ear fatigue when listening to your HT at ~80 dB. Your system could be causing distortion. Having power headroom reduces the opportunity for distortion as well as improving clarity of sound.

[@christianlacroix697]

Quick comments. For the math you guys did for the power needed. 2 factors were missed. You calculated just for 1 speaker. Each speaker would add 3db from the beginning. Also, important to consider is if they are 4 or 8ohms.

[@donlew8222]

By adding an additional 100 watts per channel, won't you be able to drop the cutoffs on the towers, giving better mids and adding some bass extension?? Even listening at 80-85 decibels should still hear more body from speakers, I think. Not sure.

[@mariopaez8011]

Hey! @Youthman are you doing live streams every Sunday? If so what time? I want to join in on the next one!!!

[@Youthman]

Hi Mario, yes we do live streams every Sunday at 8 PM Eastern standard time. We’d love to have you join us

[@peterwilliamson2965]

This is explaining technical elements of speaker-amplifier interaction using technical language, to a non-technical audience. This is not the first time this guy has done this. I was hoping to get the information I need to make a decision on the power I need for the speakers I want. I’ve watched 17 minutes of this video and we’re not even close to explaining the formulas to make a decision. Without the formulas it’s just a guess.

[@totalplonker824]

I don't mean to boast but when it comes to two channel music... I probably have one of the best sounding AVRs on the market and it was only when I added a matching power amp, I was finally able to hear the snap of the snare drums!

[@carlross5132]

What do you have.

[@darrenchase886]

Thank you for doing this video

[@techsamurai11]

What is the wattage needed to double the volume +3db with a sub on? It’s double without but it’s definitely less than double with a sub on at, say, 80 hz. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say 35-40% higher but that’s just an estimate after I added a sub to my system.

[@roco9504]

7.2 with AVR but it’s Klipsch RF7iii & RC64iii & Klipsch surrounds on a flagship Pioneer 901 (which will anyways be upgraded next year with an E-Arc capable AVR) so I feel I’m good with all these efficiencies ^_^ Don’t know how I feel about adding atmos since I don’t think I’d be able to take advantage of it much at all. I guess it depends if video games get popular with Atmos

[@JayPatrol]

I think all i need is a 3 channel amp to the klipsch rp 6000f 2's and 500c center channel and rp 1000 sub i have with the denon 3800h avr that i have right? I'm thinking maybe a monolith power amp

[@BuffSquadBigBenni]

I believe your sensitivity formula is flawed. There are several factors that affect spl. Sensitivity stated by manufacturer is in a anechoic chamber. In real life applications the spl (db) will be higher, depending on the room and acoustical treatment. If you don't run you speakers in full range (most people don't) they will also need less power. When you have multichannel output the combined spl will also sum up and be higher. Just some things to keep in mind for real life applications.

[@leonnoel4309]

Brilliant explanation Ryan, you can use that formula to your own circumstances. But there is the fact that some people just like spending money.

[@Youthman]

Absolutely nothing wrong with buying something you want that you have worked hard for.

[@leonnoel4309]

@@Youthman 100% but with your formula you've helped us make more of a informative choice. Basically you simplified it for me which I truly appreciate.

[@paulsalmon4771]

Its always good to more power than you need.(within reason)

[@Youthman]

100% agree. As with most things in life, it’s better to have it and not need it, than to not have it and need it.

[@rayking507]

Hi there, for movie watching only if I want to cross over my speakers at 80hz and run them small and use a good subwoofer do I benefit at all by having floor standing speakers or do just get a good pair of bookshelf’s.

[@Youthman]

Even crossing speakers over at 80 Hz, typically you get a much larger, full sound out of a floorstanding speaker then you do a bookshelf speaker. With bookshelf, you still have to put them on stands so they take up the same footprint.

[@RealKC]

The Real Question should be - Who has 20-30 bags of groceries?? :P

[@Youthman]

A family of 6. Four teenagers can eat you out of house and home. ;)

[@deezsquuezeorg]

Can you use 2 home theater receivers to power a 7.2 system. Both same brand and very similar output. So I could use 1 ht receiver for LRC and the other for the rears and surround backs. I'm trying to give the fronts as much as possible in 4r. I don't want to buy an external amp

[@Youthman]

It definitely can be done. You would need to use the pre-outs on the first AVR to go into the second AVR for your surrounds

[@zyndeco6659]

I know this is late, but what he said about running the Edge of Tomorrow intro in full range stereo is 100% speaker suicide!, smoke and everything. I'm thankful I just blew one speaker, and this was with an AVR, well Denon flagship. DO NOT ATTEMPT ABOVE -15db or with any bass driver under 8 inches.

[@Youthman]

👆👆👆

[@techsamurai11]

I played Edge of Tomorrow and thousands of movies in full range with B&Ws and a Marantz 8002. It only went into protect mode while playing Dragon Age Inquisition which had a crazy spell sound effect. But I did own a Denon for 1 week and the drivers on my B&W bookshelves at the time were moving full excursion (bass was shocking for a bookshelf). It would not have survived Edge of Tomorrow - this was music during a commercial and the speaker was giving a recital and competing for gold in gymnastics (I was afraid the kevlar driver might break and fly towards me) 😀

[@i8nm3gp]

7 channel power amplifier is fine for me in a 5.1.2 setup driving kef thx inwalls

[@Gypsyman40]

Is it not truly all about efficiency? Reference has always been to loud for my modest room

[@Prerich45]

Your LaScalas are true ...Klipsch Heritage doesn't overestimate.

[@Jeffcarr719]

Ryan's mic sounds good to me.

[@starlightghometheater2365]

Gerard Stroh*** Michael Stevens*** I Have About 10000 Watt's Counting My AVR Reciever on my Home Theater/Stereo System*****

[@tg9891]

R700; 5.5 meters

[@welderfixer]

Bummer Ryan's mic was so muffled and up and down in volume. Normally his mic is great.

[@Youthman]

Yeah I noticed that at the end and mentioned it to him after we jumped off line. Not sure what was going on he has a new interface that is coming in

[@welderfixer]

@@Youthman Thanks. Hopefully the new part will correct the issue for him. It's always great to hear what he has to say.

[@purplex3700h]

The peaks what you need to worry about..

[@neilhansen3025]

Noone should drive a 4 ohm speaker through an avr. Good chance you’re gonna ruin the avr.

[@Youthman]

I’ve never personally seen that happen. AVR’s are capable of driving 8ohm or 4ohm loads. I drove an entire Klipsch system with an AVR and the RF 7 series are 8ohm nominal (meaning average) but they dip down to 2ohms during certain frequencies. I do believe that people who have 4ohm speakers would however benefit from adding a dedicated amplifier.

[@neilhansen3025]

When i bought the Marantz 8015, i was looking for new speakers. Emotiva T1 towers are 4ohm. I called them and they advised me not to run them on the avr because that reason.