Question on 2 channel vs 5 channel amps ?

I can only speak from a similar experience. I had been using a Mcintosh MC7205 5 channel amp and decided to get a Mcintosh MC352 2 channel amp for the front. This resulted in a much improved sound but the 352 added a 150 watt advantage. But the 7205 is running considerably cooler with a channel idle between each used channel. I feel that the two channel amp isolated the power supply usage and lets the two channel listening be a little more pure in reproduction.

I have the current Sherbourn 5 channel amp in my video. I tried my Aragon 4004MKII for the RH & LH front channels. It did seem to sound a little better all over. It should, it cost as much as the Sherbourn when it was new. The Sherbourn has 5 discrete monoblocs in one chassis, like the Bryston 9B. I believe that's why it sounds as good as it does...............
I'd try to pair it with the current Bryston 4BSST or the 4BST, there are plenty of the STs for sale here on Audiogon.

I have never listen to any Sherbourn amps so I don't know what they add or subtract from the big picture. You could do what many of us have done, add a two channel pre: passive or active with pass through for two channel. I don't know for sure, but I would think this may sound better for two channel sound.

Get the two channel amp from the same maker.
Otherwise, you'll hear a tonal balance shift in multi channel mode.

I dunno which one comes closest to the one you have. Those three
you've listed sure sound diffrent from one another.

I agree with Misskuma. Amps should have similar voices, at least across the front ( l, r and center ) channels. You can use what you want across the rears as it is less critical, at least for movies. It does become more critical if you are using the system for multi-channel music though so take this comment with a grain of salt. Sean
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Ideally, you want to have all same speakers/amps in all channels on multi applications.

I figure the rear won't matter so much and got different makes of speakers from the front.
Boy, was I wrong. When the sound field cross over front to back or vice versa,
I hear the shift. ( say helicopter flying over you and so forth )

I have an Anthem MCA-50 which is 5 X 225. Recently,
I added Krell 350 MCX monos to the front two channels.
Huge improvement in two-channel listening. During
movies, the center channel is conspicuously different
in quality from the from L & R. Eventually, I will switch the Anthem with something that matches the Krells,
but in the meantime, I listen to a lot of two channel and
I find that I can live with the slight difference during
movies for the time being -- I love having the improvement for music and it ain't that bad during movies -- it is just that the front two speakers sound
better than the center. But, I am not nearly as picky
about movie sound. Then again, any music during
a movie is more likely to come from the front L & R
so I even get some benefit during movies. I wouldn't
keep from improving my two channel sound to protect
movie sound.

That's a good point Misskuma. I did not think about such things as i have the same amps driving the same series of speakers all the way around. A perfect example of first hand experience being a good teacher and a learned pupil sharing their knowledge : )

When swinging effects or music from channel to channel, pitch and tonal balance could come into play as both of these will simulate both distance and rate of travel. Having the presentation change in either of the above manners as it swings from speaker to speaker might be very noticeable and distracting. That is, if one pays attention and listens rather than just hears : ) Sean
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