Will adding 5-ch amp to receiver make a difference

What is your reason for doing this? If you could state what you are trying to achieve or what is unsatisfactory about the present system, a useful response might be possible.

kr4 is definitely asking the right question.

However, since power amps are relatively straightforward, it's reasonably easy to predict what might happen. For the MOST part, if you spent $2K (new), you'd expect to get quite a lot more power than your 75wpc receiver - as much as 200 wpc. Probably anything over 200wpc will run a LOT more than $2K. Usually this will translate to more impact and, as the audio guys say, more "slam". On the other hand, the difference between 200 wpc and 75wpc isn't as big as it sounds, about 4-5 dB which is just a little more than noticable. Your speakers are very, very efficient (good grief - I looked 'em up - 98 dB @ 1w @ 1 ft!), and they make your 75wpc go further than 200wpc goes for most of us. I think typical speakers are around 87 dB, so your speakers are already making your receiver behave 11 dB more powerful - which is a whopping great amount. It's hard to see how you'd make use of much more amplifier power. I'll be you don't ever turn the volume up very far!

At this point you're down to how well the amps do the details. For some folks, this is the whole ball game, but if your application is mostly HT, that might not even make much difference.

So we're back to kr4's question...

Quality power is what he needs.

Hello Audioweb,

A very good amp will give a more effortless and dynamic sound with more headroom and faster stops and starts. Even efficient speakers can be tough on an amp and the receiver, in spite of it's specs, will still bend under pressure with all channels in action.

I've found that speakers that were seemingly well fed really thrived with a dedicated amp. For example, years ago I was running a simple system with a Denon 3200 driving 5 x M&K S-80 speakers (small 2 way, and crossed at 80 hz to an M&K sub ...so the receiver shouldn't have had *that* much work to do). I hooked up a 5 channel amp, I can't remember what they're called, ATI or ATC or something like that (parent company or bigger brother of the Outlaw brand ?),...it was a very heavy 5 x 150 watt amp and it really transformed the system. The sound just lit up in a way that made me giggle and the dynamics were now frightening instead of mearly (sp ? Sorry !) impressive .

Having said that, processing is also important in HT and I don't know that much about your Rotel (though I'm guessing it's pretty good). You might also consider going to a bigger/stronger receiver with newer A/V chips (?); something like the Pioneer 49 with self calibration (circa $2K on Ebay), a Denon 4802/3 or 5803 used ?

As far as amps to try,...with the Klipsch and their tendency toward a dry sound, you might look for warmer (mabey darkish sounding) amps, mabey Sunfire or Classe rather than the amp I was talking about (ATI ?) or Bryston (though I like, have owned and currenty own Bryston, they'll not work to warm a system.

I don't disagree with the advice you've been given so far,...just thought I'd ad that it *can* be worthwhile to add a nice amp to a receiver.

...One other advantage is that lightening the load on the receiver's amp will probably make it's pre/processor functions better (amp not draining the power suppy all the time etc.)

M

Yeah you already have a dynamic advantage with your sensitive Klipsch speakers! Even though receivers are dynamically at a dissadvantage, your Klipsch's help out tremendously! But, you still will increase dynamics even more, and add much more to other parts of the soundquality across the board in general in my experiences. Even if you found something like a very good used Acurus 125 X 5 amp (which is impossible to beat for the money, and more than enough for your applications), you'll still get huge sonic advancements across the board. Easily 100% improvements over all! where your sound now is likely more 2 dimmensional and a bit BLAH sounding. I think those speakers would really like a better NEUTRAL SOUNDING power amp like the Acrus. There are other amps to consider. But I think you should stay with sound like ATI, Acurus, or even adcom with those rather WARMISH tonal balanced speakers. The Parasound HCA855 is dirt cheap at like $300 used, and will still outperform your Rotel receivers amps! Also, the even better sounding HCA1205a will make a good choice overall, especially if you run your speakers as "small" on your receiver...which you should. Still, it's hard to beat that Acurus 125x5 for the buck with your speakers!. And, for like $500-600 used, you can find at least something like the Acrus 125X5 or 200X3, which would really help your sound!
Good luck

My concerns are more with music than with HT.I listen to a lot of rock and find most cd's are not involving and take on a edgy sound not to my liking.There are other discs like Steely Dan's Two Against Nature,Dire Straits Brothers in Arms,Donald Fagan's The Nightfly and Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits to name a few that I really like maybe because they were recorded better but mostly because I like the way they SOUND.I think some cd's just sound better than others and those are the ones that find the most playback time on my cd player.Now if I could add a beefier 5-ch amp to my system and improve the sonic signature across the board, I'm all over that!I was just wondering if someone else out there has made this upgrade and could explain the improvments in doing so.All comments are greatly appreciated. Thanks to all!

I am an advocate of the following axiom: "If you ask the wrong question you might get the right answer to the wrong issue."

This is my question to you:

Why would you want to listen to music with a HT receiver?

Really...you could do *much* better with a tubed CDP like the Ah!, a small Creek integrated amp, a decent power filter and a used isolation transformer from eBay.

"You're right, Psychic, but what about movies?"

Check out my 2 ch HT and you'll flip...those little Modwright Swans I've got are *extremely* holographic. In fact, I was talking to Dan Wright this afternoon and he told me he's setting up a HT in his house--a "2 Ch HT" using top of the line Swans Divas (modded by him, of course). Better two great sounding channels than five so-so...

POP UP THE VOLUME!!!

I have an opinion. Nobody has addressed the fact that the pre-section will be a limiting factor--no matter how pricey an amp you choose. In regular 2ch;does the pre not matter??--Works the same for HT as well. Dump the reciever;get all separates.