Amp Question

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

I will be shortly receiving an H/K AVR80, which has pre outs for hook up to an amplifier. I am wondering how I would go about hooking up the front two channels to an external amplifier.

I want to use a separate amp to power the 150s since they are so power hungry.

The receiver has pre outs, looks like a = and - for each channel, with outputs for all channels. The amp I am looking at has two RCA like jacks for input, one for the left channel, and one for the right channel. However, the receiver has two jacks for each channel, a = and a -.

Can I use a Y adapter to hook this up? More importantly, will this result in a loss of sound quality?

The receiver is a H/K Avr80 and the amp is a H/K PA 2000.

Thanks for the help.

[hoosier21]

That receiver should have RCA jacks lable PRE OUT for each channel, use an interconnect to hook up beteen the rec. and the power amp.

I have no idea what the "things" are that you say are marked a= and a-

[Tour2ma]

Guessing here, but does your AVR have two zone capability?

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Originally posted by hoosier21
That receiver should have RCA jacks lable PRE OUT for each channel, use an interconnect to hook up beteen the rec. and the power amp.

I have no idea what the "things" are that you say are marked a= and a-

basically, the receiver has two jacks for each channel, a + and a - for each channel, so the front left speaker has a positive and a negative RCA jack on the back, and so on for each channel. The amp only has 1 input for each channel, so there is only 1 input for the front left channel...

I know I should be able to use a Y adapter to bring the two jacks our of the receiver into one going into the amp...wondering if I will lose some sound quality this way...

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Originally posted by Tour2ma
Guessing here, but does your AVR have two zone capability?

Not sure really, I don't actually have the thing yet and so I'm going from the manual trying to figure out how I will hook it all up...

[hoosier21]

I found the manual online for your rec., looks like HK used metal jumpers to tie the "preouts" to "main in" on every channel (kinda cool) so you need to remove the jumper from the left and right front channels, and hook up the pre out side with an interconnect to the amp, leave the "main in" alone.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Originally posted by hoosier21
I found the manual online for your rec., looks like HK used metal jumpers to tie the "preouts" to "main in" on every channel (kinda cool) so you need to remove the jumper from the left and right front channels, and hook up the pre out side with an interconnect to the amp, leave the "main in" alone.

Can you explain the 'main in' piece? What would I use those for?

[tonyv1]

According to the H/K AVR80 manual (http://manuals.harman.com/HK/Owner%27s%20Manual/AVR80%20om.pdf) you could use the mains amp to drive the surround speakers by connecting the jumpers from the SURR PRE OUT to the FRONT MAIN IN.

[hoosier21]

the pre out is your "pre amp output"
Main in is your "main input"
the jumper connects the two
removing the jumper will disconnect pre amp section of your receiver from your input for the power amp section in the receiver. You can hook up an amp to the pre amp outputs, this will mean you can not hook up anything to your speaker terminals because the power amp section is not getting any signal to reproduce.

NAD and many other mfg's would do this with receivers and intergrated amps to allow you to upgrade the power amp without having to replace the whole unit (keep using the pre amp section) Same thing here with your receiver.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Originally posted by hoosier21
the pre out is your "pre amp output"
Main in is your "main input"
the jumper connects the two
removing the jumper will disconnect pre amp section of your receiver from your input for the power amp section in the receiver. You can hook up an amp to the pre amp outputs, this will mean you can not hook up anything to your speaker terminals because the power amp section is not getting any signal to reproduce.

NAD and many other mfg's would do this with receivers and intergrated amps to allow you to upgrade the power amp without having to replace the whole unit (keep using the pre amp section) Same thing here with your receiver.

OK, makes sense. So if I understand correctly, I would NOT be able to bi-amp given this setup, correct?

[Tour2ma]

Could Y-split the pre-out to the appropriate Main-in and external amp channel.... yes?

[hoosier21]

Originally posted by Tour2ma
Could Y-split the pre-out to the appropriate Main-in and external amp channel.... yes?

Yes he could, might want the external amp to have volume adjustment to be able to match the rec. amps better.