I need an amp

[livewire]

I am currently running 7.1 w/rti 10's as mains, fxi5's surround, rti4's back suround, and cs350 for center. I have an Onkyo tx-sr800 at 110w per channel, but I feel these speekers need more power, and would sound beter with more power. I was thinking of the Outlaw 7700 any suggestions. One more thing are the rti10's really 4ohm or are they 8

[Sherardp]

the outlaw is a great choice, however ya Onkyo is putting out enough juice for the other speaks minus the fronts, save yourself some money and go M2200s, but if your receiver has the preouts on the back sure, power them with the 7700, you will notice a difference for sure.

[cfrizz]

Welcome to the club Livewire!

Your speakers ARE 8ohm. However, with 1 driver & 2 woofers it takes a lot of power to make them sound their best.

Get any amplifier of at least 200wpc @ 8ohms & you will have plenty of power to make those speakers sound their best. I would get a 7 channel amp & be done with it.

Good bang for the buck is Outlaw Audio. Get a 7700 & you are all set.

Other choices are Rotel, Parasound, Adcom, etc.

[livewire]

You won't get a higher volume of sound out of the fronts if I use my onkyo to power the other 5 speakers

[Ern Dog]

Not sure what you are asking.

[livewire]

If I run my fronts through a 2 channel amp, and run the rest through my onkyo, won't my fronts put out a louder sound at a lower volume than my others

[McLoki]

You won't get a higher volume of sound out of the fronts if I use my onkyo to power the other 5 speakers

No, If you were to run a stereo amp to the front speakers and run the rest of the speakers off your avr, you would still set the balance for all your speakers in the AVR (usually +-10 or so db) Just hook up all your speakers, and balance the levels with an SPL meter and you will be good to go.

The nice thing of getting a 7 channel amp now (even though it would not really be needed for your current setup) is that you could upgrade to any speakers in the future and you know you have enough amplifier power to run them well. If you are planning to upgrade your speakers in the future to lines over the RTi's, I would get the 7700 and not worry about it. If you are planning to keep the RTi's for the forseeable future, get a nice stereo amp to run your 10's off of and run the rest of the speakers off your AVR.

Michael

[ben62670]

If I run my fronts through a 2 channel amp, and run the rest through my onkyo, won't my fronts put out a louder sound at a lower volume than my others

If all your speakers were the same you would have a little more of an issue. With the speakers you have you may have to cut the fronts a little but they won't be overbearing.

[goingganzo]

actuley i upgraded from my onkyo 787 by adding a 7 channel adcom 7607 at 125 wpc it made my speakers open up and sound great

[wingnut4772]

Outlaws are great! Welcome to the club.

[Burnt]

No doubt the ouboard amp will be an improvement,for sure at louder volumes

[cfrizz]

It will also offer a big improvement at softer volumes as well.

[beardog03]

IMO...I think Parasound makes a great 5 ch amp..

Works very well with my Denon...

and I/c`s make a difference also

Not trying to open the `ol can-o-worms here guy`s, it`s just that a good sounding amp won`t sound it`s best with crappy I/C`s

Dats awwl....!!

[Holydoc]

It will also offer a big improvement at softer volumes as well.

Cathy could you expand on this a bit more?

****

Livewire,

I own the previous version of the Outlaw 7x200watt amp and have had no complaints with it. I was very surprised in how much it opened the sound up from the surround speakers. My RTi12's were actually sucking all the power from my Onkyo NR901 and thus giving little or no power to the surrounds. This was very apparent at action scenes where the sound of items flying around the room suddenly appeared where none were before the amp.

Something else I did not expect is that my system did not get louder. It got clearer. In other words, the music was more articulate. This actually allowed me to listen to music a bit lower since I did not have to crank it up to hear those guitar riffs anymore.

Once the Preamps start supporting HD sound through HDMI 1.3, I will continue that upgrade path and hopefully improve that articulate sound a bit more.

Good luck in your search.

[louthewiz]

Since the amps are doing all the work and more power mens clearer and better defined sound at any level.

[Holydoc]

Though I do not want to belabor the point, if your receiver has ample power at a low volume setting to push all your speakers to a desired level, I would think that an amp at those levels would be a non-player.

Of course I have been known to be wrong before...once. ;)

[cfrizz]

You just did all by yourself HD!:D This was by far the best improvement to my whole system. Until I got the amp, I didn't know that I was missing so much detail or that maybe the details were so muffled!

Cathy could you expand on this a bit more?

Something else I did not expect is that my system did not get louder. It got clearer. In other words, the music was more articulate. This actually allowed me to listen to music a bit lower since I did not have to crank it up to hear those guitar riffs anymore.

[Holydoc]

You just did all by yourself HD!:D

That is what I get for babbling on like a mad man, Cathy. ;)

Pretty soon I can post questions and answer them myself. :D