Rookie amp questions?

[chadjessie@hotm]

Almost embarassed to ask some of these questions!!:D I have been looking at a lot of amps. Looking to run maybe just the center channel (rti12) off of an amp. Still planning on the onkyo 803 or hk 645 (Just missed out on one tonight on ebay) So with either of these I was thinking that they would have plenty of power to run the remaining speakers if I ran an amp to the center. Have been looking at mostly just two channel amps (parasound & adcom) Now here's where I get lost. Can I use just one channel on these and will all 200 watts go through the one channel or do both channels have to be running at 100 wpc? Also, the amp is the power to the speakers alone right? (Not added to the receivers power to the same speaker?) Sorry for the rookie questions!

[RuSsMaN]

If you use 1 channel of a stereo amp, you use 1 channel. The wattage isn't increased unless the amp is capable of being bridged mono. If you have an RTi12 for center, you can always bi-amp using a stereo amp. One channel to the bottom posts, the other channel to the top posts.

There are a lot of good monoblock amps out there also - you are headed in the right direction looking at Parasound and Adcom for bang for buck sound.

Cheers,
Russ

[Bill Ayotte]

Can I use just one channel on these and will all 200 watts go through the one channel or do both channels have to be running at 100 wpc? Also, the amp is the power to the speakers alone right? (Not added to the receivers power to the same speaker?) Sorry for the rookie questions!

Ok....Lets get this started. ;)
Some amps can be bridged (meaning that you use the 2 ch. amp for 1 channel.) You will generally get double the power that it is rated for on 1 channel....Sometimes better than that. Different companies have different ways to bridge their amps (Switches on the back, Y cable (2-into-1), exc) and some aren't bridgeable at all....Make sure you know what you are looking at.
You are right on about he second question.....Your receiver MIGHT have pre-outs (they will be labeled as such) on the back.....Front L+R, CENTER, Rear L+R........you plug up your RCA cable(s) to the pre-outs and to the amp(s).....It basically overrides the internal amp on the receiver, sends the signal through there instead of the internal amp...

I hope this didn't confuse you too much...I've a been a drinkin':D

[chadjessie@hotm]

Actually that helps already. I was wondering if that is was bridged meant. So I should probably get a 2 channel amp that can be bridged to run to the rti 12? I would like to be around 200 watts to the rti12 or so. Also hooking the amp up to the avr through preouts means that the avr doesn't supply any power to those channels. So does that mean that the extra power from the amp not being used gets divided into the other channels that the avr is feeding? EX. 105 wpc in 7.1, Would it be higher per channel without 105 to the center?

[TennesseeOutlaw]

Negative

[chadjessie@hotm]

So max wpc is 105.

[Gaara]

Yep, the power per channel is independent on how many channels are in use.