Do I need to upgrade my receiver for my new speakers?

[M50'sMike]

Hey Everybody,
Just purchased some JBL Synthesis Array 1000's to take the place of my JBL L166 Horizons, I've noticed there's not a whole lot of info on them, mainly the 1400's but nevertheless. One thing that seems to be apparent is that they will be more revealing than the l166's. So I am curious if there is a better receiver/ integrated amp out there than my Yamaha Rxv-3800 for my 3.1ch set up for home theatre, feal that it may be the weakest link. I have An Acurus 125x5 Amp for the Fronts and Center channel. And a Velodyne HGS 18 for my sub. I know that I won't be able to make use of ATMOS but curious of some gear that's great for 2ch as well as home theatre (4k Blu rays, streaming MQA, LDAC, etc.) Cause I do plan on going back to a 5.1 ch for home theatre eventually, but would still love to be able to stream qobuz from my phone and get the best audio possible from that. Also curious if anyone can educate me a little more about these Array 1000's! Thanks for your time guys!

 

[hopeless]

What do you want? You would have to spend a fortune to get a pre-pro as capable as the Yamaha. If you could. Even as a two channel pre, it's pretty dang good. What you need is some amplifier. IMHO. Then again, almost everybody needs more amplifier.

 

[BMWCCA]

JBL lists power-handling capacity at 200-wpc which usually would mean a 400-wpc amp would not be overkill. I'll bet they sound just fine with what you have but, as Hopeless says, everyone could use more amplifier! Let us know what you think.

 

[M50'sMike]

What do you want? You would have to spend a fortune to get a pre-pro as capable as the Yamaha. If you could. Even as a two channel pre, it's pretty dang good. What you need is some amplifier. IMHO. Then again, almost everybody needs more amplifier.

Yeah I think you're right, the more I think, the way to for sure get more out of the speakers would be more clean power. And as for decoding, maybe a DAC?

 

[billyz]

Jbl specs those at 89db efficiency so a 50-60 watt amp should be plenty. Quality of watts over quantity every time. I run a set of jbl 4411's 90db efficiency with a 32 watt amp and have plenty of oomph at any sane volume.

 

[opnly bafld]

Jbl specs those at 89db efficiency so a 50-60 watt amp should be plenty. Quality of watts over quantity every time. I run a set of jbl 4411's 90db efficiency with a 32 watt amp and have plenty of oomph at any sane volume.

I was beginning to think I passed into an alternate reality, the OP has a 140 watt/ch AVR and a 125 watt x 5 (only using 3 ch for front) Acurus, but he's being told he needs more power.

@M50'sMike
Most amplifiers are probably not going to be any better than what you have now.
Regarding watts and spl, keep in mind doubling your power to 250 watts is only 3 dBs more (not much, same as going from 1 watt to 2w; 50w to 100w etc).
It takes 10 times the power (1,250 watts) to be twice as loud.

 

[charles 1973]

That's a fine system you have now. Yamaha's AVR'S, especially as you move up in price do a very good job with both music and video. If you want to up your digital music game just Google best network music streamer. There's a whole bunch from about $200 - $1,200 that just plug into an open line level input on the AVR.

Unless you want Dolby Atmos if I where you I wouldn't even consider getting a newer AVR or HT Preamp/Processor. You probably don't even need the Acurus power amp either. AVR's of that caliber are more then capable of driving nearly every surround sound speaker kit with powered subs to ear splitting SPL's. But that is another story.

FWIW I have 2 recent Yamaha Network HT receivers, One midrange Avantage RX A770 7 channel Dolby Atmos, and one entry level RX V485 5 channel. I'm listening to Marvin Gaye on Spotify Premium now on the their entry level unit and am always impressed how it does such a good job with stereo music. The Internet radio tuner is cool too.

The important thing with home theater is to have 3 timbre matching front speakers, ideally they should all be timbre matched. What some folks do is keep a pair of their favorite speakers for stereo and use a 2'nd matching set of of HT speakers for video. Sometimes you can find a good used surround speaker package for a fraction of the original price.

 

[BMWCCA]

I was beginning to think I passed into an alternate reality, the OP has a 140 watt/ch AVR and a 125 watt x 5 (only using 3 ch for front) Acurus, but he's being told he needs more power.

It is normal for JBL to spec an amp with twice the power of the speakers' rating to allow for headroom. That's their spec, not mine. I can run many of my efficient JBLs with low-power Crown amps like the D75A and they sound just fine. I even ran my first JBL (my Dad's cast-off over 60-years ago) off the earphone jack from a ChannelMaster transistor radio. Sounded fine to a 9-year-old.

But I can take those same speakers and power them with a Crown Studio Reference-II rated 355-WPC into 8-ohms and they all sound . . . better?

I'm a firm believer in there's no such thing as too much power. Most damage I've seen comes from too little—assuming we don't count abuse as anything related to hi-fidelity or our hobby here.

 

[Danddd]

The Acurus is a nice amp. I have an A100 as backup that sounds great. But there are amps that can have more detail and if you are looking to stream hi rez music and have a capable DAC, then you might want to check out other amps. Have you A/B'd the Yamaha and Acurus? I wouldn't assume the Yamaha is better.

 

[hopeless]

I was beginning to think I passed into an alternate reality, the OP has a 140 watt/ch AVR and a 125 watt x 5 (only using 3 ch for front) Acurus, but he's being told he needs more power.

@M50'sMike
Most amplifiers are probably not going to be any better than what you have now.
Regarding watts and spl, keep in mind doubling your power to 250 watts is only 3 dBs more (not much, same as going from 1 watt to 2w; 50w to 100w etc).
It takes 10 times the power (1,250 watts) to be twice as loud.

You do realize that it's not some simple linear equation, right? You would have to assume these amplifiers were of equal ability to address the speakers demands. You can go from a 100 watt entry level receiver to a 40-50 watt amplifier they will hands down decimate it. I used to do it with a 25 watt receiver years back.

This is an interesting hobby. I'm often amused by the certainty of people when it comes to audio. I wouldn't bet on the Acurus being a better amp than the Yamaha.