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Multiple speakers one 2 channel amp
- Thread starter woodster1
- Start date
You presume correctly.
Anyone can get a used Yamaha CX-a5000 for $650 on Ebay. It has every input and output imaginable. ESS Sabre DAC chips, and a great phono section for the nostalgic. The YPAO makes room corrections a breeze. I can't verify if it uses FIR corrections, like @THD+N's Pioneer.
However, knowing how feature competitive the Japanese are, it most likely is.
It makes a terrific 2 channel Pre Amp. The only thing missing is Subwoofer EQ, which was not available until the 5100, 5200 of later vintage. I have the 5200 for 2.3 and 7.4.3 in the LR, and a 5000 in the 2 channel setup in the basement.
Considering the modern new Cost of Khorns and Heresys, approaching 20 kilobucks, these used Pre Pros coupled with $80 chip amps give you some cheap, undistorted watts to play as loud as you can handle. It's KLIPSCH after all.
Just ask @rebos123 for a second opinion if you like.
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A Yamaha CX-a5000 series PrePro does multi speaker 2 CHANNELS at the touch of a button! or 2 channels with up to 11 speakers (with no Y connectors) plus as many subs as you can manage, (or none), from 2 separate sub channels with bass management. It just WORKS!
And, FYI: I NEVER miss any of the points. Ignorance is not my strong suit.
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With the Yamaha CX-a's I use only ONE microphone reading an position. Playing Stereo CD's through 11 time aligned and PEQ'd speakers sound incredible from anywhere in the room, but mine is tiny compared to your friend's room.
I was skeptical of using a home theater AV receiver for two-channel listening (using loudspeakers with passive two or three way configurations) until I tried it. The one caveat is you should go with the upper-end units with more features to realize the benefit of room/speaker correction to the fullest.
For comparison, I played music through my home theater system and a lot of the surround modes actually sound good on music with the room/speaker correction applied.
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I evolved from the "toe in the water" of starting out with a very basic Onkyo AVR in early 2000's for 5.1. It had the simplest form of Audyssey. Each AVR model upgrade had more sophisticated Audyssey until I got to the top of the line. Failing HDMI sections, repaired under warranty cause my to buy them in pairs, just in case. I have had ZERO issues once I went with Yamaha vs. the other brand.
I have had experiences that mirror yours in terms of all the 2 channel Programmed Modes multi speaker listening. Yamaha has digitized the room acoustic (reverberation) properties of several world renowned Concert Halls and Jazz Lounges so you can try all these to your heart's content on 2 channel material.
Or you can just do 11 channel (or however many speakers you have) Stereo, which sounds very good AND louder from so many PEQ'd and Time Delayed speakers singing the same songs all at once.
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TheAbide
Active Member
definitely gonna depend on the brand for sure, but mine even has a full reference 2 channel mode thats about as straight through as you can get(that i never use, why would i want it to not sound as good? or all the processing you could want for surround. If you dont need/wont ever use the surrounds/channels thats one thing but i dont see any of the modern stuff doing poorly in 2 channel at all. Most are probably considerably better than a stereo receiver due to more correction/processing features but you do usually pay for them.
How do you feel about all ch stereo? unless i have company around for something where we wont be sitting on the couch in front of the screen/speakers, i just use the upmixing for surround if i want it. Most of the atmos upmixers ive heard are excellent at getting it close. Ive built a couple for some friend with the Denon x3800. I think its about the best you can do on the market for the price in that realm
as far as the original question goes, if these are being placed just wherever in a large shop/garage where youre probably not going to bother EQing or correcting anything, I would just send a mono signal out to all of them individually amped. unless just being louder is the goal, then you can do whatever ya want.
It's a "set and forget" party mode for sure with multiple speakers.
TheAbide
Active Member
That's exactly what I consider it.
Southern
Active Member
My suggestion would be to use something similar to this: Link which would be minimal cost to obtain your friends goal but will not provide any alignment or EQ but will eliminate Y adapters.
Having both separate 2-channel and HT systems, I don't care for playing 2-channel on my HT system running multiple speakers.
I only use Pure Direct mode on my AV receiver as I don't care for the "colorations" that the other modes add.
With the quality of the speakers your friend has, I would be tempted to incorporate an AV receiver with blu-ray audio or SACD (provided a center channel speaker is added) as the source which would be a step up from a 6 speaker stereo setup..
Why eliminate Y adapters? It will allow for discrete control of all the pairs, and, will add more controllable power/sensitivity/volume distribution, rather than divide it.
You used "I" 4 times to state YOUR preferences/opinions, while providing only 1 potential solution (untested?). Easy observations.
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Southern
Active Member
I have no issue with your suggestion, per se. It's your "I don't care for" statements of personal opinion of things that are available solutions and have additional interest from others that threw me off a bit.
The presented alternatives are equally valid at solving the problem, regardless.
It's a good contribution you presented for very specific application (untested?).
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Southern
Active Member
My suggestion wasn't meant to disgregard other solutions, it was meant to offer the OP a way on using a speaker switch device with attentuation while maintaining the existing 2 channel amp. The other valid solutions were "off topic" but were providing the OP with options to take advantage of the quality and quantity of speakers present as opposed to a simple speaker switch that I presented which is definitely a "toe in the water" approach.
This is why I mentioned, 3 times, inclusively, that is was "untested." POTENTIAL solutions that looks good on paper and in a photo without hearing from someone who has actually done it, should receive a skeptically cautious approach. However, for less than $100, the lessons from the a hypothetical failure may be worth trying at the price.
Your response was a welcome one. No need to apologize for a REAL contribution via experience, which trumps all the theoretical ones.