2. home-theater
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Finally upgraded to Integra 50.5

I finally made a decision on my receiver and upgraded from my Denon AVR1908 to an Integra 50.5. Huge difference and love my speakers again... Was a big mistake buying the denon for the hdmi input and ditching my old onkyo.

I also picked up paradigm studio 100 v5 towers. If I had the receiver alone most likely I would not have bought the towers.

It is clear that my speakers like the upgrade, but I still wonder if I am still lacking on power to run them. I have a total of 10 speakers. Eventually I would like to have a media room in the basement with all of the speakers setup.

Question: Am I able to buy an amp for just several channels or can I just use the pre-outs for the paradigm speakers while using the receiver internal amp for the boston speakers?

Right now I am running.
Paradigm Studio 100 v5
Boston Acoustics VRM-60 - ZONE 2
Boston Acoustics VRMC -Center
Boston Acoustics PV1000 sub

I also have the following not hooked up
Boston Acoustics VRM-50 possible (height or width)
Boston Acoustics VRMX Surrounds
Boston Acoustics VRMEX (1)
butrflynlambie
5 responses Add your response
butrflynlambie OP
13 posts
 
I'll take a look around at amps. Probably the one electronic device that I don't mind buying used.

Thanks for the opinions. Love the new setup, running it non-stop for music.
cruz123
586 posts
 
If you want to run all 10 speakers with the 50.5, you would almost certainly need a separate amp to run your r/l/c channels. A receiver's rated output (130w for the 50.5) is usually only a stereo rating. If you want were to run 10 speakers, you're probably going to end up closer 50-60 watts per channel in reality. That's fine for the surrounds, but I would want a dedicated amp for those 100's in that scenario. In your current setup you would probably need a 250w amp to the 100's to realize a significant improvement. My 2 cents.
runnin
397 posts
 
The Paradigms would benefit from a separate amp, in my opinion, as for the rest of the speakers, you could go either way.
butrflynlambie OP
13 posts
 
I have gotten to play with the system a little. I am very pleased with the DTR-50.5. The Paradigm studio 100 v5 speakers are a big upgrade from the Boston VRM-60's.

I am using an xbox one as the source for blu-ray. I have switched the output to bitstream, everything is showing as DTS even when the source should be dolby. Not familiar with encoding schemes, but will swap out for a dedicated blu-ray player to see if there is a difference.
mceljo
1,357 posts
 
If you have pre-outs you can use those and separate amplification; however, the receiver has discrete amplifiers so while the mains will sound better you may not hear a huge difference with the surrounds.

I have the 50.1 and found a Yaqin MC-30L tube amplifier rated for much less power to sound better for stereo listening. At least get a stereo integrated with a home theater bypass for the best of both worlds.

Depending on your budget, the Krell S-300i would be my choice. I would have one if I had a place for it. I had to pass on a fantastic deal because I couldn't figure out where I could put it.
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