Front and rear amps


I am ugrading my "stereo" to home theater after many years. I have an old B&K ST-202 modified by Sound Unlimited along with a B&K MC Sonata 10 preamp. I realize I will have to upgrade the preamp to a new preamp/processor. I am wondering if I have options with the amp. Can I use it for the rear channels and get a new 3 channel amp for the fronts and center. Do they need to be from B&K or can I get something else. Or should I just get a new 5 channel amp. I'm still auditioning speakers but I am leaning towards Magnepans. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
hear4

Showing 1 response by tok20000

Sure you can use them for rear channels. It has been my experience that rear channel amplification does not matter a whole heck of a lot. I have had very expensive amps (and great sounding) amplifying my rear channels, and I could not tell the difference between them and a SOny 5*100wpc solid state amp.

Going with Maggies, I would think power as far as amplification goes. There are several threads here about powerin Maggie 3.6s.

Anyway, I have owned Maggie 3.6s, and I am not convinced that they are a good choice at all for home theater applications when compared to a nice dynamic box speaker. Maggie speakers in general are just not that dynamic. People who say they are... well... have not compared them side by side to nice box speakers.

I run my HT system through my 2 channel setup. Look at my system here at Audiogon and you might get some ideas.

KF