Hi.. i had the same issue and ended up buying the Little bear VU3 switch.. i have a 7.1.4 set up with my SR8015 and have all speakers except the fronts (B&W 702 S3) connected to the Marantz and the fronts and my NAD M10 V2 & Marantz connected to the switch… When i want to listen to music, i have the switch turned onto the NAD and 2 front speakers, and when home theater, i switch to the Marantz and all speakers… works well.. I know that adding a component can induce noise, but the sound is amazing for both…
SR8015 + 2ch amp VS separates
Consider helping a separates noob please. Looking into options for a 9 channel home theater system. Tloprying to keep it to just 1 amp and 1 processor. The only 9 channel power amps are from yamaha, monolith, and emotiva. While looking into separates I read more into the SR8015 and it’s preamp mode. This can disengage the two front channels and so the preamp stage acts sort of like a separate.
So I thought that instead of buying separates I could use a 2 channel external amp (ie 250 wpc) to drive the fronts of the SR8015 in preamp mode and run the remaining 7 channels off the SR8015. I wonder how this would compare to a multichannel power amp and separate processor setup. Audioholics measured the SR8015 at 101 wpc (1%THD) with 7 channels driven.
Originally I thought about getting the yamaha mxa5200 (11 channels). This is rated for 150 wpc with the ability to bridge loads so that the front 2 channels can get 200 wpc. However at 7 channels driven audioholics measured at around 65 wpc.
So I thought that instead of buying separates I could use a 2 channel external amp (ie 250 wpc) to drive the fronts of the SR8015 in preamp mode and run the remaining 7 channels off the SR8015. I wonder how this would compare to a multichannel power amp and separate processor setup. Audioholics measured the SR8015 at 101 wpc (1%THD) with 7 channels driven.
Originally I thought about getting the yamaha mxa5200 (11 channels). This is rated for 150 wpc with the ability to bridge loads so that the front 2 channels can get 200 wpc. However at 7 channels driven audioholics measured at around 65 wpc.