Arcam AVR390 power amp options?

SonicHedgehog

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Very happy with my new AVR390 so this may be a hypothetical thread depending on cost.

I have a pair of MA GS20 fronts, a GS centre and two MA ceiling speakers and a BK XLS400 sub. I also have a Quad 909 power amp that I used with my old AV amp to power the GS20s. As I understand it I cannot use the Quad with my Arcam in the same way. All five channels need external amplification. Or do they? Is there a clever way to wire this up to make use of the Quad?

If the answer is no I could sell the Quad for about £500 and buy a five channel power amp. Max budget would be £1000 for that amp which might be tight given the quality required to improve on the AVR390 and I wouldn’t want to go too old for fear of reliability problems. Or I could keep the 909 and get a couple of used 99 power amps to power the centre and ceiling speakers.

Come on boffins, let’s work this one out!
 
You can use your quad. All pre-outs are live all the time just cable up the pre-outs from the channels you want to add external amplification to. You can do as many or as few as you like.
 
Mmm...I read a review that said its either all or nothing. i.e. You have to have an external amp for every channel. Is this not the case?
 
Mmm...I read a review that said its either all or nothing. i.e. You have to have an external amp for every channel. Is this not the case?
No, it is definitely not the case :)

There is a restriction in that if you are using power amps for the 7 main channels, you cannot then re-assign those channels to be height speakers.

But for a 5.1 set-up, you can use any combination of internal or external amplification.
 

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