Question Want to help dad upgrade, but don't know anything

LeDragon

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Good evening new friends, I hope you're all keeping well during the lockdown!

My father and I both are big fans of home cinema and it was always his dream to have a great setup at home to enjoy the movies that we like. For his birthday a few years ago I got him an Optoma GT5000+ UST projector, alongside an Elite Screens projector screen and that was a huge upgrade from our Sony Bravia 1080p TV. I will eventually upgrade to 4K but our first priority is sound as we currently have a 7.1 setup which we have had for quite a long time. I want to upgrade to a 7.1.4 ATMOS setup and need buying advice on a AV Receiver and two small surround speakers that hopefully, match well with our existing speakers.

Current Setup

Pioneer SC-LX82 (AV Amplifier)
B&W 600 HTM61 (Front Center)
B&W 683 S2 (Front Surround)
B&W PV1 Subwoofer
B&W DS3 Dipole Speakers (Side Surround) - We plan to use these as ATMOS speakers, so will need to buy new, small, side surround speakers.
B&W 685 S2 (Rear Speakers)

Self built HTPC for BluRays and Home Media Backup
NVIDIA Shield TV Pro (2017, upgraded with an SSD)
Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 (For FLACS, Spotify)

I thought it was as simple as finding a receiver with as many channels as I need (7.1.4), so I was looking at the Denon 6500. I have since learned that this wouldn't work as it isn't powerful enough for the front speakers. I understand that an amplifier can be added to solve this issue - is there a way to use our existing AV Amplifier to do this or do I need something completely different?

Any advice that you guys can offer on this matter would be greatly appreciated!
 
Good evening new friends, I hope you're all keeping well during the lockdown!

My father and I both are big fans of home cinema and it was always his dream to have a great setup at home to enjoy the movies that we like. For his birthday a few years ago I got him an Optoma GT5000+ UST projector, alongside an Elite Screens projector screen and that was a huge upgrade from our Sony Bravia 1080p TV. I will eventually upgrade to 4K but our first priority is sound as we currently have a 7.1 setup which we have had for quite a long time. I want to upgrade to a 7.1.4 ATMOS setup and need buying advice on a AV Receiver and two small surround speakers that hopefully, match well with our existing speakers.

Current Setup

Pioneer SC-LX82 (AV Amplifier)
B&W 600 HTM61 (Front Center)
B&W 683 S2 (Front Surround)
B&W PV1 Subwoofer
B&W DS3 Dipole Speakers (Side Surround) - We plan to use these as ATMOS speakers, so will need to buy new, small, side surround speakers.
B&W 685 S2 (Rear Speakers)

Self built HTPC for BluRays and Home Media Backup
NVIDIA Shield TV Pro (2017, upgraded with an SSD)
Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6 (For FLACS, Spotify)

I thought it was as simple as finding a receiver with as many channels as I need (7.1.4), so I was looking at the Denon 6500. I have since learned that this wouldn't work as it isn't powerful enough for the front speakers. I understand that an amplifier can be added to solve this issue - is there a way to use our existing AV Amplifier to do this or do I need something completely different?

Any advice that you guys can offer on this matter would be greatly appreciated!
Why do you think the Denon X6500 isn't powerful enough for these?
I understand that an amplifier can be added to solve this issue - is there a way to use our existing AV Amplifier to do this or do I need something completely different?
No, as it can't decode atmos. However you may be able to use the LX82 analogue 7.1ch inputs to 'convert' it into a 7 channel power amp. So you could use the Pioneer to run 4 atmos channels in conjunction with another AVR as long as it has 11.1 ch processing even if that AVR ony has 7 or 9 internal amp channels

Doing that for instance with the Denon 6500 would increase the Denon power output all channels driven as its power supply would not be serviceing as many channels at once. Or you could drive the front LCR with the Pioneer and the rest of the channels with the Denon. Or various other combinations of splitting the load.
 
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The Denon AVC X6500 is quite a powerful amp with good power supply and driving those speakers is well within it's capabilities. I own one. You could connect the old receiver from the Denon's pre-outs to drive a combination of speakers should you wish but it has to be a balancing act by adjusting the volume on the Pioneer to match that of the Denon. Perhaps you could do that in the short term if you think power is lacking and then replace with a power amp which would integrate much easier.

You could look at the Denon AVC X8500 which would give you more headroom and two spare channels.
 
The Denon AVC X6500 is quite a powerful amp with good power supply and driving those speakers is well within it's capabilities. I own one. You could connect the old receiver from the Denon's pre-outs to drive a combination of speakers should you wish but it has to be a balancing act by adjusting the volume on the Pioneer to match that of the Denon. Perhaps you could do that in the short term if you think power is lacking and then replace with a power amp which would integrate much easier.

You could look at the Denon AVC X8500 which would give you more headroom and two spare channels.
Why?
With my Marantz at least it is just a matter of sticking the 7.1ch receiver volume on 0 and then Audyssey takes care of doing the balancing via the levels setup. As a Denon is pretty much the same AVR under the covers I'd expect that to be similar. After that the master volume on the driving AVR raises and lowers them both in tandem.
 
Why?
With my Marantz at least it is just a matter of sticking the 7.1ch receiver volume on 0 and then Audyssey takes care of doing the balancing via the levels setup. As a Denon is pretty much the same AVR under the covers I'd expect that to be similar. After that the master volume on the driving AVR raises and lowers them both in tandem.
Just checked the Pioneer and it has a set of multi channel in so can be controlled from the Denon. Multi channel analogue inputs are now becoming rare beasts.
 
Why do you think the Denon X6500 isn't powerful enough for these?

Hey, thank you for your post!

I do not know much about this but I understand that the current AV Amplifier is 190W rated and the front speakers need more than the 140W rating of the Denon 6500. It is something to do with Ohms or something?

I have been watching videos from Techno Dad on YouTube to learn more about Home Cinema but it's like nothing is getting through to me :( It might take me a while to learn all this!

So, would a config of the current Pioneer Amp and the Denon 6500 work fine for our intended setup of 7.1.4? Is it preferred/ better to have just one receiver doing all the work or is using an amplifier on top uncommon? If it is okay, then it would work out cheaper than buying a more powerful receiver.
 
Hey, thank you for your post!

I do not know much about this but I understand that the current AV Amplifier is 190W rated and the front speakers need more than the 140W rating of the Denon 6500. It is something to do with Ohms or something?

I have been watching videos from Techno Dad on YouTube to learn more about Home Cinema but it's like nothing is getting through to me :( It might take me a while to learn all this!

So, would a config of the current Pioneer Amp and the Denon 6500 work fine for our intended setup of 7.1.4? Is it preferred/ better to have just one receiver doing all the work or is using an amplifier on top uncommon? If it is okay, then it would work out cheaper than buying a more powerful receiver.
The X6500 on its own is more than powerful enough.
The speaker figure will be the range of power they can work with not what is needed as a minimum.
Your front speakers show
  • Recommended Amp Power
25W - 200W into 8 Ohms

The Denon X6500 is nicely within that range....

So I'd suggest you go with that model and see how it pans out. If you need more power you may be able to utilise the power amps in the Pioneer via the 7.1ch inputs. If not, it is easy enough to add more power to the X6500 via an external power amp.

As Richer Sounds are doing an extended try at home offer on this it seems a no brainer to try it out.
Audition in the comfort of your own home and enjoy the reassurance that you have made the right choice, or if you’re not completely satisfied, exchange in-store for a different product any time up to 14 days after our stores re-open.
Denon AVCX6500 (Black)

Is it preferred/ better to have just one receiver doing all the work or is using an amplifier on top uncommon? If it is okay, then it would work out cheaper than buying a more powerful receiver.
Options for an all in one 11 amp channels atmos AVR needed for 7.x.4 are quite limited.
The X6500 at around £1.5K, Marantz SR8012 at £2K, Denon X8500 at £2.6K, then a jump to the Anthem MRX1120 at near £4K.

Otherwise it's fairly common to use one of the 7 or 9 amp channel AVRs with the remaining needed channels coming from another box in the rack. I've got a 9 amp channel AVR and am using an older AVR via the 7.1ch inputs to power my atmos channels (cheaper to recycle one I have than buy a power amp to do the same job).
 
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