Sherwood RD-6106 - Will it power my speakers?

[G4Z]

I was wondering if any of you hi-fi/home theatre fiends had any idea if this amp would power my current speaker set up (2 x TDL10's and 2 x mission 700's). Would also like to know how adding in a centre and sub might affect things.

According to the PDF its 65 watt RMS, my TDL's are 125w and the missions 75w so I think its a bit underpowered. Thing is its a mate who is selling (£65) and its seems like a decent deal...

Any advice?

[bigblue]

I wouldn't worry too much about the speakers being rated higher than the amp, there's not too many surround receivers of that type that put out anywhere close to the limits of floorstanding speakers.

The only thing to worry about would be the sensitivity of your speakers. If they're a tough load, you might find that you have to drive the amp pretty hard. Or if you're prone to turning it up to 11, the amp might struggle. If it does, that's when you could damage your speakers. If the amp distorts, or clips, you could have issues. I'm sure the Missions will be a manageable load, but the RTL's might be a worry.

Adding the other channels should be fine too, again, as long as they're not too demanding. The sub should be ok, as it will be a pre-out, for use with an active sub.

Oh, and one other thing, it's too expensive

[Howard]

Originally Posted by bigblue

Oh, and one other thing, it's too expensive

QFT. You ought to be able to get a second hand comparable Yamaha one for that money

[G4Z]

Thanks for the advice, I think il take a pass on it in that case.

I do like to crank the volume up, as I have my decks connected to my stereo amp at the moment. I am not sure I want to lose any of that punchyness, from what I hear you really need an expensive 5.1 amp to replace a stereo one in these circumstances.

[Howard]

Keep the stereo amp then and make sure you buy a 5.1 receiver with preouts

[G4Z]

I see, so how will I amplify it..? using my existing stereo amp?

As I understand it, with a pre out you connect the receiver to a mixer or amp and then back in to the reciever. Not sure how this works with 5.1 tbh.. can't get my head around it.

[Howard]

No. Most decent receivers have analog preouts for each of the 5 (or 6 or 7).1 channels. These are working in conjunction with the speaker outputs in the receiver, for these surround channels. You can externally amplify whichever ones you want. So if you want to integrate surround sound with your existing hifi, you connect the preouts for the front left/right channels into your existing hifi amp.

Your decks will still remain connected to the stereo amp. The receiver is just another input to the amp. You connect the sources you want to be in surround sound, to the receiver.

Does this make sense?




Although to be perfectly honest, depending on which stereo amp you have, you probably won't notice a great deal of difference between this and a decent home cinema receiver, with your current speakers. What kit have you got ATM?

[G4Z]

Got a Marantz PM-48 and the speakers listed above. Pretty sure the amp only has the 4 speaker conenctions and all the inputs are stereo, there is no optical and no coax inputs on the amp.

I have a few things I would like connected in to it, my shuttle, my xbox 360 (i use it for DVD as well now, harmony remote works great on it) and potentially a BR player (at some point).

[bigblue]

Think there's some misundertstadings afoot ?!

You connect all your surround sources to your surround amp, which decodes them, if necessary. It connects to and powers your surround speakers. You then connect your R&L front channel output (with phono/interconnect cables) from the AV receiver to a line input on your stereo amp.

This passes the decoded L&R front channel signal to your stereo amp. The AV receiver acts as pre amp, the stereo amp as power. The stereo amp treats the input as any other, and outputs the sound through your front pair.

Balance the volume between AV receiver and stereo amp (at an easily remembered level on the amp) with an SPL meter then use the volume control on the receiver for system volume. Bob's yer fathers brother.

This method means all your existing stereo amp sources remain connected exactly as is, and you don't need to loop them thru nasty AV circuity. And if you only need stereo duties, you only need to power the stereo amp, leaving all the AV stuff off.

Originally Posted by G4Z

As I understand it, with a pre out you connect the receiver to a mixer or amp and then back in to the reciever. Not sure how this works with 5.1 tbh.. can't get my head around it.

Nah, doesn't go back anywhere, are you thinking of tape loops ? Those were used way back in the day for hooking up VCR's to AV processors for Pro-Logic !

It's lot easier than it sounds It's a method I use myself, and if I can do it...

[G4Z]

Originally Posted by bigblue

Think there's some misundertstadings afoot ?!

You connect all your surround sources to your surround amp, which decodes them, if necessary.

do you mean stereo amp here? I don't have a surround amp.

[bigblue]

I was meaning if you were to use a surround amp and a stereo amp in tandem, as Howard suggested.

You seemed to be a bit confuzzled as to how to achieve this ?

[Howard]

It really is very simple:

Rear speakers        Centre speaker           a/v sources (input)
       |                              |                           |
       |                              |                           |
---------------surround amp--------------------------------------------------
            |
            |(pre outs)
            |
----stereo amp----------------------------------------------------
|                        |                         |
front left       front right             2channel music sources (input)

[SiM]

Or you could get an surround sound amp that is also good at doing stereo

[bigblue]

True, but I'd fancy his Marantz against something like the Sherwood or equivalent price Yamahas. Well, equivalent priced anything

[Howard]

Yes unless you start paying silly money, a moderately priced stereo amp will generally outperform AV receivers. My £300 NAD sounds a lot nicer than my £600 Onkyo for music, same with my old Yamaha reciever

[SiM]

Originally Posted by SiM

Or you could get an surround sound amp that is also good at doing stereo

OK, I take that back then
I thought there existed multichannel amps that did high end stereo sound too