Mono Amps?

[elwood127]

Does anyone know of a simple and not to expensive way to amp up six speakers. 4 L26's and 2 home brew (L100's more or less). Are 6 mono amps feasable? And is there an issue splitting the line output that many times? And how is volume control handled? Is a preamp used for that? Am using 70's Technics amp and tuner now.

[hjames]

Does anyone know of a simple and not too expensive way to amp up six speakers. 4 L26's and 2 home brew (L100's more or less). Are 6 mono amps feasible? And is there an issue splitting the line output that many times? And how is volume control handled? Is a preamp used for that? Am using 70's Technics amp and tuner now.

All at once?
All with the same exact signal?

What are you trying to do -
play a stereo signal to a number of paired speakers at the same time?
Feed a mono signal to a series of monitors?

[Fred Sanford]

Does anyone know of a simple and not to expensive way to amp up six speakers. 4 L26's and 2 home brew (L100's more or less). Are 6 mono amps feasable? And is there an issue splitting the line output that many times? And how is volume control handled? Is a preamp used for that? Am using 70's Technics amp and tuner now.

+1 on the "what are you trying to do?", but I'll also add, "why not a modern surround receiver?"

je

[boputnam]

What are you trying to do - +1, again. However, I guess you are trying to run 6 separate cabinets at-once, 3L/3R.


And is there an issue splitting the line output that many times? No issue with the signal, per se - but there is an issue with the ohm load the amps see. Those consumer level amps you are using are going to prefer 8Ω, maybe 4Ω (typically, two speaker cabinets wired in parallel), but nothing less.

[elwood127]

Yes, 3 left, 3 right. Stereo. I figured after reading forum that HT units where the ultimate blasfamy. I don't like them mainly because of the lack of tone control. Have searched for a unit with those weird round nobby type things that allow some control of bass and such. If anyone knows of one that sure would make life easier. Hard to get away from the older stuff though. It's a style thing I guess. I assume mono amp means amplifying one channel so I figured that was an option. Forgot about the impedence issues. Dam ohm's law. I see pics of your systems with 5, 10 or 20 speakers. How are you doing it? Thanks. Brian.

[speakerdave]

All speakers in a true HT system get distinct signals, so you need six separate channels of preamplification and power amplification beginning at the point where the processing from digital is done.

We have at least one member who uses a not-so-expensive Harman HT receiver for preamp control and finds it satisfactory, and I think it is very likely you would also.

It may be that, as a result of reading online forums like this one, you are trying to apply other people's likes and dislikes to your own project. Don't do that. Get the straight information about how an HT system is configured for a reasonable amount of money and begin exploring the equipment options with your own ears.

David

[hjames]

Yes, 3 left, 3 right. Stereo. I figured after reading forum that HT units where the ultimate blasfamy. I don't like them mainly because of the lack of tone control. Have searched for a unit with those weird round nobby type things that allow some control of bass and such. If anyone knows of one that sure would make life easier. Hard to get away from the older stuff though. It's a style thing I guess. I assume mono amp means amplifying one channel so I figured that was an option. Forgot about the impedence issues. Dam ohm's law. I see pics of your systems with 5, 10 or 20 speakers. How are you doing it? Thanks. Brian.

I did a kind of low-bux surround - blasphemy dastardly, I know ...

Got a mid power Harman kardon receiver AVR335 - does DTS and Dolby decoding ... Feeding it with a Oppo CD/DVD/DTS/SACD player, an old Denon Turntable with an external TT preamp, and some other sources (Apple TV and Airtunes) and a TIVO fed off the local Cable-TV feed.

The HK receiver has the ability to use its internal amps to feed speakers, or pull a preamp-out for any or all channels and feed them to external amps.
I take the left front and right front preamp out, feed them to an Ashley crossover, and feed a pair of JBL amps to feed a pair of JBL 4341 studio monitors in the front. (see the Avatar picture on the Left).

But I could have skipped the biamp stuff and just pulled the fronts out and fed a single (stereo) power amp for normal front speakers.

Albums and standard CDs just feed front left and right - no surround stuff running, no subs.
When I put the receiver in DVD mode to play surround stuff DVD audio, movies, SACDs (or TV mode for HD TV),
the receiver remembers all my presets and plays those in surround mode.
I get the front L & R fed as I mentioned already, and I let the receiver itself feed
the center channel and the 2 rear speakers with the receivers internal amps. It will feed 7 channels but I just need 5.

I pull the Subwoofer channel at the preamp output, feed it to a vintage HK Citation 22 poweramp (200w/ch) that feeds 2 subwoofers.

The advantage of all this stuff - 2 channel music play normal stereo and sounds sweet.
Surround material plays with the extra channels and also sounds sweet.
I get the remote control for the HK receiver so I can mute if the phone rings, vary the volume as I like from my chair, or even change source without getting up. The HK AVR receiver does master volume, tone, surround decode and lots of other stuff.

Its generally not recommended to play the same source (front left or right) on multiple speakers at once - muddies the sound field, to say the least. There have been many discussions here on stacking speakers and why its not recommended ... I'm not repeating all that now, do a search to bring up all that old backwash and reread whats been said before ...

if you just HAVE to play multiple speakers - you can get Y cables and such at Radidio Shack to split your preamp outs and feed multiple amps to feed your mulitple speakers. Its not recommended, it smears the sound and its a bastard wiring arrangement, but hey, pleople do all kinds of crazy things and call it nice sound. Its all what make you happy, right?

Got mine as a refurb from Harman Direct (ebay) for under $400 shipped ...

Oh -and the Harman Kardon receiver does have tone controls and such - see front and rear images below

[SEAWOLF97]

The HK receiver has the abulity to use its inernal amps to feed peakers,

thats the best sentence I've read here in a long time...:D (jus tweekin' ya, HJ)

[Fred Sanford]

Yes, 3 left, 3 right. Stereo. I figured after reading forum that HT units where the ultimate blasfamy. I don't like them mainly because of the lack of tone control. Have searched for a unit with those weird round nobby type things that allow some control of bass and such. If anyone knows of one that sure would make life easier. Hard to get away from the older stuff though. It's a style thing I guess. I assume mono amp means amplifying one channel so I figured that was an option. Forgot about the impedence issues. Dam ohm's law. I see pics of your systems with 5, 10 or 20 speakers. How are you doing it? Thanks. Brian.

When I'm doing that in one room at home, it's with 5 similar speakers + a sub, and it's a surround system. Tone controls on the preamps/processors, but I've really never touched them. I have EQ'd a mis-matched or poorly-placed center channel speaker.

When I'm doing that in multiple rooms at home, it's a line-level audio matrix feeding multi-channel amplifiers. EQs on each zone of the multi-channel amplifier.

When I'm doing that in a club or theater or outdoor event, it's a PA system, with varying levels of complexity.

When I'm listening to music it's usually only two speakers at a time, unless it's background and then it's sometimes on an all-speaker surround mode.

je

[elwood127]

Thanks alot guys. Discussions like this is what helps us newbies evolve. I appreciate the time spent replying. Now if you could all send me some cash life would be perfect. Thanks again. Brian.

[speakerdave]

. . . . Now if you could all send me some cash life would be perfect. . . .

You need to wreck a bank first.