Hi, I'm thinking of adding a stereo amp to get more power to my Triton Twos front speakers in my surround sound setup. My setup is the following:Triton Twos and SS50 across the front, rears are Mirage Omnidirectional all is powered by an Anthem MRX 700 at 80w/ch all five channels.
I'm thinking of adding a 250 w/ch stereo amp to the front Triton Twos only. Are there any precautions I should take when playing movies at high volumes? I'm afraid of over driving the 3 others speakers and possibly causing damage to them. Any suggestions???

Hi Wawaron,
You have asked a tough question or two here. And I am certainly not well qualified to answer you, but I hate to see your post just get left out flappin in the wind. So here goes.
I have Tritons and Mirages too. They should play nicely together.
Our Triton 2s are awesome speakers and will serve us best if given the best signal we can feed them. So I can hear what you are saying about upgrading. However, the 2s will sing with lovely, clean power (too much power is nearly never the problem, too little power is), but don't need a LOT of it. IF you are thinking you want to play them louder, the Anthem should be able to play them pretty loud. But it might struggle a bit to have the headroom and power reserves you need. If that is the case, then, sure, upgrade.
How, exactly you would add a stereo amp is possibly very easy or really tough. I got online and looked at the specs of your Anthem and I saw that it does have a pre-out. But whether or not that will be a processed, Front Left and Front Right output with volume control and all your settings, that I do not know. I doubt it.
You need something like that. You must have a volume control in there somewhere when you add an amp (unless I am really missing something in your question). You cannot just play the signal through a 250 wpc amp and to the Tritons without control to turn up and down the volume, and usually to process for Dolby Digital or DTS surround and most people even process further with room correction like Audyssey. All of that will happen in your Anthem or other surround processor, to send the right amount, volume and type of signal to each of your speakers. If that is happening, then you do not need to worry about over-driving your other speakers, or the Tritons.
I hope this helps. If not, please ask more specific questions. The Moderator or someone here will be able to help. Good people here.
Enjoy, Wayne

Hi guys - wanted to let the forum members respond before jumping in... thanks Wayne.

Just for clarity, the Anthem receiver functions as the processor in this setup no problem, it has a full set of pre-outs. It is easy to use some of the receiver's amp channels and some from a separate power amp and everything will function normally. Power levels and input sensitivities would all be worked out during the setup process (manual or ARC).

The concern of overdriving the center/surrounds/rears is not an issue as Wayne points out, the concern of underdriving them because the front L/R will have a lot more power is valid and would require some level of caution, especially for the center (the surround channels typically do not get the kind of energy the center or L/R mains will get, so in general they won't be a concern). Best precaution would be simply to pay attention to the sound from the center speaker at high volumes - if it starts to sound stressed turn the volume down a bit (until you get a bigger amp for the center too).

Wawaron:

You might consider Emotiva.com...they have been running a sale on pretty much everything. Sale ends 8/4 at 11:59 p.m. Personally I would use an amp with as much power as you can afford for ALL channels. They revamped the x-series, now called Gen 2. You can pick up a Gen 2 xpa-5 (200 watts-$999.00)

Emotiva's sister company (Sherbourn) is also running a 30% off sale. The Sherbourn PA 5-200 5 channel looks interesting ($839.00). I feel you would be happier with an amp that produces consistent & equal power to all channels driven.

Keep us posted.

Hey Wawaron,
Just wanted to see if you made any decision? Did you get another amp?
IF so, can you please keep us posted, give a report?
Would like to hear how it is going for you?
OK, God Bless, Wayne