Hi everyone. Well, it seems my system keeps evolving. I was doing a little review research on the receiver that I have ordered for the new theater room and was wondering if I should try to upgrade it. Here is the planned system:

Room dimension: 14 x 21 Theater room with 10 foot ceiling in first seating row and 9 1/2 in second seating row.
7.1.4 Atmos
Triton 5 for the front left and right
Invisa MPX for the side and back wall surround speakers.
Invisa 650s for the atmos ceiling height speakers.
Supersub X for the subwoofer
Supercenter reference

The receiver I ordered is the Integra DRX 4.3 paired with New Classic 275 v.2 two channel amplifier to power the back channels.

A review of the receiver seemed overall positive but for a 7.1.4 system it sounded like he would recommend moving to a 5 channel amplifier rather than a 2 channel amp in order to beef up the power going to the front and center speakers. From the review : "The DRX-4.3 is rated for 100wpc (2CH driven) across all 9 amplified channels with the ability to expand to 11 channels of processing via an external 2CH amplifier. You can't reassign the front channels to the surround backs so if you want more power to the fronts, I'd recommend getting a 5CH amplifier to power the front LCR's and surround back channels". He said that this would be particularly important if it was a 4 ohm system but I think the tritons are 8ohms (this is all Greek to me).

Any opinions on this reciever for my set up? Is 100 watts per channel gonna do a good job? Am I pushing this receiver to it's limits to where it will decrease it's performance?

The Integra DRX 4.3 is $1400 and the 2 channel amplifier is $400 (So about $1800 total). If I bump to a 5 channel amplifier, I think I'm looking at at least another $600 (so maybe about $2400 total). I think the top of the line Integra DRX R1.1 is about ($3000) and doesn't appear to need an external amplifier for the 2 extra channels. It has 140W per channel (8 ohms, 20 Hz–20 kHz, 0.08% THD, 2 channels driven, FTC). I was thinking of trying to bump up to this if it is not too late and worth the extra money.

Unfortunately, I don't have and endless source of money and I am getting to the limits of my budget. But I hate to buy a great speaker system only to decrease it's potential with an underpowered receiver. So, if it makes sense I would bite the bullet and try to upgrade the receiver.

Any opinions and help are very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Buddy

JR wrote: Hi everyone. Well, it seems my system keeps evolving. I was doing a little review research on the receiver that I have ordered for the new theater room and was wondering if I should try to upgrade it. Here is the planned system:

Room dimension: 14 x 21 Theater room with 10 foot ceiling in first seating row and 9 1/2 in second seating row.
7.1.4 Atmos
Triton 5 for the front left and right
Invisa MPX for the side and back wall surround speakers.
Invisa 650s for the atmos ceiling height speakers.
Supersub X for the subwoofer
Supercenter reference

The receiver I ordered is the Integra DRX 4.3 paired with New Classic 275 v.2 two channel amplifier to power the back channels.

A review of the receiver seemed overall positive but for a 7.1.4 system it sounded like he would recommend moving to a 5 channel amplifier rather than a 2 channel amp in order to beef up the power going to the front and center speakers. From the review : "The DRX-4.3 is rated for 100wpc (2CH driven) across all 9 amplified channels with the ability to expand to 11 channels of processing via an external 2CH amplifier. You can't reassign the front channels to the surround backs so if you want more power to the fronts, I'd recommend getting a 5CH amplifier to power the front LCR's and surround back channels". He said that this would be particularly important if it was a 4 ohm system but I think the tritons are 8ohms (this is all Greek to me).

Any opinions on this reciever for my set up? Is 100 watts per channel gonna do a good job? Am I pushing this receiver to it's limits to where it will decrease it's performance?

The Integra DRX 4.3 is $1400 and the 2 channel amplifier is $400 (So about $1800 total). If I bump to a 5 channel amplifier, I think I'm looking at at least another $600 (so maybe about $2400 total). I think the top of the line Integra DRX R1 is about ($3000) and doesn't appear to need an external amplifier for the 2 extra channels. It has 140W per channel (8 ohms, 20 Hz–20 kHz, 0.08% THD, 2 channels driven, FTC). I was thinking of trying to bump up to this if it is not too late and worth the extra money.

Unfortunately, I don't have and endless source of money and I am getting to the limits of my budget. But I hate to buy a great speaker system only to decrease it's potential with an underpowered receiver. So, if it makes sense I would bite the bullet and try to upgrade the receiver.

Any opinions and help are very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Buddy

Hi Buddy

I looked at an on line pic’ of the DRX 4.3’s rear panel, and it has pre outs for directing output to external amps for all channels including fronts. Normally the fronts would be the first choice for which speakers to external amp via pre outs with a 2 channel amp, so it’s not clear to me why you’d need to reassign any amps in the receiver to use your 2 channel amp for the fronts, should be as easy as using the front pre outs to feed that amp.

If you can do that and use the external amp for the fronts, the set up you’re proposing should work just fine. Lots of folks use receivers only, no external amps.

Can you provide more detail on why that typical front pre out to 2 channel amp set up wouldn’t work in your case?

Thanks, and good luck!

Rick

Hi again, Buddy

I looked again at your receiver, which is a 5.2.4, with nine amps powered, plus 2 un amped zone 2 channels, and you want to use it as a 7.2.4, so the 10th and 11th channels are where you would need to use the amp. I don't know what reassign options you would have with that receiver's apparently 5.2.4 surround processor for folding output in to an 11 channel surround matrix from zone 2 to use it as a 7.2.4, but the only amp use option in that case is for the un amped channels. 5.2.4 set up would allow use of the amp for fronts.

Maybe it's a case of semantics because the last two channels need an external amp, and it can process 7.2.4 input even though it's labeled 5.2.4? Moderator Dude or others may be able to answer and help.

Rick

Just checked out the DRX R.1.1 receiver you mentioned. That's a true 11 channel surround receiver with lots of power and excellent DAC's (the AKM 4490 is used in the top of line Marantz pre's). I think that reciever by itself, with no external amp, would work great for you to keep some lid on your budget. You could always add a 2 or 3 channel amp later for the fonts or fronts and center if you wanted, with no amp reassign issues whatsoever, but I doubt you'd need to.

Just my opinion.

Rick

Hi Rick,

Thanks for looking into the receiver for me and the replies. I was gonna upgrade to the DRX R1.1 but apparantly they are designing new receivers and their higher end ones are no longer available right now. I went ahead and called integra to discuss it with them. By the way, they are really great to talk to. Anyhow, the guy I talked to was not familiar with the specs on the Triton speakers so couldn't really give a specific recommendation. He said to try to match the amp and the speakers based on RMS or continuous power, but I don't think that the RMS is provided for Goldenear speakers. The brochure says that the Triton 5 amp rec is 15-400 watts. So I guess any good quality amp that falls in that range works well? He mentioned that the DRX 4.3 would be sending less than 100 watts per channel when running the 7.1.4 set up but that it might be fine depending on the speakers, room size etc. He said if I felt there wasn't enough power once the system was up and running I could still add an amplifier for the front L and R channels sort of how you suggested if I wanted more from the DRX R1.1. I'm assuming that the actual power going out of the amp effects how loud the system can be played and less so the quality of the sound coming from the speakers? Well, I am starting to learn a little, which is good. But, I have a long way to go. I'm gonna google some of this stuff to gain a little more familiarity with the jargon.

Thanks again for all the help.
Buddy

Hi Buddy

My first Goldenear set up way back was a 5.1 with T2 fronts, SuperSat 50C center and Invisa 525 surrounds driven by a NAD T 757 receiver rated at 60 wpc ((NAD is is the only receiver maker I know of that rates their receivers with all channels driven). The 100 wpc Integra you ordered with 100 wpc rated with 2 channels driven would probably also be in the 60-70, maybe even 80, wpc, or so range all channels driven. That NAD drove those Goldenear speakers just fine. Goldenear speakers are pretty darn efficient, and your's would be crossed to the SuperSub you’ll be using, so the heavy bass work, which is the most power hungry, would be done by the SuperSub’s amp. I would venture that the DRX 4.3 would do fine also even with the external amp used to drive the un amped 10th and 11th channels rather than the fronts.

Re what amp power reserves do, yes, they can raise the upper ceiling of what loudness levels you want to play at without clipping, but they also can give some more oomph to dynamic peaks, and sound quality of the amp's output is a factor also.

Did you discuss with the Integra rep your intended use of the 5.2.4 rated DRX 4.3 in 7.2.4 mode? I ask because my Marantz SR 7010, also a 9 channel surround receive with 2 extra zone 2 un amped channels, only offered 5.2.4 or 7.2.2 options for surround set ups. The zone 2 channels could be set as stereo or mono out only. I called Marantz tech at the time I was setting it up for the addition of 2 more height speakers to verify, and the tech told me that zone 2 was not assignable to surround uses. I was thinking of using Zone 2 to drive the 2 extra height speakers with an external amp to take some additional load off the Marantz, but couldn't do it. Integra may well offer more assign options for the 4.3’s zone 2 pre outs, or maybe I missed seeing some option in the set up process.

BTW, the Marantz SR 8010 receiver, a new model, is also 140 wpc rated and 11 amped surround channels available, like the apparently currently unavailable DRX R1.1 you were considering. Food for thought.

Have fun with your project! The end result will be worth it!

Rick