Hey Guys.

I just pulled the trigger on a new 950.

I already own a Adcom 5802 Amp, a MacIntosh MC-2200, and a Adcom 545 for the front channel.

I am into these amps for a decent amount of change, and I need to stick with them for now. I must admit, I wish I knew about the Outlaw 770 before spending 1500 bucks on the new Adcom 5802. My Mac was just redone at the Mac factory.

Anyway, what I'm hoping for is advise on how to make these three very different amps work for me with the 950 preamp.

I have Mission 765 speakers for the front, Mission 732 speakers for the rear or center, and JBL LX-22's for the rear or center. I have a powered JBL subwoffer that gets the job done.

My plan is to use the Adcom 5802 for the front(350 WPC), the Mac for the rear(200 WPC), and the Adcom 545(100 WPC) for the center.

Anything you guys can contribute here would be appreciated.



[This message has been edited by Innovator (edited November 17, 2003).]

I have found that for the majority of feature-film DVD's, the center channel is the most power hungry channel. I've found the same to be true for television viewing using 2-channel analog inputs with PLII-C. Perhaps Soundhound can offer a comment on this from a production mixing point of view.

Cetainly 100W is not shabby for a center channel and may be plenty. My thought is that the center channel might make better use of power headroom than the rear, unless your rear speaker(s) are significantly less efficient and/or much farther from your listening position(s) than the center channel.

Other thoughts, anyone?

The Adcom I want to use for the front is 100 X 2

I was planning to use two speakers right next to each other, and using a stereo to mono cable to feed the amp. Does the 950 have two center outputs or one?

What do you think?



[This message has been edited by Innovator (edited November 17, 2003).]

The 950 has a single center pre-amp output, so you would want to put a splitter on it for the two center channels. The dual centers with 100W each would probably work best if the Mission 732's are used, as they will presumably be a closer match to the 765's you have as mains. I don't know how efficient those speakers are (couldn't find anything online), so I don't know whether the Adcom will keep them happy or leave them hungry for more -- it's very possible that they'll do just fine. If not, you could try swapping the 545 and the Mac; the 545 should be more than capable of driving the JBL's in a surround role. The only possible issue there might be sonic differences between the Adcom and Mac across the front soundstage, but I don't know enough about your amps or your preferences to know if that would be an issue or not.

Oh, and welcome to the Outlaws. If you want to get a jump on the arrival of your 950, you can grab a copy of the manual online (as you may already know).

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

I was going to use the Adcom 5802 and the Adcom 545 for the center. The Mac is for the rears.