I've been considering purchasing the 950 and would like some feed back on my scheme to add additional amps. I'm currently using an Adcom amp (5 x 135 watt/ch) but was thinking about adding 2 Marantz MA500 THX Monoblocks (125 watts) and hooking them up to my front R & L speakers. This system resides in a 30ft by 12ft apartment living room. Would a configuration like this work?

My current system;

SHERWOOD NEWCASTLE AVP-9080 SURROUND PREAMP
Adcom amp (5 x 135 watt/ch)
Front Speakers - Paradigm studio 20's
Center - Paradigm CC370
Rears - PSB Century 300i
Sub - PSB Century SubSonic 2I
DVD/CD Kenwood Sovereign DV-5700 (w/ DVD audio)

Sounds like an excellent arrangement to me. Robert Fowkes (one of the beta testers for the 950) used Marantz THX monoblocks for his center and mains along with a Denon receiver for surround and surround back before he added a 755. He now uses the 755 and a pair of the Marantz monoblocks.

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

mcfrid: Probably the only difference I'd make is to use the Marantz units for my rear center speakers. That way, if there is a sonic difference between amps, you can keep it the same for your primary 5 channels, including those same used for DVD-A.

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Take Care,
merc

The advantage of using the monoblocks for your fronts is that you only have to turn on the heavy amp when you're listening to surround material. If most of your listening is stereo (as a lot of mine is) then you can leave it off most of the time.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net

Matthew brings up a good point. I also have a 2 channel amp and a 5 channel (of which currently 3 channels are used). It's nice to be able to turn on the 2 channel w/o turning on seven channels of amplification.

Bob

Do you have to manually (get up from your chair and turn the amp on to) turn on the surround channel sound?

[This message has been edited by Will (edited July 28, 2002).]

If it's triggerable, you can get around the fact that the 950 has no programmable triggers (boo hoo!) by using the zone 2 trigger. Assuming you're not using it for a zone 2 amp, that is. Zone 2 is relatively easy to turn on and off with the remote.

Another solution, especially if you're using something like the Pronto, is to buy an X-10 or similar device to trigger the second amp.

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Matthew J. Hill
matt@idsi.net