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#65199 - 04/22/07 06:43 PM Good second zone amp
Triad Offline
Deputy Gunslinger

Registered: 01/08/06
Posts: 9
Loc: Arizona
I am setting up a second zone using the 990 with speakers that are rated at 100w ea. What is a well priced amp that can support two zones with two speakers each. Using two of Outlaw's single channel amps is overkill.

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#65200 - 04/22/07 11:47 PM Re: Good second zone amp
psyprof1 Offline
Desperado

Registered: 09/10/05
Posts: 443
Loc: Santa Barbara, CA
It sounds like you want a four-channel amplifier (I don't think there are any) or more realistically a five-channel - unless two stereo power amps would be easier to place, considering the shorter speaker wires. I see Outlaw's 7075 costs only $699, plus postage of course, and would still give you 5 channels in your main room if you wanted to go to HT in the future, and it's rated at 75w per channel. As for speaker "power ratings", maybe someone else can tell me why this specification should not be called the most meaningless one in the audio business. Running any material that one is actually likely to listen to (which excludes pink noise) into the typical home speaker at a power level of even 25% of its so-called power rating would drive you out of the room, or at least it would me. The "power rating" would be meaningful if one were pea-brained enough to try to run a 100+ db sensitivity Lowther with a 100w amplifier, but presumably people who know about Lowthers and their relatives wouldn't be trying that in the first place.
The useful question would be, how big are your two listening rooms, what is the sensitivity of the speakers in each (measured in db output at a reference input power usually translating to 1 watt at the speaker's impedance), and how loud do you think you might sometimes want to listen, to what kind of material? Acid rock probably has the least dynamic range (from softest to loudest) and symphonic music the most.
For reference, 85 db is plenty loud and if you listen at sustained levels above 100 db the hearing aid people are going to love you in a few years.

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#65201 - 04/23/07 03:52 AM Re: Good second zone amp
gonk Offline
Desperado

Registered: 03/21/01
Posts: 14054
Loc: Memphis, TN USA
Psyprof1 has some good info here. I'll second his suggestion that we first look at the application - depending on the nature of the second zone, you might want to go anywhere from a little Sonic Impact T-Amp or two ($35 each plus AC adapters) to a used stereo amp ($150+) capable of driving both pairs of speakers to a used receiver or five-channel amp ($200 to $500+) driving both pairs of speakers independently to a larger, new amp of some sort. If it's a typical second zone application, I suspect that a used stereo amp might be a good fit as long as the speakers in question are rated for 8 ohms so the combined load doesn't get much below 4 ohms.
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#65202 - 04/23/07 08:39 PM Re: Good second zone amp
Triad Offline
Deputy Gunslinger

Registered: 01/08/06
Posts: 9
Loc: Arizona
Thanks for the posts. It is a second and third zone that I will run off the 990 to two Triad celing speakers in each zone. I will probably go
on ebay and buy a used amp with a A and B capability.

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