To monoblock or not to monoblock

[johnangelo]

I have a very modest HT set up....Denon avr 1712, Oppo 970, PS3 for blu ray and media streaming , Technics Sl-5 turntable and Klipsch rvx -42 5.1 speakers. Although my viewing/listening room is very small (approximately 14 x10) it is acoustically treated. My Klipsch does an excellent job in the home theatre arena but seem to lack a little luster in the music department (not as musical). I have the opportunity to get a pair of Dared monoblocks for a very respectable price. Do you thing with my existing equipment and listening environment that the monoblocks would make a significant improvement in overall musical quality?
Thanks in advance.

[Shakeydeal]

If you are talking about using the monoblocks vs. a Denon AVR, absolutely.

Shakey

[Schu]

for sure, separating the channels is a great idea for critical listening... but at lower levels of (for lack of a better word) financial commitment, I think the gains are marginal at best

Edited December 13, 2013 by Schu

[Shakeydeal]

for sure, separating the channels is a great idea for critical listening... but at lower levels of (for lack of a better word) financial commitment, I think the gains are marginal at best

At this point, I am not so much advocating the idea of a monoblock amplifier as I am getting rid of an A/V receiver.

Shakey

[dtel]

Why not leave the Ht as is and run another set of wires to the front L&R with a switch to disconnect the wires. Two separate systems, (share the mains) use a different output from the Oppo to the 2 CH setup, eliminate the AVR from 2CH completely.

I did this once, the AVR was Yamaha and it sounded completely different, much better. I used a optical splitter to send a signal from a BR player to 2 CH, works great, both did also work at the same time. ...had to try it

I just used a DAC with a volume knob, Emotiva XDA-1, used at under $170 with separate amps, much better sound over the AVR, a huge difference in my case.

Edited December 13, 2013 by dtel

[johnangelo]

dtel,

That was exactly my plan!!! Was going to pull out an old tube pre amp and put that in the mix....put in a speak switch for the fronts and share the mains. Any problems with hooking up a sub though?

[dtel]

That should work great and sound much better. Not sure about the sub, , the DAC I used had XLR and RCA outputs so I went XLR to the amps because they had that input and ran the RCA to the the sub amp, it has it's own crossover so the full signal is not a problem and the Emotiva said you can run both outputs on the DAC at the same time.

The only catch is I have to switch between two sets of RCA's to the sub amp depending on if it's 2CH or Ht. It's no big deal because it's 2CH 99% of the time and It's easy and a open space to get to. What I did was use a short cable to the sub amp, this way i was connecting and disconnecting between two RCA's, I was worried about switching on the amp to much and possibly messing up a connection, I just use a double sided female to connect the two males in the line, works fine.

I think you will see a huge difference in sound quality separating the 2CH from the HT.

Edited December 13, 2013 by dtel

[derrickdj1]

I have one them speaker selector to do what you plan and it works great. Right now I can't remeber the name of but, it is at Amazon.com.

[Scrappydue]

i tried mono blocks over a 5 channel amp and my ears nor my measuring equipment could tell a single bit of difference. so i cleared them out as taking up 5 plugs vs a single was annoying for no gain. they did look cool though lol.

[Islander]

In my system, going from using the AVR for the front L & R to a pair of dual-mono power amps in a bi-amped configuration was a massive leap in improved sound quality.

I first got one dual-mono amp and it made a big improvement over the AVR sound. When I got the second amp a year later, I first connected the side surround speakers to it, and it really improved the sound of those Heresy IIs in terms of detail and dynamics.

Keep in mind that in this case, the new power amps were high-end units, Yamaha MX-D1 amps. I'd guess that there are some low-performing monoblocks out there. I'm not familiar with the Dared amps. If they're good amps, they should really help your system.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Keep in mind that in this case, the new power amps were high-end units, Yamaha MX-D1 amps. I'd guess that there are some low-performing monoblocks out there. I'm not familiar with the Dared amps. If they're good amps, they should really help your system.

In my experience, going from high quality monoblocks to a high quality stereo amp (but a "dual mono amp" come to think of it) I did not notice a difference.

JUmping from a lower end AVR you should see a difference.