Desktop Speaker Amp Suggestions for 5.1

JohnleMVP

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
May 20, 2001
Messages
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Hi All,
Right now I'm using a 5.1 Home theater system for my PC speakers. I'm using a huge Pioneer VSX-1120 AVR to power my speakers (5 Anthony Gallo ADiva Ti speakers + Gallo TR1D subwoofer). These speakers are small 3" drivers (8ohm) and don't really need much power.

I would like to reduce desk space and simplify the setup, so I was thinking of dumping the huge receiver and going with smaller desktop amps. I was thinking of have 1-2 amps on my desk to power the front 3 speakers and another amp in the back of the room to power the rear 2 speakers (Maybe add a wireless module here).

Any suggestions for amps? It would be cool if there was an affordable 3-4 channel amp for the front instead of using two amps.

What I've found so far:

  • Audioengine N22, 2-ch, $150-200 each, relatively small, 22watts, and they also sell a wireless module.

  • Optoma NuForce DDA120, 2-ch, ~$250

  • Optoma NuForce MCA18, 8 channel amp, used price ~$500, looks relatively small for 8 channels.

  • Orb Audio Booster Mini - $178, 25w per channel

  • Orb Audio Mini T - $69, 20w per channel, very small and inexpensive.
 
The MCA-18 has roughly the same footprint as that Pioneer, it is just shorter. If you want a small +3 channel amp, you'll have to look at car audio. Since car audio amps are designed to perform in a noisy environment ( car, driving, road noise ) they'll suck donkey balls in a quiet environment. The NuForce DDA120 is about half the width and can be stacked. You can get the STA120 if you only need analog input.
 
Are you planning on only using the computer as a source?
If you still want to have it with working 5.1 for your media and games you could try to make it work using the analog outputs of your sound card to each amplifier you have dedicated to whatever group of speakers.

It's just going to be convoluted and may introduce a whole other host of issues.

Perhaps look into some of the slimmer form factor AVRs from Marantz so you can just plug in an HDMI cable and have it work.
Personally I just keep the AVR for my computer on an end table under my other desk so it takes up no desk space and I can reach over and manually adjust volume if I want.
 
You can also use Infrared repeaters to move the receiver elsewhere but still retain remote control usage. The VSX-1120 receiver even has an IR in.

Think about input switching, volume control across channels, codec decoding, remote control, etc.
 
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