got onkyo sr 800 and a good set of speakers : 2 front ,1 big center 2 surrounds and 2 back suround. how could i ad a amplifier from outlaw and will thath be helpfull and will worth $900.00? last question ,nad 762 is a great receiver right?why it is not thx certified?
Hawk
Posted on
Friend:
I can only suggest that you try out an Outlaw amp and see if it improves your sound. I think it will as the Onkyos have real problems when driving more than two speakers at a time. You have described a 7.1 setup, which would tax the Onkyos power supply to the max.
Try out the Outlaw 7100. They come with a 30 day money back guarantee, so you have very little to lose. Your Onkyo has some connections on the back called "pre-outs" which means that the pre/pro section of the receiver can feed a separate amplifier directly, without going through the amp section of the receiver. Besides the amp, you need a set of interconnects which are cables with RCA type plugs at each end. These connect your receiver to the Outlaw amp, by plugging one end of the interconnect into the pre-out jacks on the receiver and the other end into the corresponding jack on the back of the amp. Outlaw sells a high quality set of interconnects for about $99, but you can find other sets of interconnects that are a bit cheaper. Then you connect your speakers directly to the new amp and ignore the speaker connections on your receiver.
As for your question about the NAD, it is a great receiver (e.g., named "Product of the Year" by The Perfect Vision). However, THX certification is something that manufacturers have to pay for--they pay a fee to THX Labs, who then "tests" the receiver and licenses their name to be associated with the receiver. NAD hasn't asked for THX certification.
I used to believe that THX certification meant something as several reveiews of THX certified receivers suggested that it guaranteed a certain minimum level of performance. Then, in the June issue of Sound & Vision magazine, they tested a THX certified Onkyo 900, rated at 125 wpc x 7. Well, the test results were incredibly poor as the receiver was only capable of something like 52 wpc when driving all 7 channels. Boy, did S&V ever have to dance around that one! It exposed the THX certification as bogus (the Emperor has no clothes!). Bottom line--THX certification is nothing more than a marketing ploy that allows George Lucas to line his pockets and Japanese mass market receiver makers to hoodwink the public into believing their products are any good. I am now of the belief that if a product is THX certified, watch out! They must be hiding something!