Reddit mentions of AudioSource Analog Amplifier, Stereo Power A Amplifier AMP100VS for Home Sound Systems

I went the route of a cheap amp and Chromecast Audio for each zone:

• https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ZSEFU94?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title
  
• https://store.google.com/us/product/chromecast_audio
  
  You need to use apps that support casting audio, but most apps do (Spotify, YouTube, pandora, etc). Apple Music is a no-go but that’s not surprising. The google home app lets you set up cast groups- so you can play zones independently or in whatever groups you want. I have “master suite”, “great room,” and “whole house” groups set up, for example.
  
  The other nice thing about these amps is that the auto sensing input works fine with the Chromecast audio’s line level output, so you don’t waste power running the amp with no input.
  
  One potential wrinkle is that you want to play TV as well... that could significantly complicate matters. I chose not to have the ability to distribute TV audio. My surround amp actually has a built in Chromecast so I could add it as a zone to the whole home audio system, but it was rather complicated to distribute TV audio out to other rooms of the house (possible, but difficult). I personally figured I wouldn’t need that often so didn’t build for it.
  
  The only other change I did was remove the in-wall volume controls. They are nice, but were old and damaged and distorting the sound in odd ways. I set the amp volume to the max I’d want, and just use the Chromecast volume for any adjustments (which is cool too because my google home can turn it down too!).
  
  Hope that gives you alternate ideas!

It'll be cheaper to run a 7.2 receiver that has the ability to process 9 channels and add a 2 channel amp for the atmos speakers. You could use this refurbished Denon AVR-X4200W and this Audiosource Amp 100VS.

If you want a single piece of equipment: Yamaha RX-A2050 when it comes back in stock. You could get the 2060 if you don't want to wait.

Last option would be getting the Denon AVR-X4200W I mentioned before with a better stereo amp such as the Emotiva A-300. Then use the external amp for your main L/R speakers and use the 7 channels of amplification on the receiver for the rest of the setup.

Did you keep the volume knob on the back of the subwoofer low? It' shouldn't be overpowering your room. Maybe try a better 8" subwoofer.

The SMSL should be adequate for desktop use. Yes a full size amp or receiver, used or new will be better. If you still need something small, XtremPro Audio Amplifier DAC 22W $100 which will give you an upgrade to Class A/B power form the D chip SMSL amp.

Other amps if you don't need more than one input or add a pre-amp:

• Narrow Dayton Audio APA150 $170
  
• Audio Source AMP100VS $120.
  
• Emotiva A-100 Stereo Flex Amplifier $230.
  
  Have you DSPed the Miccas to squeeze more bass out of them? Micca MB42x DSP Corrections - No Audiophile
  
  The Vanatoos may have a bit more bass, but probably alot more. Separates will still be more flexible and upgradeable one at a time.
  
  I use Ascend HTM-200 on my desk and CBM-170s in my living room, they are both designed to be used with a subwoofer.
  
  Philharmonic AAMs had great bass before they were discontinued. They were based on the Dayton Audio BR-1 which still have great bass, and added an upgraded crossover for better mids.
  
  I would love to try 8" Mini-Lore Monitors, though they are $625 a pair.
  
  Also check out,
  
  Chane A Series. Flat planar tweeters and split-gap mid-bass drivers.
  
  Wavecrest Audio HVL-1, and order on sale here at Ascend $80 each + shipping. "Budget Ascends" with great mids and to me similar to KEF Q100s, though they like most any bookshelf speaker are still designed to be used with and are best with a subwoofer.
  
  If you are handy try DIY:
  
  5" C-Notes for $100 and around $75 for tools and supplies. Kit includes pre-cut cabinets. Glue, solder, paint, assemble. Compare to built speakers costing two to three times as much. Check out the build videos.
  
  Or the smaller $140 Overnight Sensations may possibly go lower.
  
  7" Hitmakers $240 a pair are designed as near field studio monitors and may have a great low end.
  
  6.5" Classix II MT $230 a pair.
  
  6.5": HIVI 2.2 or 3.1 $220 or $290

I would personally look for something with a little more power. If i remeber right, 45w @ 4 ohms is really like 25w @ 8 ohms (which is what those speakers are). And you really cant get all your wattage out of those little amps without adding distortion anyways. Parts Express has the Dayton Audio DTA-120 on sale right now, for 85$. Its 40w @ 8ohm. There's also the APA100 (made by many manufacturers), and the Dayton APA150 for a little more. Or any 2.1/5.1 Receiver would be a better bet imo.

The Q5 Pro is a cool little amp (I use one myself), but it lacks in the power department.

As for the sub, you are correct. You dont need anything to power it.

That's a crazy deal on those towers, btw. I'm tempted to pick some up myself, haha

Pyle doesn't really have a good reputation, and I recommend staying away from them. This AudioSource amp is a better bet IMO and has the bonus of having a built in speaker selector to optionally turn off the outdoor speakers if you aren't working outside.

Edit: It's also got auto on-off with audio sensing which is convenient. You could pick up an Echo Dot and use the audio out to have a cheap smart-speaker style system, which is what I do in my kitchen. That's super convenient to have hands free control of the music, have Alexa set timers, etc.

I don't use it yet, but this is what I plan to go with and is pretty highly/regularly recommended over at AVS.
https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Source-AMP100VS-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00ZSEFU94/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526618361&sr=8-1&keywords=audiosource+ad1002

I went with this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZSEFU94/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_6-mzzbQSRKWAF

In fact I just got another one yesterday off of warehouse - $81 with prime free shipping. Gotta watch for a bit to find a returned one, but all have been good quality.

Pros - cost, two channel so we can expand the zones we have now, auto-turn on/off with source, adjustable bass/treble/volume, doesn't use a lot of power in standby (less than 5w).

Cons - not mountable in a media cabinet, but I just built a custom rack; no remote, but we just let Chromecast/home do the on/off.

Two of these amps? https://amzn.com/B00ZSEFU94

Assuming the speakers match up fairly well with those amps in terms of sensitivity and power requirements, I think you should be fine. The line out from the Origen+ can control the volume. You would then split the Left / Right signals with a 3.5mm to RCA Y adapter, and connect the R channel to 1 amp, and L channel to the other - is that correct? Reading the Amp owner's manual, it shows the amp only needs a single input using the bottom-middle RCA connector for bridged mono mode.

I don't see anything wrong with this setup. It is a little unusual - an inexpensive home theater receiver might provide better overall features and power without the connectivity issues.

I digress... The number of connectors and length of cable used would probably influence distortion more than the output of the Origen would. Keeping the signal path away from power sources will help as well.

Also, I don't see how replacing the Origen with a Magni 2 Uber would net you massive audio quality improvements, especially where budget is concerned. Unless you need the coax input for some reason.

I hope that helps? Pretty unique situation. Good luck.

Meh, those are pretty docile open in-wall speakers, so you're not gonna get much out of them beyond what the receiver can already push out. I wouldn't spend extra money on a serious amplifier until you get better speakers. Something like the AudioSource AMP100VS should be fine to power two of your overheads.

Is this for Home Theater or whole house audio?

My reccomendation would be to separate the two and have an AVR for Home Theater, and some sort of amp more suited for whole house audio to handle the rest.

Are the speakers all wired with runs to a central closet, or different locations? If different locations, I would consider Chomecast Audios with auto on/off amplifiers for each room. If everything is run to a central closet, you might consider a whole house audio system like this from monoprice or HTD

I'd take a look at these - not that some combinations of amps/speakers will go over $1K by a little bit, so if it's a hard limit keep that in mind (one will limit the other). Equally, I'm assuming you already have a phono preamp or that your TT has one built in.

Focals (Guy also has bookshelf and sub from Focal too as an alternative option for a similar price)

PSB

Monitor Audio

NHT

For amplifier I'd say Yamaha but if you have to save money and don't need digital in this pioneer should work pretty well also, but you may want an extended warranty based on possible QA issues.

If you want to look cheaper you'll need to surrender the remote.

This Audiosource offers pretty good value. It's worth noting that it may have some slight bass roll-off based on the prior version (roughly 1dB at 20hz), but it will be difficult finding something that even touches it in that price range specifically.

If you go used and up the price you get a bit better performance from this Emotiva. If going this route confirm they have the original purchase paperwork - Emotiva has a transferable 5-year warranty on this which definitely eases anxiety on a $200 used electronic device purchase IME. If not I'm not sure I would buy it, but that's me.

I have not found a receiver that automatically kicks on when an input is detected on the analog inputs.

I intend to put in-wall/in-ceiling speakers in each room and run a Dot's output to a small amplifier designed for in-wall/ceiling speakers... There are auto-switching amps that will switch inputs when signal is detected on specific ports for this purpose... So I could also run the aux/zone2 output into these, and still allow some control from the echo.

Edit: Link to a similar amp with priority interrupt. https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Source-AMP100VS-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00ZSEFU94

This audiosource amp is one I see a lot of people using to upgrade their setups to 7.1.4.

Select any half decent weatherproof speakers (I have a set of Yamaha's that whilst not the best sounding, have forgiven me a couple of midwest winters where I forgot to bring them inside).

​

Grab an auto-sensing amp. This used to be a decent buy but has gotten a little pricey of late: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZSEFU94/ref=psdc_537344_t1_B01N3QXFDG

​

Grab an AE (second gen if you really want AP2).

​

It'll cost a little more than a single all-in-one, but will sound better, and is a lot easier to service when something inevitably breaks.

Do you have any aesthetic expectations?

I would use a laptop as a source, buy a Fiio DAC, get an audiosource amp, and buy a set of ELAC B6

That's in your price range, but it completely skips the idea of "stereo system" and relies on you owning a computer to dedicate to music.

I woudl have a completely different plan if it was dedicated installed stereo or something that you wanted portable.

Thank you for your reply. Do you think something like this amp could drive zone2? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZSEFU94/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza

I checked the manual listed for that receiver and zone 2 out is a preout. The patio and 2 future outside speakers are daisy chained and then I have the 2 speakers in the garage for a total of 4 channels.

thanks for the suggestions. I really like that music hall amp. I found this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZSEFU94?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER. Do you think it could still sufficiently power the elacs?

In response to /u/dfmz

I use an Audio Source Amp100 to auto turn on when I play music via a Chromecast Audio. It has a main audio in and a secondary line in as well as line out to feed another amp ( Daisy chain).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ZSEFU94/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488122994&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=amp100

Thanks for the reply. If I were to keep only two of the four zones on at a time through the speaker selector, would this model do the job? - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZSEFU94/

Here are examples of amps that would work with passive speakers and an active sub:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B017W13BP0

The SMSL has a built-in DAC, or you could use the Audioengine.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00ZSEFU94

The Audiosource's main out would go to the sub with a stereo-to-mono RCA cable.

Audio Source AMP100VS 2 Channel Amplifier (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZSEFU94/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_D7G8AbZGVG2CG


Also you can use an audio selector for both chromecast audio and the zone2 preout OC the denon if you wassaant to overflow TV content
https://www.reddit.com/r/hometheater/comments/8c6xd8/zone2_trick/?utm_source=reddit-android

Check out the AudioSource AMP100VS.

That emotiva looks very cool, but why not try running the front 2 channels from the Marantz first. Then you could get away with a less expensive 2 channel amp for the surround rears: https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Source-AMP100VS-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00ZSEFU94/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1481988216&sr=8-3&keywords=2+channel+amplifier

1. You sure it aint your source making the buzzing? if it happened on two amps, id be suspicious of things outside of my amps...
   
   
2. Lots of stuff work. I suggest on a budget the audiosource amp100VS
   
   If you can go more, I would get a nicer amp such as some emotiva offerings. if u gotta go small form factor, SMSL sa160 works, although it probably isnt the best amplification. Also look on the used market for Adcom amps. They are super good.

The problem with SMSL stuff is they're built as cheaply as possible and you get very little of the advertised wattage without distortion. Basically take anything they make and halve the power, that's what's actually usable.

Don't get me wrong, for budget amps they're fine. But for people looking for a quality setup, it's worth spending the extra money.

If room is an issue this AudioSource amp is pretty low profile and sounds really good https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZSEFU94/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ZqYLzbYB7JBRC

For a little more money this Emotiva unit is an absolute monster and still very compact https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSCCRDH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_huYLzbMFC4ASF

As for adding a subwoofer, most will do either line in or pass through over the speaker cables. Really depends on which one you get.

For the speaker amp, I want options for $100 and $200 range and to see the difference between the two. I've been looking at the Audio Source AMP100VS 2 Channel Amplifier or the Emotiva Audio BasX A-100 Amplifier. I prefer for it to fit on my desk.

Running the HD558 straight from my computer generates a small buzzing/hissing sound. I considered buying a 1/4 in. TRSF to Dual RCA cable but didn't want to keep switching cables whenever I wanted to use headphones or speakers. Is there something that takes in 1 input (from the Modi 2 Uber) and can switch between two outputs(to speaker amp or headphones)?

I'm looking at a $200-$300 budget for my first system and have settled on an Audio Source AMP100VS 2 Channel amp and Micca MB42X speakers, plus speaker wire and an RCA adapter. I'm considering either just using the RCA adapter to plug into my iphone when I listen, or buying a bluetooth receiver like this. I'd be perfectly content to do this and call it a day, except that I'd worry that using such a receiver and streaming my music would put a low cap on the quality I'd hear and effectively waste the speaker/amp setup - is this fear founded? Is there something I'm missing here? Or will I be mostly fine to go ahead with that plan.

Thanks!

These have auto on via the input signal - (there are more options out there if you look at commerical amplifiers)

• https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Source-AMP100VS-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00ZSEFU94/
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Source-AMP102VS-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00ZSEFXM8/
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-APA102BT-Bluetooth-Amplifier/dp/B07P583HQV/

I’ve been using a couple of these for years with great success.

https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Source-AMP100VS-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00ZSEFU94

They can be had for less than $100 occasionally and you can daisy chain as many of them as you like driven by one sonos connect.

I set the volume control on the unit once and then use sonos volume control from there. Works great. The units even have an auto sensing input 2 if you ever wanted to add another source like tv audio...

Well I was going to edit my post , but so you'll see it. What about this

https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Source-AMP100VS-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00ZSEFU94/ref=sr_1_1?s=aht&ie=UTF8&qid=1464818683&sr=1-1&refinements=p_n_feature_browse-bin%3A1267488011

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Source-AMP100VS-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00ZSEFU94/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&ref_=dp_ob_neva_mobile

Or possibly

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-R-S201BL-2-Channel-Stereo-Receiver/dp/B00F0H88SY/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?ie=UTF8&refRID=0YAH6D3Q4EF5VPNHETFB&ref_=pd_aw_vtph_23_bs_1

You can power 4 of the speakers off of one of these, or get 3 of them and split the load

https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Source-AMP100VS-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00ZSEFU94/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1468255384&sr=8-2&keywords=amp+audiosource

>And if that doesn't work?

AV Receivers aren't best used as an external amp without multi channel analog inputs or pre amp inputs. Best to use an inexpensive 2 channel amp like this one recommended by AVS Forums Dolby Atmos and AV receivers thread's instead.


https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Source-AMP100VS-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00ZSEFU94

Full disclosure: zero experience with this amp or brand. But would something like this work?
AudioSource Analog Amplifier, Stereo Power A Amplifier AMP100VS for Home Sound Systems https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZSEFU94/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ykilDbZFD96Z6

I just searched two channel amp 12v trigger and found it pretty quick. Unfortunately the well know brands that have 12v triggers are usually going to be larger multi zone amps.

I'm not crazy about them. Horn speakers are prone to have have a resonance peaks, I heard a pair that squekked really badly every time the trumpets played in the monster and men's sound track.

At around that price range there are many good options. I wish we had some M200MKIII's in stock, they sound amazing.

Actually, what I suggest would actually to buy an amplifier+floor standing. Alot of people talk about sound accuracy, but there's nothing like having a wall of soft delicate music just flowing out from you.

Here's an Decent 2.0 amplifier

https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Source-AMP100VS-Channel-Amplifier/dp/B00ZSEFU94/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1482868449&sr=1-11&keywords=stereo+amplifier

Here's a decent floorstanding speakers.
https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-FS52-Designed-standing-Loudspeaker/dp/B008NCD2S4/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1482868539&sr=1-3&keywords=floorstanding+speakers

Here's a combo reciever+amplifier with the floorstanders
https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-FS52-Designed-standing-Loudspeaker/dp/B01MZZTZQU/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1482868539&sr=1-3&keywords=floorstanding%2Bspeakers&th=1

How big an amp(and how many) are you looking for?

What's your budget?

What sort of speakers are you trying to drive?

Where will they be located?

And again, what's your budget?

Small

Medium

Large

Any of those three will fit the bill depending mostly on your answers to the above questions.