• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Repurpose an AVR (without preamp inputs) as a power amp?

danovator

New Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2023
Messages
2
Likes
0
Hello all! I’m looking to add some amp channels to my setup and I’m wondering how involved it would be to connect my avr’s pre-outs to the amplifier section of my mothballed old avr which does not have preamp inputs – an Onkyo TX-NR1010. I’ve poked around the forums here and done a bunch of internet searches but I can’t seem to find much discussion on a project like this.

I realize that given the lesser quality of amps in an avr this may not be a common activity vs purchasing external amps but the measurements of the Onkyo’s amps look decent per Archimago’s testing of a similar unit and I enjoyed the sound quality when it was in the system.

If you’ve got a link to share for something similar that’d be much appreciated or advice along the lines of…”Yeah, you just gotta wire an RCA jack onto the amplifier board” vs “Hmmm…you're taking on lots of steps that require an electrical engineering degree."

Thanks much!
 

MaxwellsEq

Major Contributor
Joined
Aug 18, 2020
Messages
1,627
Likes
2,423
It depends on the design. You may be lucky and there's an obvious part of the circuit where you can add an RCA socket. It's probably more likely that there is no such place. If that's the case, you may need to build a resistor network to change voltages and use capacitors to block DC. This may work, but you'd need test gear to prove that the result measures OK and you've not introduced some instability.
 
OP
D

danovator

New Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2023
Messages
2
Likes
0
It depends on the design. You may be lucky and there's an obvious part of the circuit where you can add an RCA socket. It's probably more likely that there is no such place. If that's the case, you may need to build a resistor network to change voltages and use capacitors to block DC. This may work, but you'd need test gear to prove that the result measures OK and you've not introduced some instability.
Thanks for the info - very helpful. Gotta know my limits... Sure, I can copy someone else's instructable but I'm not going to teach myself electrical engineering and set up a testing lab.

The good news...I'm in the market for some amplifiers!
 
Top Bottom