"Mark Lewis" wrote in message
et

I recently picked a used five channel amp (a Chiro C-500) so I can
add rear speakers to my existing 5 channel (a Chiro C-300 and C-200)
setup. I have just started experimenting but I was wondering what
sort of setup other people are using.

There are probably not a lot of people posting here that have personal
experience with all of these amps.

Should I leave my front
speakers on the C-200 and plug all the others into the C-500 or
perhaps use the C-300 for the fronts and the C-500 for the sides and
rears?

These products all apear to be the same output stage module packaged in
varying numbers per box.

The issue would seem to depend on how manufacturers alter the power
supplies as they add more channels to the amps.

If the amps have the same continuous power rating per channel with all
channels driven, then the power supply has been scaled up proportionally to
the number of channels. Given the nature of multichannel music this means
that at worst the 5 channel amp is as capable in the real world as the 2
channel amp. It also means that at best, the 5 channel amp is more capable
than the 2 channel amp, but marginally so.

In fact any audio power amp that passes a continuous sine wave test has a
power supply that is vastly overbuilt when it comes to handling music.

In short, I don't see any advantage to reconfiguring, presuming that of the
amps are all in equally good operating condition. Any audible gain would be
less valuable than the work it takes to recable. The biggest advantage I see
to the 5 channel amp is that is would appear to be smaller than the 2
channel and 3 channel taken together. The biggest disadvantage I see to the
5 channel amp is that it is heavier and bulkier than than either the 2
channel or the 3 channel model.