If you’ve ever wondered how to connect an integrated amplifier to an AV receiver? This is the guide for you. If you have a new shiny amp or just want to look at the options before you make the splurge, it’s always good to know your options.
The notions of amplifier vs receiver can often be confused, so it’s good to get our terminology out of the way first. An amplifier does one thing which is increasing the power of the two-port signal. While an AV receiver is something that is used primarily for home theatre or multi setups. So now that we have the terminology out of the way, let’s get into the brass tax of how to connect the amp to your AV receiver.
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Before you start
As always, when you’re experimenting with any electricity or current please ensure that you have the appropriate protective equipment because electricity is nothing to experiment with. It could mean that you could fry your equipment, and at worst it could mean that you could lose your life.
So please, do not mess around with electricity. If you’re ever concerned with setting something up or have concerns, please contact a qualified electrician who would be more than happy to do this for you.
How to connect integrated Amplifier to AV receiver
- Step 1: First, locate your ports, you’ll be looking for the pre-amp outlets on the back of your AV receiver. Most commonly these ports are coloured white and red and usually have a label saying “pre-out”. You may see other colours in the back, but they’re not important for this installation, so let’s just focus on the red and white ports for now.
- Step 2: You’re going to find your RCA cable, it’s the cable that has a couple of connectors sticking out of them and they’re normally coloured too. The colours of these cables would be yellow, white and red. You’re going to match the corresponding colours (e.g. red to red) and plug the cable in.
- Step 3: Take the other end of that cable and you’ll be plugging it into the line-input. This is a fancy way of saying you want to look for the aux label on the back of the auxiliary label. The ports often look like a standard headphone jack, so if you need a more visual cue keep an eye out for something that will look similar to that.
- Step 4: All that’s left from here is to connect the power and turn everything on. From there you’ll be able to test your systems and see if anything is a miss. There is sometimes a known bug that causes a vibration noise or some sort of static, especially in older models. That’s a simple insulation trick! You’ll be looking for a ferrite noise filter, and this is something you can buy on Amazon for a couple of dollars. It clips onto your cable and eliminates the static.
Video Tutorials
As usual, for those who are visually inclined, we have a selection of tutorials to make the installation as easy as possible.