Nova driving Monitor Audio passive soundbar

Home Theatre
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Has anyone had any experience with this?

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I’m not sure how you would do this. The Nova is a 2-channel amp, don’t you need both channels for your stereo speakers?

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Thanks ChrisSU. It was wishful thinking on my part - the Nova was bought specifically for audio through PMC speakers and I was wondering whether I could also use if for audio from a Passive Monitor Audio SB3 speaker with my main TV. But the SB3 has a centre channel which the Nova cannot accommodate so its looks like a Monitor Audio dedicated compact IA40-3 is the way to go, c/w a sub.

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I think the only way you could integrate the Nova would be to ditch the soundbar and run an optical or HDMI connection to it from the TV. Then run a sub from the Nova and use it with your main speakers for the TV.

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Thanks ChrisSU,
That is the configuration I have at the moment but the lack of a centre channel and the slightly asymmetric positioning of my main audio speakers relative to the TV has an adverse effect on the TV audio. In addition, the synchronizing feature of the Sony TV and the Nova seems unstable. Hence I am opting for a soundbar to try and improve things.

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Setting the balance control on the Nova when using it with the TV might be enough to centralise the sound on the screen. Still, I think you really need an AV amp of some sort to drive the soundbar. Some of the old Uniti players had an AV Bypass function which allows you to use them with a multi channel AV amp, but as far as I’m aware the current range don’t have this feature. So the MA amp you mention might be your best option, keeping the TV and stereo systems separate.

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The Nova has options on analog inputs: set the level of input signals and “fixed volume” for AV usage. (I.e. using an external
Pre-amp for attenuation.)

Never used these (still 2.0/2.1 sound for me), but is this what you mean?

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I did wonder if the Nova had this function, as most Naim amps do. Unfortunately the botched Support function that replaces proper manuals for Naim’s current products makes no mention of it, but if it does exist, it could be an option to consider here. It would still need a suitable AV amp with two of its channels routed via the Nova and three more to the soundbar and I’m not sure that would make sense if the front L and R channels are already going to the soundbar.

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