What AV Amp?

[cjs]

Any recommendations.


Needs HDMI ins and out, preferably more than two however I can't find one.

Not too expensive, £300 ish.

Not too big! Needs to go under the Plasma and space is tight.

Would be nice to have a DAB receiver, I can't find any.

Cheers!

[marctwo]

Over budget, big and no DAB but the Onkyo SR-605 has very good reviews.

[toohuge]

The biggest problem that you are facing is the HDMI switching on your receiver. At the moment equipment supporting this is pretty pricey and way above you price range. May i suggest that if you are just going to play a DVD player through this machine with HDMI that you bypass the receiver and plug the DVD player straight into your display, this will produce the best results.

As far as equipment is concerned, yamaha makes the DSP-AX861 which offers HDMI switching, the yamaha's if late a pretty good although this is priced at £700.

If you want something within your price range, your best bet for sound quality in my opinion is a Denon receiver. Check around to see if anybody is selling ex-demo units etc and you can usually find some unusual bargains.

For more info on receivers etc check out www.homecinemachoice.com its a good source of info.

[Plotloss]

Closest you'll get with the requirements on the budget is the 605 at around £100 over.

[VEX]

I had a visit to Onkyo yesterday and was very impressed with their offerings.

Setting up a 605 this afternoon.

Will post my feelings later.

V.

[cjs]

Thanks for the replies. The amp is not for me, it's for one of my clients however I will be paying for it, hence the cost issue! The Onkyo looks the best option so far.

[Workshy Fop]

I was only whelmed by the Onkyo, despite its five-star reviews. It is bloody massive and ugly too. The height could be a problem, think it's about 20 cm high.

[anonymous-user]

Hopefully no-one will mind me dragging this thread back up and hi-jacking it. What would be the learned members' suggestions if the budget for an HDMI receiver was upped to about £1,000, £1,500 at a push? I'm looking for at least 3 HDMI inputs (PS3, SkyHD and AppleTV) and although signs point to a BluRay win, a 4th HDMI input for a future HD-DVD player if I'm wrong could be good. If it helps the suggestions, it's going to be plugged into a Sony KDL40W2000 full HD LCD.

It looks like I could pick up something like the Sony STR-DA5300ES for around £1100.

A suggestion for a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup to match the receiver would be appreciated too - as you can tell, I'm clueless when it comes to this.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 13th February 20:20

[Plotloss]

Yamaha RX-V3800 without question.

With regards to the speakers, whats your budget?

Edited by Plotloss on Wednesday 13th February 20:39

[anonymous-user]

Cheers, I'll take a look into that.

Speakers: £500-£1,000? Don't want it to get out of control, but also don't want to spend a grand on the receiver and ruin it by using crap speakers.

[Plotloss]

Do you need a Sat/Sub setup or can you get away with full range stuff?

I'd personally rule out 7.2 at this price level.

[kiwisr]

Avoid Sony, there are much better receivers from the likes of Pioneer, Denon, Onkyo and Yamaha.

http://www.onkyo-now.co.uk/product.php?fdProductId...
http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/524233/art/pioneer...

Edited by kiwisr on Wednesday 13th February 21:14

[anonymous-user]

Sub/Sat not a necessity. I haven't done a huge amount of reading up yet, so just going on reading specs which all talk about 5.1/7.1. I guess by going for bigger front (and surround?) speakers they produce enough bass to negate the need for a separate sub?

Thanks for taking the time to educate an AV numpty!

[toohuge]

For the receiver seriously consider a Denon or a yamaha. These are both excellent. Pioneer and Onkyo are still very good. For speaker packages, try whafdale's evo2 packages, they are quite pricey but usually offer a ery good sound, especially with the Denon. I have had Denon's in the past and they offer a very smooth rich sound. In my opinion.

[Plotloss]

LexSport said:

Sub/Sat not a necessity. I haven't done a huge amount of reading up yet, so just going on reading specs which all talk about 5.1/7.1. I guess by going for bigger front (and surround?) speakers they produce enough bass to negate the need for a separate sub?

Thanks for taking the time to educate an AV numpty!

No you still have a seperate sub, the larger speaker just creates a more even roll off between the front and rear effects and the sub.

Something like the Acoustic Energy Aegis Neo £900 ish or something like the RBH TK Series which is slightly budget stretching at £1500 but outrageous quality, genuinely.

For smaller stuff the Gallo A'Diva Box which is 5 Gallo A'Diva speakers plus the TR-1 sub for £1200 or maybe the Kef KHT3005se for around £900.

Edited by Plotloss on Thursday 14th February 00:29

[JustinP1]

Plotloss said:

LexSport said:

Sub/Sat not a necessity. I haven't done a huge amount of reading up yet, so just going on reading specs which all talk about 5.1/7.1. I guess by going for bigger front (and surround?) speakers they produce enough bass to negate the need for a separate sub?

Thanks for taking the time to educate an AV numpty!

No you still have a seperate sub, the larger speaker just creates a more even roll off between the front and rear effects and the sub.

Something like the Acoustic Energy Aegis Neo £900 ish or something like the RBH TK Series which is slightly budget stretching at £1500 but outrageous quality, genuinely.

For smaller stuff the Gallo A'Diva Box which is 5 Gallo A'Diva speakers plus the TR-1 sub for £1200 or maybe the Kef KHT3005se for around £900.

Edited by Plotloss on Thursday 14th February 00:29

As Plotloss says there is some good stuff out there for that kind of money.

My personal recommendation would be to stay away from 7.1 unless you are looking to do it *properly*.

Done properly, that is good speakers in pretty much exactly the right areas front, side and back, the effect is brilliant. For me is was a worthwhile step up from 5.1. The main difference is that instead of the 'rear sounds' sounding like they are coming from two distinct places, or 'corners' of the setup, the imaging from front to side to rear is fluid, and you cant tell where the speakers are!

Dont scrimp by missing out on a sub. Even when you get up to physically very big speakers -I am running 4 1/2 foot high B&W 802's, I can still tell straight away when I don't have the sub on. With smaller speakers, you will notice even more.

Do you listen to music much? If you do, I would suggest spending slightly more for the front stereo pair. After that, the middle speaker you will also be using whenever you are using it as an AV amp. Subs vary wildly in price, and at £2000 you will expect something with brilliant timing and a huge amount of power and slam. Coming down in price you often have to trade one or the other. If you like music *and* you are going to listen to surround sound mixes then go for somethign with good timing and control, otherwise it will sound crap. For movies though, anything with a lot of slam will suffice!

Contraversially I would suggest that identical speakers for front and rear (or sides as well) is not a prerequesite. You will get a better overall sound with better fronts and cheaper rears than 'sharing' the funds around. Whilst not strictly purist, 95% of surround sound mixes are created with the knowledge that the rear speakers are going to be smaller and as such they regulate the information that is sent to those channels accordingly.


Edited to add, if you are looking at spending over a grand on the AV amp, then speakers in the range of £500-£1000 - especially if you are looking at 5 or 7 speakers plus a subwoofer, really arnt going to do it justice. In my system the cost of the amp to speakers is 1 to 1.5 - I would suggest spending around the £1500 mark on the speakers. If the budget is tight, I would cut down slightly on the amp, and spend more on the speakers, otherwise the amp is going to be overkill for the speaker setup.

Also, you can get a remote control HDMI splitter box for about £30, so you dont have to limit your choice to those which have HDMI ins and outs.

Edited by JustinP1 on Thursday 14th February 01:17

[anonymous-user]

Wow, sounds like I've got lots of research to do!

Many thanks again to everyone that's contributed.

So far, it sounds like a budget of around £3k should get me a good AV receiver and 5.1 setup. Then if I feel the need to splash some more cash in the future I could move the fronts to the side and buy some new high quality fronts to get a 7.1 setup.

Now to find somewhere that sells these to go and take a look and listen. I've just spoken to one company in Oxford who have also suggested an alternative route being a standalone surround sound processor and active speakers.

[telecat]

How about the ARCAM AVR280? Looks a good bet but only has two HDMI inputs.

[JustinP1]

LexSport said:

Wow, sounds like I've got lots of research to do!

Many thanks again to everyone that's contributed.

So far, it sounds like a budget of around £3k should get me a good AV receiver and 5.1 setup. Then if I feel the need to splash some more cash in the future I could move the fronts to the side and buy some new high quality fronts to get a 7.1 setup.

Now to find somewhere that sells these to go and take a look and listen. I've just spoken to one company in Oxford who have also suggested an alternative route being a standalone surround sound processor and active speakers.

It depends.

Hi-fi is the type of thing that when you are start appreciating it, you enjoy it more and want to upgrade.

That would be the reason I would not recommend a processor and active speakers. You are seriously cutting down your options to upgrade there, and i think in a year you may regret it.

On the other hand, most of the AV amps now are 7.1 (or more!). That doesnt mean you wont get good performance with good speakers at 5.1, and it gives you a good upgrade path later for the extra two speakers without having to scrap anything you have already invested in.

With regard to having good speakers at the sides, I have to be honest although I have very good and big speakers at the sides in my 7.1 setup, B&W 804's I really dont think that in most situations soundtracks actually use the full frequency range anyway.

With DVD- Audio tracks they sound stunning though. If you want a balanced 'surround' effect I would go for something the same approximate 'size' as the fronts, even though they may not be of the same quality. What you dont want is for the moving sound effects such as in any Star Wars where a huge rumbling ship flies over your head, the further back it goes all of the bass and mid-range disappear...

[anonymous-user]

JustinP1 said:

Hi-fi is the type of thing that when you are start appreciating it, you enjoy it more and want to upgrade.

I have a feeling that might be the case. As if I need more things to spend money on!