AV Receiver used bargains?

[P675]

Hi all, I've wanted a 5.1 system for 15 years but never got round to it, when I'm looking at the prices of bundles on Richersounds, it's gone up quite a bit in the last few years. But really I don't need the latest and greatest. I have a Yamaha receiver from the 90s and 2 old floorstanders that I did use for the TV a long time ago but are now in the gym shed, they sound fine, but lack of HDMI is now an issue.

So is there anything I could pick up on ebay that can do:
-4K 60fps when using the PC (TV doesn't do more)
-You can just turn the telly+sky box on and ignore the AV box if you want the TV speakers (everyone else in the house)

For speakers I would start with 2 bookshelves and go from there. Any help greatly appreciated, it's hard to look when all the models numbers are the same and ebay descriptions don't go into detail.

[TEKNOPUG]

If you don't activate CEC in the components, then they won't talk to each and you can turn each one on independently.

Does your PC have an HDMI and is it actually capable of outputting 4K?

What TV do you have?

You can pick up non-4k AVRs for £100, so if you just sent the audio to the TV rather than the video, you could save a lot of money. Eg connect all the components directly to the TV and then connect the TV to the AVR via Toslink or similar for Dolby Digital 5.1.

[Lucid_AV]

P675 said:

So is there anything I could pick up on ebay that can do:
-4K 60fps when using the PC (TV doesn't do more)
-You can just turn the telly+sky box on and ignore the AV box if you want the TV speakers (everyone else in the house)

If your PC can output Dolby Digital (DD) and stereo PCM via HDMI, then all you really need is an AVR and TV both with the ARC feature. Your PC does its 4K 60fps stuff direct with the TV. The AVR picks up the sound from the TV via ARC. This also give you control of the AVR's volume from whichever remote you use for the TV speakers. The AVR doesn't even need to be 4K compatible. A 1080p unit will do just fine.

Your shopping list should also include the Standby Pass-Thru feature. This is what allowed me to have just the TV speakers running with the Sky box when I didn't need the quality of the surround system.

My previous Yamaha AVR ticked all these boxes and more including App control. It might be a bit rich for your blood, but my RX-A1010 could be yours, boxed, instructions, remote, set-up mic, and delivered* for £250 It sounds great with music in pure stereo, too.

'* UK mainland addresses excluding the Highlands

[P675]

Thanks for the replies, I see what you mean although I was hoping to avoid a faffy setup. Before with the old Yamaha I had a HDMI and toslink switchbox thing for the Xbox, PS, sky, DVD player etc. Many remotes.

I will have to see what the TV can do, it's a cheap Hisense, I couldn't even tell you if it has an optical out without looking, but maybe that or ARC is an acceptable pennypinching solution, if the TV will do it.

[TEKNOPUG]

TBH I don't see the need for the ability to isolate the TV sound from the AVR. If you employ CEC, the AVR should turn on/off with the TV and also the TV remote should control the volume. So from a user point of view, there should be no difference in experience.You shouldn't need to ever touch the AVR once configured correctly.

[Douglas Quaid]

A denon x3800 would do the trick. Or if you can’t afford one of those an x3600. Depends on budget. You can find monitor audio floorstanders cheap on eBay. Depends on budget again as to which you can afford but that setup would be 100x better than any tv sound.

[TEKNOPUG]

You can get a new 4k AVR from £400, a second hand 1080p from =<£100 and a second hand 4k from somewhere in-between the 2.

[TWODs]

P675 said:

Hi all, I've wanted a 5.1 system for 15 years but never got round to it, when I'm looking at the prices of bundles on Richersounds, it's gone up quite a bit in the last few years. But really I don't need the latest and greatest. I have a Yamaha receiver from the 90s and 2 old floorstanders that I did use for the TV a long time ago but are now in the gym shed, they sound fine, but lack of HDMI is now an issue.

So is there anything I could pick up on ebay that can do:
-4K 60fps when using the PC (TV doesn't do more)
-You can just turn the telly+sky box on and ignore the AV box if you want the TV speakers (everyone else in the house)

For speakers I would start with 2 bookshelves and go from there. Any help greatly appreciated, it's hard to look when all the models numbers are the same and ebay descriptions don't go into detail.

I picked up a whole 5.1 speaker system of Ebay for £63, it was a Eltax symphony system, came with a centre, 4x mini bookshelfs and an active sub, have paired it with some existing eltax monitor IIIs for main L/R for 7.1 from the xbox in the garden room. I went for a digital to analogue decoder and 3x mini stereo and 1x mini mono amps, rather than the AVR in the end because I couldn't quite get what I wanted in for the equiv price.

In terms of TV vs DAC sound I simply have 2x HMDI cables one direct to the TV from xbox for TV sound and then if I want the 7.1 then I swap that for one that goes into and then out of the DAC.