Advice required for AV Receiver Upgrade

[admin_exported]

Hello everyone out there, I'm looking to upgrade my Yamaha RXV640 receiver, hope you can provide some good advice.

Current system is Pioneer PDP LX-508D, Sony BDP-S760, Yamaha RXV640, Kef KHT 1005 speakers.

Just had the Pioneer ISF calibrated and mentioned to the guy that I was thinking of buying the Denon AVR-1910, using it to upscale everything to 1080p via a single HDMI cable. He advised against this method as he says the Pioneer will upscale the signal much better than the Denon amp, I would need to spend around £3k to get something that would upscale better (way outside of my budget).

So, the question is, should I still get the Denon or is there something out there that would

a) give me the equivalent sound quality at a lower price or

b) a better sound at the same price (but without the upscaling)

Any and all advice welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

1. Out of curiousity, how much did the iSf calibration cost, and has it made a remarkable difference?

2. Seeing that you have a Sony BDP-S760, I'm assuming you are having the blu-ray player decode the Hd codecs and this is passed through via the multichannel outputs - you're still getting HD sound although your amp will show PCM or the equivalent and not Tru-HD, DTS-HD MSTR

If you're happy with your Yamaha amp, why change?

 

[Anonymous]

1) Found a guy that did it for £199. Only had it done yesterday, so not had a chance to check out any decent DVD or Blu-Ray content. However, watched Lost in HD last night, which is a great test with all the greens, face close ups and darkness. Could really tell the difference, green looked more natural as did the skin tones and there appeared to be more depth in the dark scenes. Happy to file a further report once I've watched more testing content.

2) That's correct, though it doesn't seem to have as much punch. Didn't invest much in the cables (JVC) as it was only going to be a temporary measure, maybe that's the problem. It's a good point you make. Guess that raises a further question....

Given I can decode HD audio and don't need to upscale video, will I be hearing a significant difference in an upgrade?

All other reasons for the upgrade are for convenience, less wires, no switching inputs etc, oh, and the Denon looks a lot sexier than the Yamaha.

Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

1) Yes, it would be great if you could provide a post with your own visual observations of the improvement in picture quality.

2) Yes again - although you do get HD sound via your configuration, having an AV amp with the ability to decode all of the HD codecs and pass it through HDMI will offer a superior sonic treat compared to having the blu-ray player decode it onboard and pass it through multichannel analogue - no doubt.

I have had my previous blu-ray player decode it (PCM) and compared it to my amp decoding it (Bitstream), and to me, with the amp doing the decoding the HD tracks sounded so much better.

On this basis, you may want to consider that upgrade to the Denon amp.

 

[Anonymous]

So, back to the original question...

a) anything at least as good as the Denon AVR 1910 for audio but cheaper or

b) anything better for the same price but without the bells and whistles?

And, one final question. If I do upgrade the amp, will I need to upgrade the speakers (Kef 1005s) to do it justice? Oh dear, does this never end? 3D next?!!!!!!

Cheers,

 

[scene]

Steve Wake: 2) That's correct, though it doesn't seem to have as much punch. Didn't invest much in the cables (JVC) as it was only going to be a temporary measure, maybe that's the problem. It's a good point you make. Guess that raises a further question....

Hi Steve, what you're finding is of great interest to me as I've got a BDP-S760 so I can send the m/channel out to my Arcam AVR250.

You say that it doesn't seem to have as much "punch". As you're using the BDP-S760 to decode the signal, have you boosted the sub-woofer channel? This is usually -10dB less than the other channel, and you either need to manually crank up the volume on the sub or some amps (not sure about the yammy) have an option to correct for this.

Having said this, the yammy is a pretty good amp - I'd potentially look to upgrading your speakers and speaker cables, before getting a new amp. How big is your room?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi scene,

Thanks for the advice, I'll have a play with the sub and see if it makes a difference.

The room is big, though I keep the listening space as tight as possible. TV is wall mounted in the middle of the room opposite and central to the sofa. Rear speakers are about 1m away from the edge of the sofa on both sides. I've tried to getting everything about 3m away from the main listening position. I'd not really considered upgrading the speakers (very happy with the KEFs) other than adding a couple more at the back, which would then mean an amp upgrade as the Yammy is only 6.1. Think I'd really need to hear other speakers to see what kind of a difference that would make. Suggestions?

Cheers.

 

[scene]

Hi Steve,

I'd check the sub before you do anything. Also just check your speaker setup on the Sony (distances and size). You're using the m/c analogue out and so this will drive the speakers. (Not at home - quick pause while I retrieve a pdf of the manual...)

Page 54: Make sure you've set Audio Output Priority to the m/c analogue out. If you've not set this, you'll get a 2-channel PCM down-mix from over the m/c outs! (Might even be worth unplugging any other audio leads from BDP to amp, if you've got them)

Page 54-56: The Sony speaker set up guide is horrible - read it and wept! Just ensure you're distance are right and you can play around with the level settings using a test tone.

(If you've already done this, I apologise).

As for speakers. From you're speaker placement, I'm assuming you've got a 5-6m square room (?). If so and you like the KEFs, why not look at some 2005.x eggs? If you're tight on cash, some 2005.2s second-hand, or 2005.3s new - if you really want to go for it a 3005 system with the larger centre is even better. (I'm using a mix of KEF 2005.2 + MA RS for my 6x6m room) Get an audition of the 2005.3/3005. The 2005.2 has a weaker sub.

 

[Anonymous]

Steve Wake:

And, one final question. If I do upgrade the amp, will I need to upgrade the speakers (Kef 1005s) to do it justice? Oh dear, does this never end? 3D next?!!!!!!

Cheers,

YES or it would be a pointless.