An unfortunate downgrade...

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System - Pioneer VSX-D912 Receiver, Pioner DV 656A DVD player, Samsung LE26R74BD LCD TV, Q Acoustics 1010 speakers, QED Silver Anniversary speaker cable, Ixos XHD608 coaxial cable, QED Qunex OT optical cable (linking Sky+ box to receiver), Qed P2110 SCART (DVD to TV and Sky+ to TV), Tacima CS929 Mains Cleaner.

Situation - Previous to my daughter being born I had a full 5.1 Acoustic Energy Aegis Evo set up. Once she entered the world, her mother banned loud volumes in the house and demanded more space for toys, rendering the Evo's redundant. I duly flogged the speakers on Ebay and purchased a pair of 1010's. I now listen to all music and movies through a two channel set up which er' indoors prefers because it doesn't wake the little one up. I don't like it because music and radio sounds now very wooly, ill defined and there is an obvious lack of sharpness.

Problem - With no plans to revert to a multichannel system until the kids are older I am considering swapping the receiver for a good amp. The problem I have is this would make over £60 worth of cables redundant and I would lose the digital sound connection with the Sky box.
Question time. Is there an amp with optical or coaxial connections? Does 2 channel sound make the Ixos pointless and would a stereo interconnect give a better sound in this situation? Or is there a receiver that 'specialises' in downmixing to 2 channels whilst giving a better performance with music than the dull Pioneer?

 

[Andrew Everard]

If I were in your shoes I'd stick with what I have, and consider a big change later when your daughter is old enough to start watching some movies!

I wouldn't bother with downmixing in the receiver. Just make sure both the player and the Sky box are both set to always output stereo, not 5.1, and that the receiver is running with all the processing off. That will give you the best sound possible from your current set-up - I really don't think a change of receiver will make that much difference, and buying a stereo amp sounds like spending money you could be saving for a future system upgrade.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Andrew, I will probably take your advice. It just depends how long I'm going to take before the plunge back to a multichannel set-up. 3 years? 4 years? I'm not too sure at the moment. I'm sure you'll agree though that a decent budget amp, such as the NAD in this months issue, is going to knock the receiver for six soundwise.

An upgrade is in the pipeline - the Pioneer DVD will soon be swapped for Toshiba's excellent HD-DVD XE1. I'm sure you will agree this is the best way of currently improving my system!

 

[Anonymous]

Would I be correct in thinking that your Samsung LCD is a 26" model - using the model number as a guide here? If so, i would not bother upgrading to the Toshiba HD player as you will not really see much of an improvement. Even if your screen is larger, why not wait until you can re-enter the surround market in three or four years time. By then the HD market will have matured, or been replaced by HD downloads, and you will get a much better player for less money and also benefit from HD surround decoding.

I'd sit on your hands if i were you!!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks JayKay. Interesting reply. Yes, I have the 26" model - I've got a tiny front room.

So a 4 year old DVD player connected via scart will give more or less the same picture, on a 26" screen, as a HD-DVD player connected via HDMI?

Are you sure?

 

[Anonymous]

Well, firstly you could try using the progressive scan component outputs from your Pioneer. That would certainly provide a step up from your scart connection, especially if you do not already have it set to RGB output.

Secondly, one benefit of HD players is to take advantage of the 1080P output, which your TV cannot handle and would downscale to 720P at best.

Therefore, I have to say that I do not believe you will get the massive jump in quality that you are expecting. By all means try it, but I would suggest maximising the potential of what you have first. Then you can sit back safe in the knowledge that you are making the most of what you have. In the meantime the HD market will mature and the players will get better and cheaper so that when you do eventually jump on board you will be getting much better value for money.

 

[Anonymous]

Great answer thanks JayKay. I'm going to take your advice.

Can you recommend a good component lead?

 

[Anonymous]

You could do a lot worse than the QED Qunex P-CV1. Just in case i got carried away - has your DVD player definitely got a Component output? I get confused with all these different Pioneer players!!

 

[Anonymous]

Yes it has, it was a 5 star winner 4 years or so back.

 

[Anonymous]

I really feel for you, my 5 month old son sleeps through most music and movies. He enjoys loud music, pink floyd sends him to sleep, no matter how loud. her indoors is the second biggest home cinema fanatic around me now her brothers gone to sweden.

 

[Anonymous]

Wow, my wife still hankers for VHS and cassettes. Easier to operate you see.

JayKay - I'm still intrigued by your reply. I can't envisage What Hi Fi telling us that a standard DVD player via scart will give a similar picture to a HD/BluRay player. If that is the case then I think we, as consumers, should be made more aware of the fact.