AV Receiver or Hi-Fi Amp and Processor

Gusboll

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Aug 22, 2008
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Hi there,

My Arcam AVR250 has given up and I am going to take the opportunity to upgrade. My dilemma is that whilst I need to have home cinema, music is far more important. I have looked at the Onkyo's but worried about compromising musicality and so considering trying to find a good deal on on a Cyrus 8VS2 amp with a Cyrus AV Master 8.0 - although I am aware of the limitations re HD.

Would be interested to hear if anyone has an opinion or can offer alternative options; my budget is around £1300.

The rest of my gear is Cyrus CD8x, Panasonic TX-32LXD700 and Dali Suite speaker system.

G
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Sorry to hear your AVR250 has stopped working. If you contact our support/service department (01223 203200 for the main switchboard) they can of course get it fixed for you, which saves simply scrapping it.

Please forgive me if I don't comment on the rest of your post at this point; I would strongly recommend you discuss it with our support team though
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John Dawson (Arcam)
 

roger06

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Dec 23, 2007
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This is a dilema isn't it?

I have a wonderful Naim 2 channel system which I don't want to compromise so I've added a rather old Yamaha DSP E492 processor so the stereo is preserved and the surround sound is excellent.

However, there's no decoding on the AV amp so I'm sort of stuck with my 8 year old Pioneer DVD player as it has on board decoding and 6 channel analogue outputs.

While this all sounds great - when I upgrade to a Blu Ray player I'll be torn between and expensive player with analogue output or buying a new expensive receiver with pre outs so I can use HDMI from Blu Ray and also keep it hooked up to my 2 channel system.

So although I've not really answered your question but can at least confirm that if you found a second hand Yamaha processor you'd have a cheap add-on for surround sound as long as the lack of decoding on the amp isn't a problem. You'd then have loads to spend on other kit to have wonderful music (which is far more important to me...)

And there's one on eBay (no not mine!)
 
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Anonymous

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Hard one, I know, and have just learnt.....I'd say, stick to HiFi amp and a separate AV processor, that's what I am going to do and change for, having realised music was the more important thing to me. Have a read if you like of a couple of my ramblings here (further down) and here.

As you point out though, there's something of a gap in the market, with the new codecs etc, which especially hurts at this sort of money. The Naim DVD player and AV set up I'm thinking on changing to cannot even output at 720p, let alone the AV unit process HD audio ! My current Marantz, at a fraction of the cost, decodes everything known to man ! But, that's not the point......
 

Gusboll

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Aug 22, 2008
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Thanks for those replies - should have added that I'm using a PS3 for Blue-Ray and DVD.

Also, my local Hi-Fi dealer recommends a slight alternative to my original plan by using the Cyrus AV as a Pre-Amp and adding the Cyrus 8 Power Amp.
 
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Anonymous

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I have an Onkyo 875 with a Cyrus 8vs2 integrated amp connected from the front preouts. As the Cyrus has a fixed level for AV it integrates perfectly with an AV amp. CD6SE and Arcam ipod dock connect to 8vs2, blu ray, dvd, sky etc connect to Onkyo. No compromise.
 

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