AV receiver or stereo amp

[DLeslie]

I need a new amplifier or AV receiver, but am not sure which, and after advice. I have a Samsung Series 6 television, a Pioneer BDP, and Kef Cresta II speakers. I currently put it all through an analogue Marantz stereo amp, but it's packing in and needs to be replaced. I use the BDP to play music CDs too. The connections are currently:

BDP -> TV (via HDMI)

TV -> DAC box (via optical) -> Amp

BDP -> Amp (via analogue)
I could simply replace with a new stereo amp, but currently it's not ideal because:
- My wife/kids need to be able to switch the telly on, change to cbeebies, and control the volume, without worrying about the other components.
- The audio output from the stereo is a little out of sync with that from the tv speakers, so when I want to listen through the amp I need to fight through menu systems to switch off the tv speakers, and then remember to switch them back on before the rest of the family get to it.
- It's impossible to switch the BDP player on to play a music CD without the TV switching on too.
All of these could possibly be resolved if I found the right settings on the TV, but I have not managed yet, and don't want to buy new kit and be stuck with these problems long term. I believe my alternative is to go with an AV receiver, with lip sync control, and presumably volume control via the TV. But I'm never going to go surround sound, and I'm worried that just using two channels will cause poor quality. I also just don't need all the features these things provide.
Is there a sensible solution here? Thanks for any advice you can offer. David

 

[Leeps]

Before thinking of precisely what amp to choose, it's worth identifying the cause of your lip synch issues. I used to have a stereo amp and had no such problems, so you might like to try the following connections:

Bluray HDMI into TV

TV optical into DAC, analogue RCA into amp

I wouldn't use another separate output from the Bluray at all. In theory, the HDMI should take the audio and video signals to your TV in synch. The potential downside of this option is that you might need to change your Bluray settings to output Stereo PCM rather than bitstream. I'm not too sure, but if you output to bitstream, you might find that your TV won't subsequently output an audio signal at all when playing Blurays. But it's worth a try trying to resolve this as it might make you re-think your options.

A couple of possibilities depending on your budget are the NAD D3020 or D7050. Both have a new feature called TV connect which allows you to control the amp's volume with your TV's remote, which might make it easier to use when you're not there.

Having owned a conventional stereo amp and now an AV receiver, I'd certainly prefer to explain to a non-techy person how to use a stereo amp. Maybe my Pioneer receiver's not representative, but although I'm perfectly happy using it now I've got used to it, it's most certainly not the most intuitive product to use.