Cyrus AV Master 8.0

[admin_exported]

I have not seen a review or any mention of this unit here at What Hi Fi. Being a Cyrus, I am confident that this unit would be a delight sonically.

I am wondering if you guys here at What Hi Fi may be able to dig out of Cyrus if/when they will be releasing an HD version? One with HDMI in-puts and out-puts, with internal HD audio decoding, etc?

Dan.

 

[Messiah]

Hi there,

WHF reviewed it a while ago and I believe it got 4 stars.

I used to have one and it certainly is a good unit. However, the lack of HD now lets it down and I have contacted Cyrus about HD upgrades and they told me there was nothing in the pipeline at present!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Messiah.

Below is an e-mail I received back from Cyrus:

Thank you for your email and interest in Cyrus.

We are not planning on releasing a new AV Master 8.0 with the features you mention.

With kind regards

Liz Holland-Hicken

 

[pete321]

This is a real shame, I think the quality processor/pre-amp solution would be the best answer for people wanting the best from their music as well as movies. With a quality pre-amp/HD audio processor from Cyrus, you could add some of the company's superb power amps (upgradeable as budget allows) and create a superb sounding system.

Come on Cyrus, we don't want all the bells and whistles so you can keep it in the shoebox chassis, just give us 3 or 4 HDMI inputs, HD Audio decoding, don't bother with upscaling, but keep the excellent stereo sound that Cyrus are known for.

 

[wattone]

cannot agree more with the above

having been a cyrus owner for over 10 years,i feel very let down by this company

 

[pete321]

wattone:

cannot agree more with the above

having been a cyrus owner for over 10 years,i feel very let down by this company

In my bachelor pad I'd built up a lovely cyrus collection with Proac speakers, alas it all got sold when I met my other half and a new house became the objective with the patter tiny feet.

Now movies are as important to me as music, but you can't seem to get the best of both worlds, I'm sure Cyrus could manage it. Plus I like the idea of getting a bit at a time, i.e. get some secondhand Cyrus powers, upgrade to monoblocks as when funds allow, etc.

 

[Messiah]

It's a shame because Cyrus do make good sounding processors. I suppose though they do primarily focus on stereo and will probably always be a bit behind the times with the Home Cinema side of things.

(Ps, if you do think of getting an AV Master 8.0 I would like to warn you that there is an irritating delay when you switch source for the processor to decide how to decode the signal. What is more irritating is when this happens between ad breaks and programmes. Apart from this though it is a nice little processor)

 

[Anonymous]

I would hope that Cyrus will in the future adopt HDMI with its processor.

I want a Surround Sound Processor with as few 'bells-and-whistles' as possible; one that focuses on supreme sound quality - both for 2-channel stereo and multi-channel surround sound. Video processing is not critical; most of what I watch are Blu-ray 1080p/24fps. A straight pass-through of signals would be fine.

2 HDMI in-puts and 1 HDMI out-put is sufficient for me. Even manual speaker set-up is fine for me. I do not necessarily want/need automated EQ. High-def audio codecs decoding is a must for me.

That's pretty much it. Come on Cyrus!

Dan.

 

[Anonymous]

You are spot on Dan ! It's a real shame there's not more out there in such a guise...

Naim's AV2 was the perfect example of this - pure audio only approach with all the typical Naim attributes applied to AV audio. Visual sources don't even go anywhere near it. It was a processor I was more than happy to build my whole system around, which I am slowly indeed doing. However, with the advent of the HD codecs and HDMI, it's looking slightly dated, especially at the price point. It does have a 7 channel analogue input, so is just about keeping it's head above water by allowing decoded BD sources to be input, but then that's leaving the decoding to the source player and for me somewhat defeats the point of such a high quality pre/pro....With a touch of irony, not to mention frustration, I've held off from purchasing the very piece of kit that has got me into the whole Naim line...!

Naim have goneÿcompletelyÿsilent on the possibility of a AV3 (as they have their AV in general) and I don't think they are the only ones...I'm just not sure they can compete and afford the constant R&D that seems to go along with being a AVÿmanufacturer....Sure, they bring fantastic products to the table that are head and shoulders above the majority, but they are often very late (even outdated) and to the average buyer very expensive - think DVD5.

Arcam seem to be still striding forward with AV and they still have that audio slant. The AV600 seems to be very well received....I'm awaiting the first reviews of the processor version, 888, before I make any final decisions with all of this, but my gut feeling is this may be the answer for me personally in light of the tumbleweeds rolling through the AV department at Naim HQ....

Steveÿ

 

[Anonymous]

I am also interested in the Arcam AV888. Based on the AVR600's glowing reviews, I would say that the AV888 will be a step-up in performance.

I want something that is simple. I do not have many requirements for my set-up. I just need 2 HDMI in-puts (1 for my Sony BDP-S5000ES Blu-ray Disc Player and 1 for my Sony Playstation 3) and 1 HDMI out-put (to my Sony Bravia 52-inch Full HD LCD TV). I need obviously 8 pre-outs (7 channels plus 1 sub-woofer), and 1 set of RCA analogue out-puts for my Cyrus CD 8 SE CD Player.

Most A/V Surround Sound Processors are high-end, and sport so much connection that I shall never use. I would rather pay that same amount of money for a lot less connectivity and features that I shall never use. I want my money to go to where it counts - audio quality and top-notch surround sound processing.

Even though the AV888 will not be as feature-laden as, say, the Denon AVP-A1HDA (which costs a lot more than the Arcam AV888), it still has a lot more than I require.

I think that I shall hang on to my superb (for the money) Marantz AV8003. It is obvious that the budget went mostly where it counts - sound quality. It has not that got that many 'bells-and-whistles' which is completely fine with me, but its audio performance is very good - for the money.

Plus, with all this talk about HDMI v1.4, etc, perhaps it might be better waiting this out.

Dan.