Help upgrading system

[admin_exported]

Hi,

I presently have an Arcam Diva AVR000 AV Receiver, DIVA DVD player, Sonoso ZP80 with KEF Reference Front Left and Right speakers with KEF Q centre and rear speakers.

Stereo audio is by far the most important based on Apple lossless disk based music collection. I do not have room for separate AV and stereo systems, so I need to try and get a fantastic stereo AV receiver, I imagine. Is the Arcam AVR500 a very good stero amp.?

Is Sonos the best building block for my music listening; how does it compare to Olive Naim Uniti and other higher end systems?

I have just started my new system by puchasing a Panasonic 50" 3D TV. I do not really want to put the vision through my AV receiver and will not go beyond 5.1 (in fact probably wil not ever have a sub.)

I have no idea how to progress to achive a top notch disk based audio system. I love the Sonos approach, i.e. hand held GUI/remote. I can not see the point in putting a colour touch screen on the actual player. I do not want to walk all the way over to the player all the time.

What about the speakers? I mainly listen to indi pop I suppose, but I do not like a bright edgy sound. Some more attack would not go amiss on the main stereo speakers.

Budget? Well, if I have to I'll go up to £2.5K for the Arcam. I do not feel I should have to go over £1000 for a Sonos equivalent, but if i have to.................

What Hi-Fi or anyone else, can you help point me in the right direction?

 

[Anonymous]

Many sources suggest that the Arcam AVR600 is about as good as it gets for a receiver and 2-channel music. The AVR500 technically should be slightly better (lower distortion) at the expense of (slightly) lower power output - not an issue in most real world situations (like the power difference between the previous AVR280 and AVR350).

As for the best digital music solution, have you thought about a dedicated computer? These days you could get a netbook or a nettop very cheaply (£200-£300), install iTunes on it, point it to a network drive (or get a big hard drive - some nettops even have eSATA) and use an iPod Touch or iPhone to control it, very elegant. Add a USB DAC for great sound quality or for a cheaper option get a USB to S/PDIF interface and use a digital input on your receiver. Surely this option is far more flexible than a proprietary network music player.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Hi Dupton

Can you give a little more detail? Which KEF Reference do you have? And which Arcam do you have? I don't recall an AVR000