HiFi Amp vs Home Cinema Amp

[Lorne50]

My HiFi amp has started playing up so I will need to buy a new one. What is the difference in performance for music playing between a dedicated HiFi amp like the Yamaha A-S500 and a Home Cinema amp like the Onkyo TX-SR608 ? I am trying to decide whether to buy one unit and use it for both music and TV or to stick with separate units.

In case it makes a difference I have:

1. A Sansui turntable used only for classical music

2. An Arcon CD player used for all music types when I want to play a whole album

3. A Sansui FM tuner

4. MP3 player that is used like a radio playing random music of all types except classical

5. Pair of floor standing accoustic research speakers for music

6. 5.1 sony surround sound speakers currently connected to a sony all-in-one amp/DVD player

7. TV & PVR & Blue-ray player that can all play through the sony unit.

 

[CnoEvil]

Hi Lorne, and welcome.

The answer is subjective and personal.

At any given cost, a stereo amp will out perform an AV one (due to the percentage of cost that goes into the complexity of an AV one)

For me personally, the only AV amps that do justice to 2 channel are Arcam, so £1700 for their AVR 400 is a minimum. You have to find what works for you.....nobody here can tell you that.

The improvements that you will hear are the same as going up the "food chain" for stereo amps.

Depending on budget, your choice is a decent AV amp, or a cheap AV amp connected by pre-outs to an integrated one. You pays your money and you takes your choice.... Just do a lot of demoing first.

Regards

Cno

 

[amcluesent]

Don't bother with an AV Receiver for music unless willing to spend serious £££. Best bet is get a stereo amp which has one fixed-gain line inputs. When budget allows, get an AV Reveiver with L/R pre-outs and auto-balancing using a microphone and use that for video and 3.1 amplification, sending the front channels via your amp.

 

[the record spot]

I would seriously consider an AV receiver for music, unless all you listen to is regular CD in which case the above opinions are valid (though the likes of Onkyo's outgoing TX-SR608 and the incoming TX-NR609 do a fair job by all accounts). If, on the other hand, you listen via a number of formats, not just redbook CD, then an AV amp's arguably the more accomplished performer.

What's the best a regular 2-channel amp can do right now - an onboard DAC? Or, if you've got the likes of the Harman HK990, the means to optimise room correction, or use two subwoofers. Otherwise, the AV amps offer all the functionality you could want, HD-audio, DVD-A, SACD/DSD are naming but three, then you could look at the assignable amps feature that many such amps have, or the aforesaid 609 from Onkyo's Spotify or internet radio capabilites and suddenly stereo amps look like a long in the tooth one trick pony.

Draft your checklist, which you've done to some extent, check out what you want most, listen to a few and go from there. You might be pleasantly surprised.

EDIT: Indeed of the two amps you mention, the Onkyo might be the more suited to your needs and potentially be less fatiguing on the ear given the brightness which has been levelled at the Yamaha AS-500. Noel Keywood (Hi Fi World publisher and reviewer) covered the Onkyo a year or so back and gave it a very positive write-up for it's all-round abilities. In comparison, the Yammie, good though it appears to be for £300, is the kind of one-trick pony I was referring to, albeit it a very good one!

 

[Anonymous]

Also consider the Yamaha RX V667 AV receiver which is very good in stereo mode and can be had for a ridiculous £300