Question Multichannel vs stereo

[chibits]

Hi,

I'm thinking of moving to multichannel but I don't want to lose stereo music quality.
What level of av reciever should I be looking at to match the stereo quality of my Cambridge Audio CXA61?

Regards

Pete

 

[Sixtyten]

One which has pre-outs for the front channels. That means you can use your stereo amp for stereo music, but also use it for driving the front stereo speakers when the home theatre amp drives the centre / surround / Atmos speakers. You simply plug the front pre-amp output from a suitably equipped receiver, into a spare input on your stereo amp and Bob is your da's brother. I've a Marantz NR1710 which drives the surround / home theatre channels and an Arcam A19 which drives the stereo / fronts.

Otherwise? You're going to spend a clean fortune on getting something which sounds as good in stereo as even your Cambridge Amp.

What I've suggested works for me. Your and others mileage may vary.

 

[jjbomber]

Hi,

I'm thinking of moving to multichannel but I don't want to lose stereo music quality.
What level of av reciever should I be looking at to match the stereo quality of my Cambridge Audio CXA61?

Regards

Pete

It's more a question of what sound you like, rather than quality. An AV receiver doesn't know if it's playing a stereo soundtrack CD or the soundtrack from the film itself. It will amplify the sound. So don't worry about losing quality. You just need to demo AV receivers in stereo and AV mode to find out what is your signature sound of choice.

 

[leemccann1]

Hmmmm second thread I’ve seen saying an av amp doesn’t know if it’s playing stereo or multi channel, if this was the case there would be no need for more expensive amps. You have to consider an av amp is doing much more than a stereo one and everything it does costs money so therefore sacrifices some form of quality against something more simple.

I’ve just bought a denon 6700 as I’ve also changed from stereo to av, I’ve just also purchased some monitor audio gold 100’s so combined they are about £3500, they don’t sound as good as the KEF ls50 wireless 2’s that I replaced, not night and day but the kefs were better in stereo. For me though I’m happy as for av use it’s a better solution.

Personally I think the denon 6700 is comparable to a £500/£600 stereo amp.

 

[jjbomber]

Hi,

I'm thinking of moving to multichannel but I don't want to lose stereo music quality.
What level of av reciever should I be looking at to match the stereo quality of my Cambridge Audio CXA61?

Regards

Pete

A multi-channel amp is perfectly capable of playing stereo music. The quality is the same, you just have to pay extra for 7.1 channels rather than 2. An amplifier doesn't know if it's playing a film or a film soundtrack on CD. The quality remains the same. It's a question of what suits you best.

I'd start with the Marantz Cinema 70s and work up the price range from there.

 

[Witterings]

A multi-channel amp is perfectly capable of playing stereo music. The quality is the same, you just have to pay extra for 7.1 channels rather than 2. An amplifier doesn't know if it's playing a film or a film soundtrack on CD. The quality remains the same. It's a question of what suits you best.

I'd start with the Marantz Cinema 70s and work up the price range from there.

My experience has been different to this, I wanted to get rid of my amp and go back to just using the AVR as it's one less box, one less remote and my AVR has 2 zones so can play music in the living area and to garden speakers with one input.
It'd also mean one less streamer, not having to turn on 2 separate units, make sure they're both on the correct input etc. and my AVR plays much better with my Harmony Hub so having a separate amp is just a hassle and a 2nd thing using electricity.

My surround amp though seems to have "overun" with the bass on some tracks, it almost seems like it's been designed to give a more "rumbly" sound which may be better dynamics for effects in movies like explosions etc. .... If I swap the speakers back from the AVR to the amp it disappears.
Generally the bass and overall presentation with the amp is "tighter" and more controlled.

It's not an absolute day and night difference and I only recently bought a seperate amp having just used my AVR for stereo for many, many years but having now experiened it, despite the benefits of one unit I'm loathe to go back.

Previously I've bought relatively expensive AVR's believing a good one would be better for stereo, generally I'm not that fused with movies so going forward if ever my AVR needed replacing I'd but a much cheaper unit that just "does the job" for surround sound.

This of course may be down to my specific AVR but I'm not going to try changing it to find a new one's no different.

For me, the perfect system would be an amp that's brilliant for stereo, has HDMI Arc. a centre speaker for clear dialogue, left & right mains and a sub out as I'm not bothered about the rears but you'd still get a reasonable effect for movies..

 

[leemccann1]

Get this then! https://www.arcam.co.uk/product,fmj,sr250.htm

Still paying extra for the features bu I get what you are saying

 

[leemccann1]

Actually only 2ch isn’t it but it was quite a unique product I did consider one once as I also wanted the stereo performance and to use with tv but at the time didn’t have space for a full surround