OK people, help me choose a AV receiver/Blu-ray combination....

[admin_exported]

Please bare in mind my OCD so I must stick with the same manufaturer so it matchess !!

Also, Listening to music on CD in stereo mode is very important. I also need to upgrade to 3D upgrading from my current Denon AVR2808 so would like to be a significant improvment in sound from that!

So here goes

Marantz SR7005 with Marantz UD7006

OR

Pioneer SR-LX83 with Pioneer LX71 (if thats 3D?) otherwise Pioneer LX54 which i know is.

OR

Denon AVR-4311 with Denon DBP2012

OR

Yamaha RX-A3010 with a suitable Yamaha 3D player ?

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

A nice choice to have to make! What speakers are you running/ intend to run? This will have the biggest impact on which combination will work the best for you. The Marantz combination is at the top of my list but your speakers may change that.

 

[Anonymous]

Speakers are as follows

Tannoy DC6T (L+R) Tannoy DC4LCR (Centre) Tannoy DC4 (rear) all in Signature revolution range. With Tannoy TS12 sub

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

Marantz it is then.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice - reading reviews the pioneer seems to edge it, are you suggesting the marantz as it is pound for pound a better option or do you think I would get an overall better performance form the Marantz ? Also would you think I will get a vast improvment from my current Denon AVR 2808 ?

Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Rooster,

The Pioneer LX85 arrives in Sept with as yet undisclosed matching BluRay players. By matching, these are promised to provide master clock-syncing via HDMi to eliminate jitter. I went down this path 7 years ago with the AX5Ai and 969 DVD/SADC connected by firewire - state of the art then! Still no match for my 15 year old Meridian HiFi, even playing SADC. The HiFi will sadly have to go when downsizing and I'm interested to see how well this new Pioneer combo plays music. I'm a big Pioneer fan with one of the last Kuro 600As. I've recently added an Apple TV and this streaming fad is fun to use, but still not HiFi. Apple Lossless in the new iCloud might be the answer and too many current products do not support this. Year 2012 CES will be a game changer with 256bit music the new standard. I think we need to tread carefully for now.

 

[TheHomeCinemaCentre]

From the demonstrations we have completed the Marantz amp has the edge in 2Ch with the Tannoy's. When you factor in the UD7006 the Marantz combination out performs the Pioneer IMO. We used to suggest Pioneer with Tannoy all the time - you will find plenty of old threads on here with comments from me our my customers - but quite by chance we set up the Marantz with the Defintions and the system was singing. From then on in we set up Marantz with Tannoy to great effect. Try to get a demonstration if you can.

 

[The_Lhc]

Year 2012 CES will be a game changer with 256bit music the new standard.

Pardon? 256bit music? As opposed to 16-bit or even 24-bit, which is barely available to download.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Pardon? 256bit music?

Prolly on SADC.

 

[The_Lhc]

Pardon? 256bit music?

Prolly on SADC.

Oh right, I thought he might have meant VDV-audio but your suggestion makes more sense.

 

[Anonymous]

Pardon? 256bit music?

Prolly on SADC.

I thought SACD was 1bit? Or was that not a typo and am I getting behind the times?

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry typo 256 Kbps

 

[Anonymous]

Hi again, Rooster.

From Pioneer's press release on the LX75/85:

Pioneer AV Receiver - Blu-ray Disc player Smart Link benefits
In addition to the already mentioned Pioneer original PQLS jitterless audio transmission, users owning a new Pioneer SC-LX85 or SC-LX75 AV Receiver and one of Pioneer’s soon to be released new generation Blu-ray Disc players will have 2 more benefits.
Stream Smoother Link[/b] (video) (SC-LX85 and SC-LX75) - When lower bit-rate video (e.g. from on-line sources) is played from a new generation Pioneer Blu-ray Disc player connected via HDMI, the AV Receiver will not only receive the decoded video data, but also have access to information on the original file format. Using this info, the Stream Smoother engine will be optimised for the best enriched image quality for that file.

Sound Retriever Link[/b] (audio) (SC-LX85 and SC-LX75) - When lossy compressed MP3/WMA/AAC music files are played from a new generation Pioneer Blu-ray Disc player connected via HDMI, the AV Receiver will not only receive the decoded audio data, but also have access to information on the original file format. Using this info, the Sound Retriever engine will be optimised for the best enriched sound quality for that file.[/list]

 

[The_Lhc]

Sorry typo 256 Kbps

Ok, what's new or game changing about that?

 

[Anonymous]

Stream Smoother Link [..] Sound Retriever Link

does the Pioneer come with a crystal ball attached, or is that slated for a later introduction? :rofl:

Kidding aside: I understand what they're trying to do, but please do not think that such enhancers can produce more accuracy than was lost by the lossy encoding. Even though it might sound better, it's still guessing.

 

[Anonymous]

The point of this thread was to offer sugestions to Rooster before he invests a chunk of hard earned cash, not to nit-pick over technicalities. I'm a commited fan of the silver disc, but IMHO it would be unwise to ignore the rapid rise of streaming from the cloud/computers as a future source and hence the ability of current products to access different formats. While 256 kbps streaming is not earth shattering, iCloud allegedly will, for a fee, allow you to 'beam up' any old compressed rubbish in your iTunes library and deliver it back at 256 kbps. Personally, I don't have any 128 crud, but this might be a bonus for those that do. Allegedly, the big music companies are negoiating with cloud operators to provide the highest quality lossless, hence the reference to CES 2012 when more might be revealed. I'm not a Pioneer or Apple salesman, just enjoy their products. Marrantz may prove to offer the best musical option, but it might be worth waiting a month to assess the new Pioneer products.