promoting a stereo setup to multi channel

[admin_exported]

Dear All,

I'm new to this forum, but not to What Hifi magazine.

current system:

Sony KDL46 X2000 46inch LCD screen
Rotel RA05 stereo amp
Marantz CD6002 cd player
A pair of monitor audio BR5 speakers

I am a hifi music lover at heart, but have bought the
new tv and decided to use the hifi for sound, just in stereo.

I'm considering moving to a cinema system, actually
just buying the monitor audio centre speaker for the BR5's,
and a multi-channel cinema amp.

can someone advise what level of A/V amp I would need to
get at least the same quality, or better, sound as I get from the rotel ra05 ?

I don't want to sacrafice any quality of sound in 2 channel
mode just to move to multi channel, because music is more important to
me than movies.

(is there anything practical I can do to utilise the rotel in an A/V
configuration? I guess not... and it'll end up on ebay)
thanks all

 

[Anonymous]

Are you going to be getting the BRFX rears as well?... it would seem a shame not to

Onkyo get all the press for being the best av receivers at the moment, but I think the general consensus is that Denon and Marantz tend to be better when it comes to stereo sound. I know that there is definately something you can do with the Rotel in an AV setup so that you can use it to drive your BR5s without having to swap the speaker wires over every time.... but I can't seem to figure it out... i think it has something to do with pre-outs.... i'm sure someone will be on here in a bit to help us out.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="oceanmoves"]is there anything practical I can do to utilise the rotel in an A/V
configuration? [/quote]

If you check out the post 'Onkyo 606 vs 875' 28 May (either use the search box or scroll back - I don't know how to hyper-link!), Andrew (Everard) suggests a way where you can keep your amp for stereo music.

Sorry this post is a bit 'clumsy'.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Here is a link to that thread....

 

[Anonymous]

******... doesn't look like I can do this with a 605..... guess it's time for another upgrade.... where's me cheque book?

 

[Anonymous]

thanks all for your comments, I'm undecided, but I'm considering
ditching the RA05 in favor of a well specc'd, high quality A/V amp
to do all duties.... any suggestions on one that will get the best from
a BR5-based speaker set up? perhaps something like a Yamaha RX-V1700.
Don't know what kind of quality level I can expect from this kind of amp
in stereo mode, but I want at least as good or better than the RA05
gave, or it ain't worth it.

 

[Anonymous]

How much money you looking at spending?

 

[Clare Newsome]

I'd suggest you'd need to spend £800-£1000 on an AV amp for it to sound as good as the Rotel RA-05 with stereo.

All depends what else you want your AV amp to do, as well.

If you're not fussy about HD Audio decoding or video processing, you could look out for an older, high-end Arcam or Marantz AV receiver that'd be great with music and movies.

For example, there's a deal here for the Arcam AVR280 - originally £1200, and one of the most musical AV amps around - for just £600.... Sure many other retailers are offering such deals, too.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="tom83cat"]******... doesn't look like I can do this with a 605..... guess it's time for another upgrade.... where's me cheque book?[/quote]

this seems abit odd to me. surely it's the lower specc'd models that need pre-outs to allow

powering the front speakers with a stereo amp, not the top spec ones (that should presumably be good

enough the power them alone).

 

[Anonymous]

That would make sense, but what also makes sense is that someone wanting to spend a mere £350 on a AV amp would not be overly bothered about hooking up a stereo amp to it as well.

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe I should explain my thoughts the other way round, and refer back to the title of my thread.

If you have been a HiFi lover for 15 years, and you want to 'dip your toe' into the world of cinema sound
(that is to say, hook up a centre channel to go with your front speakers) what should one do?
I can't believe I'm the first person to be in this scenario.

one option is to the put the whole hifi system in another room (or the other end of the room) and buy a completely
new, budget speaker system and a/v amp for your telly.
That seems a waste of an existing decent pair of speakers and amp - since you have no real reason to
separate the two.

Another option is to upgrade what you have, but if all you want to do is to include centre channel output
while you watch tv / movies, buying a 1000 pound amp just to get pre-outs to connect to your existing
stereo amp, for the sake of an additional channel, seems abit OTT