Re: Potential Home Cinema Upgrade

[admin_exported]

Hi There,

I currently have an Arcam AVR 300 AV receiver in my home cinema set up linked to a Pioneer PDP 436 XDE Plasma with Virgin Media + box and a Toshiba SD 900e DVD player.

I also have an Arcam P1000 amp which is still boxed and is not been used at present.

With all the new sound formats likely in the future, in the interim would it be worth investing in an Arcam AVP 700 processor and upgrading to the AVP700/P1000 combo.

The system is mainly used for normal TV watching and Movies, as I have a dediated stereo set up in another room (All Arcam FMJ)

I was also considering upgrading my SD900 e (which has been a great and trusted DVD player) to the new Arcam DV139 DVD player.

Any comments and recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

GB

 

[Andrew Everard]

It kind of depends on your speakers, and whether they'd benefit from such an upgrade.

I'd say that given the investment you've already made, and the uncertainty as to which way the HD format battle will go, I'd stick with what you have now. My plan would be to use the AVR300 as a processor/preamp, and feed it into the P1000 to do all the power amp stuff. Or if your front speakers allow this, biamp them with the appropriate speaker outs on the AVR300, plus three channels of the P1000, using the other P1000 channels to power all the other speakers.

And fab though the DV139 may be (and it is), I'd think long and hard before spending that kind of money on a DVD player right now. If the HD tiff is resolved, you may find yourself wishing you'd waited, and if both new formats fizzle, you could always buy a better DVD player later. If you wanted to upgrade the player, I might be thinking low-end Denon upscaler perhaps, as a 'wait and see' option...

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Andrew,

Many thanks for your very prompt reply and your valid comments have been noted.

I should have mentioned it, my current speaker set up is as follows, Montinor Audio GR 20's at front with GR Centre and Silver 8i's for the rears.

Thanks

GB

 

[Andrew Everard]

Then I definitely stand by my original advice