Second hand crazy

[admin_exported]

I've been posting here for a while, albeit not so much in the past few days (work pressures! actually i quite miss this forum!!!) and I've been scouting around online for a second hand bargain or two. I keep missing out narrowly and I'm keen to get some views on the kit I'm looking at buying. I know you guys have plenty of experience with some of this kit so it should be easy enough for you to tell me if I'm barking up the wrong tree!

Ok, so here's what I've got! :

Samsung PS50Q97HDX || Pioneer DV565D || Denon AVC A10SE || Dali Ikon 6 5.1 || Chord Cobra 3 Subwoofer || IXOS XHD608 Coaxial || QED Silver Anniversary

And here's what I'm trying to achieve:

Bi-amp the front L&R channels and eventually add a power amp to introduce 2 rears.

Upgarde the DVD player (eventually!) and send the old one back into the bedroom with the Denon and my old KEF 2005.1 speakers. Though they never did the Denon justice! And this set up would be just for music (DVD music - live discs etc) and my iPod, until a more appropriate use arises for the amp. Basically it's a toss up between keeping the Denon, which is like an old friend now and adding in a multichannel power amp to do the bi-amping and allow the rear channels to be used, or get an ARCAM AVR300 for under £500 second hand.

So that's the question really. Would you replace my Denon with an Arcam AVR300? Will it sound much better than my Denon AVC A10SE?

Certainly gives me more options, but what to do? Buy the Arcam or hang on for a Power Amp for my Denon?

Help please!

 

[Anonymous]

Come on Thaiman and Krimo you must have a view!

 

[Anonymous]

Well looks like I've bought an Arcam AVR300 for £465. Let's hope it sings nicely with my Dalis. (Here's hoping!)

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Sounds like £465 well spent to me Will.

 

[Anonymous]

That's a relief, at least now I can bi-amp my fronts with the in-built option. Still in the market (when I have any more money) for a 2 channel power amp so I can introduce a rear pair for 7.1 surround. I've heard it's very effective. But for now, I'll just enjoy the 5.1 And I'm going to look into getting some new speaker cables to replace my single runs of QED Silver Anniv. I'm thinking of getting some Anti-Cables from the States. They sound like they would be better for Bi-Amping my fronts than my QED S.A. Anyone think this is a good idea?

Should probably use it for my centre channel as well in a bi-wire pattern incase I ever get a further amp and bi-amp the centre. Then the cabling with match.

Ahhhhhh the upgrade bug!

 

[Anonymous]

In the end I pulled out of the sale. Turns out the unit had been giving the owner a lot of trouble and he'd put up several owners forum threads about it but had failed to mention it on the "For Sale" forum. Whoops. Anyway, he was very decent about it but I'm now back in the market for a multi channel (6 or more) power amp.

Hey ho. The hunt continues!

 

[D.J.KRIME]

What a Bummer!

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe I got lucky?

I love my Denon. It sounds wonderful, I just need to get a power amp in order to introduce the rear 2 channels. If I'm doing that, I figure I may as well get a multichannel and bi-amp all the fronts and clarify the sound there. In many ways I'll be happier hanging onto to my Denon. It's lovely!

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Will why not go the whole hog and get a Processor and a mono-block for each speaker???? And what are those lottery winning numbers??

 

[Anonymous]

Ha ha Krimey. Mate I'm coming to the end of an upgrade blitz. I have no kids, no mortgage, it's all ahead of me. So for now, the obsession is viable. Bought the Audiolab today, and 3.5m of QED Silver Anniversay XT Bi-Wire to the fronts, 2m to the centre and have been screwing in banana plugs all afternoon. Need some more. They're better than I thought. Buying some Mark Grant interconnects through AVForums.com so should be able to hook it all together by next weekend. Only thing left to do is work out what to do for speakers for the rear 2 channels. Thinking about using 2 of my KEF KHT2005.1 eggs as I imagine they'll be good enough and then it's just the DVD player to upgrade. That's for next year! Enough for now!!!!!!

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Have you figured out how to post a picture yet?

 

[Anonymous]

Mate, I know how to post a picture, I just havent' got any with unique URLs so I can't at the moment. Tell me of a dead simple way to do it and I will! But maybe should wait till the weekend when the Audiolab 8000x7 is hooked up, Mark Grant interconnects and Van Damme Blue Series speaker cable for two rears is here and then I'll post some seriously axxx kicking pictures.

Although I'm being rather let down by my Pioneer DV565D DVD player which has begun taking to displaying a lot of Moire and other dodgy effects on screen.

THAT upgrade will be waiting till next year though! Perhaps when ARCAM bring out a high def, all disk format player. May as well not buy two boxs when one very good one will do. In which case, all superflous spending stops here and now so that serious saving can begin!

Should say it sounds pretty good already, should sound incredible by the weekend I hope. Fingers crossed!

 

[D.J.KRIME]

At last I posted a picture! look on the systems bit.

 

[Anonymous]

Need to take another picture now that the Audiolab is installed. Mate you need another room behind the rack for all the cables. It's mad!

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Oh yes the joys of home cinema and all those flippin cables to hide!

 

[Anonymous]

Mate there are more cables than hi-fi! If wi-max ever takes off to replace interconnects I admit i'll be a little sad. But it will make life SO much easier!