Sony or Arcam.....

[lcd4ever]

I am seriously considering upgrading my trusty Sony STR-DB940 receiver it has served me very well for the last 10 years; but time marches on....

I was intent on getting myself the new Arcam AVR 600; however after reading the review of the new Sony STR DA5400 ES I think for the sake of my wallet and my marriage this may be the better option; I see it is available over on 'Cheap Electricals .co.uk' for just over £1200 this compares to the £3000 arcam are asking for their latest offering.....

My question is simply.... is the Arcam worth the the best part of another 2 grand ? And also should I plump for the latest Sony will I hear a significant difference on my old 940(I have the 940 hooked up to my Sony BDS 550 via the 5.1 channel analogue inputs and I must admit to being very UNimpressed with the new HD sound formats when I go back to an older DVD and use the coaxial for DTS especially the sound is much more 'in your face' and crisp. I find that explosions etc in the new formats esp Dolby True HD promise so much then sort of go off with a whimper rather than a 'bang'.......

 

[d4v3pum4]

From what I've heard the AVR600 blows every other receiver out of the water but so it should if it costs £3.5k. That said, Arcam owners tend to view their products through Arcam tinted spectacles, so they're bound to like it, aren't they?

Most owners are reporting several bugs, which I have no doubt Arcam are working on but when you spend £3k+ you want it to be perfect from the off. This probably explains why it hasn't be reviewed anywhere, Arcam will want to get the review models out with perfect firmware.

Are you planning on demo'ing as personally I wouldn't spend £1.5k+ on a receiver based on a review or forum opinion? There are plenty of other things to consider too i.e. your speakers, speaker positioning, basic room acoustics, settings and so on before splashing more money. You may find that conducting a few tweaks relases a bit more performance out of your current kit.

You didn't mention speakers at all, which I consider to be pretty important when considering an amp!

 

[lcd4ever]

Thanks for the input.....my speaker set-up currently consists of Mission 302e floorstanders as fronts, I have a AE Aegis One centre(will upgrade the centre to the best B & W I can afford when buying the new receiver), and for rears I use B & W 601 S2s; my sub is a Wharfedale Power Cube.

 

[gregvet]

It is worth bearing in mind that you are not comparing just the different sound formats when you talk about HD audio versus DTS/DD as you are also using different Digital to Analogue Converters, one set in the amp one set in the BluRay. I am not convinced the DACs in the Sony Bluray are that high quality, but then I know nothing of the quality of your amp.

May seem like a small point, but I thought similar to you but when I upgraded the Bluray to a Pioneer I realised how good the HD audio could sound. Much better than the legacy formats! ÿ

ÿ

If you are even considering the AVR600 then you could do worse than what I have just done, get one of the end of line Arcam AV9 and P7 combos from Sevenoaks (£1999) and use the saving to get a higher quality Bluray. Still cheaper than the AVR600 and much higher quality amplification, which allows the processor to be upgraded in the future without having to get rid of the amplification (which lets faced it never gets outdated!).

ÿMy understanding is that Arcam themselves say that with legacy formats the Av9/P7 kicks the AVR600's ass.

ÿ

Just ÿmy two cents.

 

[Andrew Everard]

d4v3pum4:This probably explains why it hasn't be reviewed anywhere, Arcam will want to get the review models out with perfect firmware.

Reviews of both the Sony and the Arcam in the June issue, on sale next week.

 

[matthewpiano]

Personally I'd go for the Sony receiver and spend the balance of your budget on a complete new 5.1 speaker array. Absolutely no point in spending all that money on the Arcam and then using a mis-match of speakers.

 

[Anonymous]

matthewpiano:Personally I'd go for the Sony receiver and spend the balance of your budget on a complete new 5.1 speaker array. Absolutely no point in spending all that money on the Arcam and then using a mis-match of speakers.

I agree totally!

 

[robjcooper]

Ditto. Sony and a new set of matched speakers.

 

[lcd4ever]

Thanks for the advice guys......I have tried Mission surrounds to match my fronts but was left cold....so I put the B & W's back in the rear surround role moving the Missions to dining room Hifi duty....the thing is I love the sound of the old Mission 302es...so I will hang on to them for while. Eventually I will get a more matched speaker set up, thinking along the lines of getting as stated already a B & W centre and a pair of 800 series B & W floor standers.....

Looks like the Sony + centre for now the floor stander upgrade after the wife has calmed down lol.....