Sony STR1200ES not man enough ?

[admin_exported]

G'Day

First post here, I've been buying the magazine for some time now and I've never really found the answer to this so I thought I'd pick your brains!

I've wired up the BluRay player to the STR-1200 using good quality cambridge audio interconnects so I can get High Def sound (the STR wont decode it) and to be perfectly honest I can't tell the difference between the Dolby 5.1 track and the uncompressed audio track on any of the BluRay discs.

The set up is

5.1 system

Sony BDP-300ES
Sony STR-1200

Fronts Monitor Audio 270 Floor standers
Centre Monitor Audio 225

Rears Monitor Audio 180's
Sub Monitor Audio R360

The sub is a bit light for the size of the room to be honest its 4M by 7.5M. The interconnects are a decent Cambridge Audio set, I forget which but the Speaker Cables are all Belkin pure copper stuff, the heavy gauge one.

I've been doing the math on the spec's and it looks like the STR-1200 does 100W at 6ohms, as the Monitor audio speakers are all 8ohm am I right in assuming that I will see a drop in output wattage due to the increased load?

The difference between the Dolby Digital output and the uncompressed audio output is marginal, I was expecting a marked difference in sound quality.

Not that it sounds bad in anyway, I suppose I was expecting the same sort of jump in clarity etc as I see in the HD video.

Has anyone got any recommendations to what I'm doing wrong? Should I buy a bigger, bolder, HD capable amp?

Any help would really be appreciated.

Cheers

Andy

 

[Gerrardasnails]

I don't think your BDP can output high def audio on it's own and as your receiver can't, this maybe the problem. I also think that your sub is too light for such a big room (mine is much smaller and I'm off at the weekend to bring home the RSW12 - secretly!). I have the same receiver as you and it is plenty powerful enough. However, I will be upgrading my receiver when I finally step into BD waters.

 

[Anonymous]

I was testing using a PCM sound track output over the analogue outputs from the Blu Ray player, sounds just the same as the Dolby Digital track

Maybe I'm tone deaf ?

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Vidge, you are not tone deaf. Your player cannot decode HD audio on it's own - you ARE listenting to plain ole Dolby Digital.

By the way, if you can, get the RSW-12 - it is immense!!

 

[Anonymous]

Also got the same amp, and after nearly 2 years it still blows me away.100w is plenty for an average room.
Have no idea how good your sub is but a good one makes a world of difference, spent hours trying to get mine just right.
I think your particular BD player with only decode upto Dolby Digital plus, I could be wrong, but the problem's not with the Sony, multi channel out is only as good as what's put in it.