The Apex Club

[ric71]

Hi everyone,

My last 7.1 setup has finished

Hi Paul,

That is one nice set up sir. Looks great well done.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi gosalh

I am so sorry to hear of this.

All the best

Rick.

 

[paulbroke]

Thanks ric71 :wave:

 

[paulbroke]

Hi Gosalh,

I am very sorry. I know this feeling because in the last year i lost my father too. God gives us patience...

 

[Anonymous]

Hi guys

Am just about after much reading and homework to purchase set of Apex 5.1 ,still trying choose colour can't make mind up keep changing as intend to have them for long time probably a Lx 85 as discounted down to £1200 now and told its a far better receiver than the onkyo 818 I was pointed towards by sales staff telling me its a cracking receiver ,Can I ask seeing a few of you seem to have the oppo as your choice in Blu ray ? reading what Hi/fi reveiw says its nearly exactly the same as the Cambridge audio 751BD and is couple hundred pounds cheaper is there a big difference I'm not seeing thanks any help ? appriciated :wave:

 

[michael hoy]

Hi Stigi and welcome to the club.

I have a LX85 and am more than happy with the performance and combination.

I also have the Oppo95, but have not seen it side by side with the Cambridge.

 

[paulbroke]

Hi Stigi,

I am very happy the performance of lx85. It is one of the best amp for home cinema, you can be sure that :dance:

I will update also my BD player. Cambridge 751 also very good choice...but i will buy Oppo 103.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers Michael
Really a no brainer I knows lol a £2k receiver down to £1200 or a £999 onkyo not really fair to compare as Lx85 is a step up must be ,yeah just reading the what Hi/fi review says the oppo has nearly all same electrics and software as cambridge but seems you all went for the oppo thats all thinking of a mix match now on the apex colour black centre white rears and fronts as walls are white and two Black subs

 

[Anonymous]

/

 

[Anonymous]

You might seen this but if you have not you might like to have a read :wave:http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57516946-221/oppo-unveils-two-new-blu-ray-players/

 

[Anonymous]

You might seen this but if you have not you might like to have a read :wave:http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57516946-221/oppo-unveils-two-new-blu-ray-players/

 

[RickyDeg]

Guys, I know you Pioneer owners above love Oppo (good machine!) and Cambridge (also good machine!) but I can't imagine why you don't opt for an appropriate Pioneer blu-ray player so you can utilize one of the finer aspects of your receiver - the jitterkiller PQLS, which can only be achieved with a suitable brand player. Apart from MCACC isn't that one of the reasons of owning an LX machine and something you'd wanna explore? If I were you I'd look more closely at those.

 

[gosalh]

Thanks Ric71, Rick (musicraft) and PaulBroke for the kind words of support. Really appreciate it!

@Ric71 i'll contact you on avsforum

@PaulBroke love the photos of your system setup, looks very smart indeed!

Cheers guys

 

[gosalh]

Hi Stigi

Welcome to the Apex owners family thread. Hope you have fun with your system for many years to come

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Gosalh

Feels I already know you as I have read all your threads over past nights trying deside on what is going to go best as a system with the apex's :type:

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Ricky for the info ,I will have a look have not totally handed cash over yet for the Lx 85 lol read and read and read up so much but as price has come down on the 85 is why it maybe a decission winner and read its good combo with the apex's all the audio staff I have talked to aswell say how good the Pioneer is some have said they have had trouble with a few Onkyo sound boards in past aswell on couple machines. So many to choose its a mine field lol . :cheers:

 

[RickyDeg]

Thanks Ricky for the info ,I will have a look have not totally handed cash over yet for the Lx 85 lol read and read and read up so much but as price has come down on the 85 is why it maybe a decission winner and read its good combo with the apex's all the audio staff I have talked to aswell say how good the Pioneer is some have said they have had trouble with a few Onkyo sound boards in past aswell on couple machines. So many to choose its a mine field lol . :cheers:

No problem stigi

I agree, sometimes it may feel like a mine field :O Just so you know (unless you didn't read it elsewhere in this thread) I've tested both the LX83 and LX85 with matching blu-ray players but didn't get along with the overall result of the receiver with Apex. Just my personal preference, and nothing more. After getting a Denon with Audyssey four years ago they've pretty much been my point of reference since. I much prefer Audyssey MultEQ with Dynamic EQ compared to what Pioneer's MCACC managed to do in my room.

I simply wanted to get across the slight increase of transparency and "air" to the audio that PQLS brought though, which is why I think hooking up a Pioneer blu-ray player isn't just clever marketing. Reducing jitter often bring on improvements, however subtle they may be. Some of the top models in the Onkyo (and Denon) have jitter reducing functions aswell though. My advice would definitely be to test a receiver at home! It's really the only way to know if it suits you. No amount of reviews or outside opinions can do that for you.

Best of luck with your purchase & installation! Thanks for the pictures!

 

[michael hoy]

Guys, I know you Pioneer owners above love Oppo (good machine!) and Cambridge (also good machine!) but I can't imagine why you don't opt for an appropriate Pioneer blu-ray player so you can utilize one of the finer aspects of your receiver - the jitterkiller PQLS, which can only be achieved with a suitable brand player. Apart from MCACC isn't that one of the reasons of owning an LX machine and something you'd wanna explore? If I were you I'd look more closely at those.

The Pioneer Blu Ray players do not come anywhere near the OPPO, and I needed a universal machine.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes Ricky I have been reading all your threads on different Av receiver tests ,I was maybe thinking of onkyo new flagship Txnr5010 which does have Audyssey but then have to look at is it way to good for the speakers to really notice upgrading to a £3k receiver Only reason I'm looking at Lx85 was price the so called (Experts ?) Audio store staff lol its hard to listen to them as sometimes you can here the salesman in them more than when you just want a true answer lol I understand a £2k receiver is going to be better in everyway than a £1k so spending couple hundred more and getting a much better receiver what looks a bargain with the apex's going up to top end pioneer's new flagship 86 or onkyo'5010 would I really notice that much Hmmmmmm. As you say testing is the only true way In the past I had a Onkyo set up with at time best 1st Plasma Lowe Tv £10 k which was a nightmare went wrong every few months Lowe tech was sent out to me and Tv was sent back to Germany so I know expensive is not always Guarantee to Bliss /Heaven :rofl: lol

 

[RickyDeg]

Yes Ricky I have been reading all your threads on different Av receiver tests ,I was maybe thinking of onkyo new flagship Txnr5010 which does have Audyssey but then have to look at is it way to good for the speakers to really notice upgrading to a £3k receiver Only reason I'm looking at Lx85 was price the so called (Experts ?) Audio store staff lol its hard to listen to them as sometimes you can here the salesman in them more than when you just want a true answer lol I understand a £2k receiver is going to be better in everyway than a £1k so spending couple hundred more and getting a much better receiver what looks a bargain with the apex's going up to top end pioneer's new flagship 86 or onkyo'5010 would I really notice that much Hmmmmmm. As you say testing is the only true way In the past I had a Onkyo set up with at time best 1st Plasma Lowe Tv £10 k which was a nightmare went wrong every few months Lowe tech was sent out to me and Tv was sent back to Germany so I know expensive is not always Guarantee to Bliss /Heaven :rofl: lol

Why would a 3K receiver be "too good" for these speakers?

It's true though, we do pay a premium cost for features and licensing fees in these machines (and the Onkyo as alot of them), so it's all relative. I'm actually getting the Onkyo TX-NR5010 soon to test at home for a few weeks (will post personal review here as before). I also had the 5009 hooked up to my Apex a few months ago and was stunned by the reproduction of movie soundtracks. It was severely different compared to what I heard a month earlier with the LX85. I wasn't completely convinced with music though which is why I decided not to keep it. Some people I trust have claimed that the new model is more musical, so I'm gonna give it a shot. I'll say this: Pioneer and Onkyo go about doing things in a very different manner, IMO, mostly due to the differences between MCACC and Audyssey, but naturally also due to the different amplification and so on. Whichever character of sound and calibration technique appeals to you is anybodys guess hehe.

 

[Anonymous]

No Apex speakers are fine with £3k receivers I'm sure what I was trying to say where do you stop ? lol trying to pair a system like your doing with the apex's Example you get the Onkyo 5010 to test blows you away next even though the apex's are amazing you here that the 5010 has been tested with say B&w Diamonds and its a step up again(HUGE STEP) lol

I understand the receiver is the heart of any system and the sound is only going be as good as the receiver is for the apex's to get the best out of them i'm too likeing the look of the new Denon AVR-4520 with matching DBT-3313 blu ray So wanna get it now though and just when you think desided Yeepeeeeeee :dance: Another option pops into it ,you narrow it down to maybe 2-3 receivers then you read about another . lol :cheers:

 

[RickyDeg]

Well, the better gear you got driving Apex the more they'll give in performance output. They are transparent enough to show off improvements. I've heard them in demos with separate processors and amplifers costing many times more than that top model Onkyo. I have actually been interested in testing the up-coming Marantz AV8801 processor with NuForce MCH-300SEC7 amplifier, both of which might be considered "overkill", but to each his own.

That Denon duo you mention is very interesting aswell :O

 

[ric71]

The Apex are great with higher end equipment. I power mine with an Anthem Statement A5 power amp and use a Paradigm Studio Sub15 for the low stuff. The Apex shine in my set up. They sound stunning. They probably do hold the system back but to get an improvement I reckon I would need to invest about £3.5k in speakers to make it worthwhile. Hhhhmmmm MK 950THX x 5,watch this space people.

 

[Anonymous]

Ricky I came across this it may interest you if you not seen it :wave:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dy7GkzwaFc

 

[RickyDeg]

Hey stigi :wave: Nice one!

I've kept my eye on that player too! The fact that it's a pure transport without all the analog stuff I never use is appealing. Would be nice with a universal player where every effort has been made on the digital side of things. But only if I end up with the matching AVR-4520 of course. The new Denon Link HD for jitterfree transfer is also highly interesting (possibly the equivalent of Pioneer PQLS?).

If you are curious about this particular Denon duo perhaps you've seen the reviews on areadvd.de? Check out AVR-4520 and DBT-3313. There is one of the Onkyo TX-5010 aswell that also includes a short comparison with the Denon machine (all in German so you may/may not need a translator).

Then again, as I said before, reviews are one thing, our own experience can be another

BTW, looking at your photos my spontaneous thought is Apex in WHITE