Thoughts on a musical av amp?

[KeithT]

My current system is a Townsend Rock/Excalibur/Ortofon 2m black into a Roksan Kandy KA1 MkIII, a Kandy CD, Monitor Audio BX5 speakers, a Sony Bravia EX7 and a Sony BD363 blue ray player. I’ve got and still play over 600 vinyl albums, 600++ cds and about 300 films and concert dvds, which will continue to grow. I would like turn the system into an AV system but retaining the musicality it currently has. The logical thought is to buy the matching Monitor Audio centre/rear/sub, but what AV amp to buy? I appreciate that the Arcams have the musicality but not the same dramatic theatre sound that amps like the Pioneer LX53. Or should I buy a better blue ray player?

So over to you; Thoughts?

 

[KeithT]

One thing I forgot to mention, is that when watching any of the HD channels, the sound/vision sync is about 1.5 seconds out - hence my thoughts on changing.

Anyone want to throw some suggestions my way?

 

[ric71]

What is your budget?
I would def say try an ARCAM. Fantastic with music and I don't feel they lack on the movie side of things.

 

[KeithT]

Looking at the cost of the Pioneer and others around I would have thought that I ought to be able to buy the av amp for (up to) £1,500 but would consider (a little) more if someone gave me a cogent argument to do so.

 

[Anonymous]

You will not be disappointed with an Arcam AVR on the movie front. If anything I'd say they are superb with movies, but also do a very good job on the 2 channel music front. I feel it's the way to go if you want 1amp does all.

 

[ric71]

The ARCAM AVR 400 is available at the moment for £1400 if you have an old AVR to trade in. £400 discount.
Give the ARCAM a demo.
The Pioneer SC LX 85 is also supposed to be great with music.

 

[michael hoy]

The Pioneer SC LX 85 is also supposed to be great with music.

The 85 sounds very good with my Apex speakers for music.

 

[KeithT]

Unfortunately I don't have one to trade in |( and would love some Apex speakers but suspect that would push the budget a bit too far! I've heard the Apex with Anthem av amps, but wasn't convinced by the amps.

 

[RickyDeg]

Unfortunately I don't have one to trade in |( and would love some Apex speakers but suspect that would push the budget a bit too far! I've heard the Apex with Anthem av amps, but wasn't convinced by the amps.

Sadly neither was I when I had the Anthem MRX700 home for testing. It was a surprising let-down.

 

[duaplex]

With your budget of 1500 I would say its a decision between the AVR400/500 and the LX83.

Now, you must hear them in demo with the speakers you want or indeed plan to upgrade to in the future. The pioneer is bright and you will have a thrilling movie experience. The Arcam is more subtle and you will find it ubeatable for Music (in he AV range). It really depends what you want the most.

The AVR 500 is not loaded with the features of the others but its an Awesome AV. Go demo!!

 

[Anonymous]

If you have a stereo system which you're happy with, I would be very reluctant to replace that amp with an AV amp. My preferred option would be to take the front L&R preouts from the AV amp, into your stereo amp. Then when setting up the system, and watching movies, the stereo amp volume is always set to a known volume (e.g "3 o'clock" or "10" or whatever). The volume for movies is then controlled via the AV amp volume dial. I have done this with an old AV amp going into my Naim pre/power - it works a treat and sounds great for movies and music. If I upgrade the AV amp, I don't have to worry about stereo sound, just movie performance.

As for the £400 off for trading in your old AV amp... Richer Sounds, eBay or local paper is bound to have a REALLY cheap AV amp somewhere... pay £20, take it into the Arcam store.... they won't care. They've basically knocked £400 of the price, but want to call it a trade in.

 

[KeithT]

Thanks to everyone for their input and combining my existing Roksan with an Arcam seems like a really good idea. I've seen an old (broken) AV amp being sold on ebay for spares at 30 quid; so that should do the px trick.

 

[KeithT]

Update: As the AVR500 is being discontinued, I've managed to buy a brand new (unopened) one for £1200 instead of the £3k it cost 3-4 months ago! Bargain!!

As it doesn't have a phono input; Anyone know which channel I should plug tt into?

 

[CnoEvil]

Update: As the AVR500 is being discontinued, I've managed to buy a brand new (unopened) one for £1200 instead of the £3k it cost 3-4 months ago! Bargain!!

As it doesn't have a phono input; Anyone know which channel I should plug tt into?

You have made a great choice, as there is nothing (IMO) anywhere near it's price, that can compete with it's all round capability.

Just make sure you fill in the warranty form, so you can get it extended to 5 years.....necessary piece of mind given it's history.

 

[KeithT]

Thanks for the advice. Will do.

 

[ric71]

As a 500 owner myself I must say you won't be dissapointed!

As Cno said fill out the warranty as I had my 500 replaced 6 months ago due to the fans coming on. I had it replaced by ARCAM who can now modify and fix any issues with the 500. What firmware is it running?

Give it lots of room to keep cool and if the fan does come on contact your dealer as they are not supposed to during normal operation. ARCAM can fix this but you prob have one of the last later units that were modified by ARCAM.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[KeithT]

Hi ric71, it says that it's software 2.5 which a dealer tells me is supposed to have solved the problem. What's yours? Do you put a turntable through it? If so, which input? Thanks for the comments.

 

[ric71]

Hi Keith,

Mine is also 2.5 but the latest firmware is 2.6 but asI have no issues with 500 I have not upgraded. I am afraid I do not have a turntable so I cannot help you there.My previous 500 was version 2.5 but I still had the fan issue. The amp physically needs to be adjusted by ARCAM to prevent it running too hot and thus the fans coming on. The 500 is a serious bit of kit and I am very very happy with mine.

Remember if the fan comes on return it to be adjusted but as I said previously the last batch of 500's were all tweaked by ARCAM so you should be ok. They do have the odd hiccup very now and again ie muting it sometimes puts my volume to 00db after un mute but my Denon did the odd thing every now and again. Any advice give me a shout!