Using an AV amp in your HI-FI set up?

[the record spot]

I could say the same for my old Sansui 217 paired with a DAC and iPod Touch.... substantial change left over yet but sonics to match depending on your taste!

 

[chrisrock]

Thanks folks, and thanks "Leeps" for such a detailed response. There are some helpful comments here.

chris

 

[Leeps]

I hope you find what's right for you taking everything into account Chris.

I also ought to mention that AV amps' prices drop far faster each year (as their replacement cycle tends to be annual) than most stereo amps which tend to be around far longer before they're replaced. Hence my £800 amp only cost me £500 9 months after it was initially introduced, which as I get to appreciate it more as I live with it is an astonishing bargain. Its biggest brother the SC-LX87 begins its life at around £2K, but will very likely be half that by the end of the year.

so if you do go down the AV route, just don't pay full price for it!

 

[Native_bon]

Not at all. I just some of the myths emanating from the hifi camp to be worth challenging. The Yamaha AS500 or 700 isn't massively different from the RXV673 while my Onkyo isn't much bigger than the Harman 6850 in the room.

I'd have thought my comment was pretty clear; in my own case I wanted sound quality and functionality as I want prepared to put up with multiple boxes lying around. A traditional stereo amp is too limited, by far, and sound quality differences are minor. I get network capability, 32-bit DACs, the means to bi amp, multiple digital inputs, DSD in its native format, HD master Audio and True HD. It runs as the hub for everything I use and the quality is excellent.

You're welcome to your choice, but the perceived wisdom wears thin sometimes.

VERY WELL SAID

 

[the record spot]

Thanks N_B! Shame it was filled with grammatical errors, typos and missing words. Glad you found it useful all the same!

 

[Andydav66]

I think with buying anything in life, write down your requirements these could lots of things apart from the sound or volume

- do you want a lot of boxes and avoid your room looking like a showroom

- what do you listen to most music or films

- what speakers are you driving

- what do you want to do in the future

As I am now divorced my AV (Arcam 360 + KEF 3000) and stereo stuff is in the same room (Roksan Caspian, Audiolab 8200CD, MA RX8), Maybe I should have a play one weekend and try feeding the CD through the Arcam and bi amping and see what difference there is and report back. One of the comments about AV stuff going through a lot of churn with model is very true, I did get the arcam half price; stereo stuff especially the tradition UK providers tend to have a longer model life

 

[Thompsonuxb]

I use an AV amp for stereo playback (all other channels switched off) & now would never consider buying a stand alone stereo amp, reason being the AV amp offers far more flexability and is more than a match for any price comparible stereo amp I have encountered ( I did look into upgrading not so long ago and auditioned several amps, some in my home and the AV amp came out best) . The AV amp I use was 500pounds new and is currently driving a pair of speakers that were valued at 1000pounds when new & honestly it does a superb job controls the speakers well.... using the internal dac and my CD player as a transport)

It is over 10years old yet is capable of supporting digital sources of today without the need for me having to spend on an external DAC - thing is although you may not 'need' some functions an AV amp may offer today, you never know what tomorrow brings.

and the size thing.... the Audiolab 8200 is low slung but go's back as far as my reciever and the rotel ra 1520 is more or less the same size.

( My reciever is the Yamaha dsp ax-620, it does not have a tuner - I may be mistaken but I believe John Duncan owned one once upon a time found on old thread on the AVI forums,from 2001, he was impressed then).

Its worth listening to a few, don't let snobbery dupe you into buying an amp that will constantly need add ons to keep up - and trust me the sound quality and fexibility of a dsp and options to expand the sound field will keep you happy for years.

But to finish it could be luck on my part, Yamaha amps and Mission speakers look like they work well together given a good source.

 

[bemaniac]

Pioneer 2008 LX-50 here. I used to have a Cambridge 650A but this sounded more powerful, could go louder which I wanted for really rinsing the neighbours and also I had nothing to plug the wii U and xbox one into as I also use those at my pc due to the sound system there. I love mid-high end AV amps as stereo amps. Pioneer has some cool features like biamping the front speakers with the back ones too for very high output and setting how much cutoff you want for the subwoofer too which is really cool as stereo amps won't do this. Also you can go source direct and cut the entire video processing out of the signal and use a pure mode to also remove any extra sound processing too. Not sure if the newer pioneers do all of this as I bought a cheap 2013 vsx323 for the bedroom tv and it's ok......ish but wouldn't use it for pure music as it wouldn't have enough grunt or options.

I'll never buy another 2 channel only amp because I must have hdmi and must have sub crossover/bypass/phase control. Also as an avid player of music related videogames using my stereo amp caused more latency than syncing it all through one AV amp device with 1 hdmi cable.