Want to Upgrade - Can you help?

[admin_exported]

Hey there - newbie, so play nice!

Looking for a bit of home cinema / receiver advice.

I’ve got an overall good understanding of sound – I produce music and
DJ - but am unsure what components would give me the optimal setup for
both music and TV.

This is what I have at the moment:

-- A 10 year old Arcam 7R amp. 6 or 7 RCA inputs, nice sound, served me well

-- 2 x B&W speakers (cant get model but they were the really
popular ones about 10 years ago). These are bi-wired into the amp. The
left hand speaker has a blown bass cone!

-- 2 x Technics 1200s connected into a Pioneer DM600 mixer, which goes via RCA into the back of the amp

-- Samsung 32” HD tv – Only has one HD input unfortunately, but all the various outs.

-- A home built media centre – dual boot with Mac OSX and Windows XP.
The sound card has 7.1 surround output. The video card has HDMI out.
It’s a fairly well spec’d piece of kit. It has a DVD drive

-- A standard Sky box. Not Sky+ or Sky HD unfortunately

-- A Sony PS3 with blu-ray drive and HDMI out

Essentially, I want to be able to play my music on a powerful, robust,
detailed system, but also feel the benefit of surround sound from my
blu-ray and media centre PC. Some surround speakers dotted about my
living room, the sound from the PS3 also going into the system.

I’m not looking to spend lots and lots, and would be happy with the
best within a mid-range price category. Brands that spring to mind are
Denon, Arcam etc… Not a massive Sony fan, but if its good, I’ll buy it.

Any help organising my set-up would be appreciated!!!!

 

[d4v3pum4]

As you have a PS3 (bluray) you should ideally look for an AV Receiver that accepts LPCM over HDMI using the PS3's decoding factilities for HD audio. Models such as the Yamaha 463/563/763 (763 is on special offer with a VIP discount code at Richer Sounds at the moment as far I as know), Onkyo 576, Sony 820, Denon 1909 and Pioneer 918 all fall into this category. Unfortuntely the only amp that Arcam do that handles HDMI audio is the AVR600 that costs over 2 grand. That said, you don't need HDMI audio and as music is quite important to you, you should also consider the likes of the Arcam AVR280/300 which are on offer at the moment. They should surpass any of the budget Japanese stuff even with HD audio but you can only say that for sure using your own ears at a demo. The Cambridge Audio 640R would also be worth auditioning.

BTW, the sky box will have to be connected directly via SCART (set to RGB, 16:9 and SCART control = on) or converted to component using something along the lines of a QED RGB SCART to Component Converter box (around £60) if you wanted to connect via an amp but as you probably only have one component video source, you would need to look at an AV receiver that up-converted this to HDMI otherwise you would need a separate component video cable to the TV thus rendering the whole point in connecting via the amp pointless. Video conversion is a handy feature to look for. Out of the models I mentioned above, the Yamaha 763 are the only ones that do it to HDMI although I'm not sure about the Pioneer, you would need to check.

 

[d4v3pum4]

Forgot to mention, if you opt for an AV Receiver with front preout connections, you could keep your Arcam hifi amp and run both simultenously. The Arcam would drive the fronts, freeing up power for the AV Receiver to drive the centre, rear and LFE (sub) channels. I use such a setup and it works a treat for both music and movies. Some folks say the new Yamaha (and Marantz) amps are pretty good with music.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for such comprehensive advice

I was thinking of selling off the Arcam, but it still does a job and I probably wouldnt get that much for it anyway

I may have a couple more questions but my brain is too tired right now! 🙂