Hi all,
Upfront: I'm new to the Hifi world, so I might have gotten one or the other things wrong in the below - please feel free to point out
I was reading into the topic a lot and sort of figured out the setup I (think I) need. Given that I want to have a balance of both, a decent home theater setup and good music experience, as well as the option to develop/upgrade my setup at a later stage, I decided to go for an AVR paired with an external amplifier for (stereo) music. I'm looking to spend around 2,500 GBP max for the setup for now (AVR, amp, 2 proper front speakers for stereo plus additional surround speakers).
Reading through various perspectives on this topic (I know there are many out there) as well as product reviews, I decided to go for a Yamaha RX-A1010 for the AVR. It has the right level of functionality, good reviews and especially its pre-out delivers the right output level (~2.8Vrms according to a review on this site) - as I understand this is crucial to feed any (power) amp properly. I got it for a good price, however was not able to test-listen to it, so fingers crossed it holds what the reviews suggest..
Now I'm looking for the right amplifier for this setup - my questions are whether 1) to go for an integrated amp or a power amp and 2) which are good models to look at.
As for the first point: My understanding is that the integrated amp would have the advantage that if I decided to split the setup (home theater and stereo setup), I would not need any additional equipment but could run the stereo setup with the integrated amp only (I might decide to do that at some point). However an AVR should feed directly into a power amp as far as I understand, so what do I need to look for in an integrated amp to be able to bridge its pre-amp section? I saw for example that the Marantz PM8005 has a direct power-amp direct input, is this what I need? Just I barely found other integrated amps that have that feature. Or does it make more sense to go for a power amp instead (although I would prefer an integrated amp)?
As for the second point: Depending on the answer to the above, what are the core criteria/functionalities to look for when choosing an amp (integrated or power) to make sure the AVR will work with it? As for the stereo experience is it a reasonable ambition to look for 4 Ohm speakers instead of 8 Ohm (and take this into account when choosing the amp)? Or is that pointless in my price range?
Another bonus question: If I invest in decent front speakers for stereo, which I would include into the surround setup, do I still need a subwoofer or will the front speakers do the job in terms of bass (assuming that I will buy speakers that have a decent bass themselves)? FYI: I will start out with a 5.1 setup although the AVR has 7.1 - I don't want/need 7.1 for now but want the option to upgrade later.
Of course I do know that I shouldn't just buy "from my laptop" but get to a good dealer and test listen the components (at least amp and speakers), however given the vast offer available (and my lack of knowledge) I would like to narrow down my options upfront before going out.
Hope I didn't write too much nonsense and would really appreciate some guidance from pros here!
Thanks
Upfront: I'm new to the Hifi world, so I might have gotten one or the other things wrong in the below - please feel free to point out
I was reading into the topic a lot and sort of figured out the setup I (think I) need. Given that I want to have a balance of both, a decent home theater setup and good music experience, as well as the option to develop/upgrade my setup at a later stage, I decided to go for an AVR paired with an external amplifier for (stereo) music. I'm looking to spend around 2,500 GBP max for the setup for now (AVR, amp, 2 proper front speakers for stereo plus additional surround speakers).
Reading through various perspectives on this topic (I know there are many out there) as well as product reviews, I decided to go for a Yamaha RX-A1010 for the AVR. It has the right level of functionality, good reviews and especially its pre-out delivers the right output level (~2.8Vrms according to a review on this site) - as I understand this is crucial to feed any (power) amp properly. I got it for a good price, however was not able to test-listen to it, so fingers crossed it holds what the reviews suggest..
Now I'm looking for the right amplifier for this setup - my questions are whether 1) to go for an integrated amp or a power amp and 2) which are good models to look at.
As for the first point: My understanding is that the integrated amp would have the advantage that if I decided to split the setup (home theater and stereo setup), I would not need any additional equipment but could run the stereo setup with the integrated amp only (I might decide to do that at some point). However an AVR should feed directly into a power amp as far as I understand, so what do I need to look for in an integrated amp to be able to bridge its pre-amp section? I saw for example that the Marantz PM8005 has a direct power-amp direct input, is this what I need? Just I barely found other integrated amps that have that feature. Or does it make more sense to go for a power amp instead (although I would prefer an integrated amp)?
As for the second point: Depending on the answer to the above, what are the core criteria/functionalities to look for when choosing an amp (integrated or power) to make sure the AVR will work with it? As for the stereo experience is it a reasonable ambition to look for 4 Ohm speakers instead of 8 Ohm (and take this into account when choosing the amp)? Or is that pointless in my price range?
Another bonus question: If I invest in decent front speakers for stereo, which I would include into the surround setup, do I still need a subwoofer or will the front speakers do the job in terms of bass (assuming that I will buy speakers that have a decent bass themselves)? FYI: I will start out with a 5.1 setup although the AVR has 7.1 - I don't want/need 7.1 for now but want the option to upgrade later.
Of course I do know that I shouldn't just buy "from my laptop" but get to a good dealer and test listen the components (at least amp and speakers), however given the vast offer available (and my lack of knowledge) I would like to narrow down my options upfront before going out.
Hope I didn't write too much nonsense and would really appreciate some guidance from pros here!
Thanks
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