Yamaha DSP-A2070 or Sony STRDA 1200ES?

[admin_exported]

A house move has meant I will be soon be able to create a home cinema room. In preperation of this I have bought a Denon DVD1930 and I am also looking at the Tannoy Mercury F1 Custom 5.1 speakers.

I have also been tempted by the Sony STRDA 1200ES reciever however I already own a Yamaha DSP-A2070 which I bought second hand 7 years ago. I use this as a stereo amplifier and it has never been set-up for surround sound. I am concerned that as the Yamaha is well over 10 years old, it's not up to the same standards as a modern receiver. I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on which receiver would be best and also, if the Yamaha gets the nod, are the Tannoy's the right speaker choice?

Thanks

 

[Andrew Everard]

Good though the Yamaha was in its day, it is knocking on a bit, and technology really has moved on. It only has Dolby Pro-Logic processing, and while this will give a surround effect, it'll only scratch the surface of what the Denon can deliver.

Unfortunately, there aren't even multichannel line inputs on the Yamaha, so you couldn't even use the Denon's onboard decoders to give 'real' surround - a modification to this unit was offered by a third party company in the States years ago to address this, but all that's history.

I'd suggest the Sony receiver would be a good replacement, as would the Onkyo TX-SR505 or TX-SR-605 for around £250 and £400 respectively. You can connect any of these to the Denon using a digital interconnect, and enjoy excellent Dolby Digital surround sound through the Tannoys.