Surround sound amplifier
ANDY W
Could any one point me in the direction of a resonable quality surround
sound amplifier- without the visual bit-
I was thinking of adding a yamaha esp800 3 channel to my exsisting yamaha
stereo amp but price wise it doesnt check out
extra £30 or so gets a DSP A5 audio visual.
I don't need or will get any use out of the visual bit.
Any thoghts please
Andrew
glimmerung
better sound in stereo from an amp and processor than from a standalone home
cinema amp because the processor is not used at all when playing straight
stereo. Your stereo amp probably has better amplification than the home
cinema amp also (but, I confess, I don't know that amp).
Hope that is of some use.
"ANDY W" <and...@woolass.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
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george1138
couple of years the "2ch playback" aspect of home cinema amps has really
improved. Thats not to say that an Arcam Alpha 10 amp (stereo) doesnt sound
better than a £500 integrated A/V amp of course it does but a cheapish
stereo amp wont sound much better than a cheapish A/V amp. The Denons sound
particularly good in stereo. The A5 is OK too. This obviously depends the
stereo amp that you are using! As technology has improved so much, if the
amp is a lower-mid range amp you may find that the A5 even sounds better!
give it a demo at a decent dealer! Its a personal thing anyway. The
advantage of an all in one amp is that its easier to control! More wife
friendly than setting the amp and processor separately! Also the "visual
bits" you mention dont need to be used anyway unless you want OSDs. Quite
often, routing the picture through an amp degrades the picture slightly.
Hope this helps.
"glimmerung" <notgli...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
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Patrick Navin
"george1138" <georg...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
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> I'm not so sure! Yes a stereo amp should sound better but over the last
> couple of years the "2ch playback" aspect of home cinema amps has really
> improved. >
Not to the level you are about to assert...
>Thats not to say that an Arcam Alpha 10 amp (stereo) doesnt sound
> better than a £500 integrated A/V amp of course it does but a cheapish
> stereo amp wont sound much better than a cheapish A/V amp.
I totally disagree - even a Cambridge Audio A1 has better stereo separation
than a Sony 940?Yamaha A5 or equivalent Denon. They're just too packed with
circuitry to get close to achieving the subtlety required of a good amp
driving speakers in stereo.
> The Denons sound
> particularly good in stereo. The A5 is OK too. This obviously depends
the
> stereo amp that you are using! As technology has improved so much, if the
> amp is a lower-mid range amp you may find that the A5 even sounds better!
> give it a demo at a decent dealer!
The A5 is ok, but alongside a £150 Nad 320 or Rotel it is shamed. The
lucidity of presentaion is just not there, it all seems to live behind a
gauze of digital processing and cross channel interference.
> Its a personal thing anyway. The
> advantage of an all in one amp is that its easier to control!
This can be true but not always - look at the poxy remote that comes with a
Sony 930/940 and you'll see what I mean.
> More wife
> friendly than setting the amp and processor separately!
I've always found it's best to treat my g/f with the respect she is due and
show her how to use the 2 setups (Sony 830 av amp for AV, WAD KeL 84 valve
amp for music) rather than belittle her ability to understand it (no offense
meant here btw). She has been the strongest exponent of the difference
between the 2 ever since she has been able to use them.
> Also the "visual
> bits" you mention dont need to be used anyway unless you want OSDs. Quite
> often, routing the picture through an amp degrades the picture slightly.
> Hope this helps.
The V in AV amps is rarely worth bothering with - especially as we have RGB
in Europe.
Patrick
Hego
5.1 speaker system with a Tannoy MC centre and Revolution 2's as left/right
and so on. The DVD surround is amazing but then I upgraded to an Arcam CD72
and my whole music listening experience changed and I have begun to wonder
is the Sony the best amp for my pure cd music moments.
I do think that a dedicated stereo amp is better than an AV amp. I have a
Cambridge A1 amp and a pair of Mission 70's in the kitchen that use's the
second output from the Sony amp and when I play CD's through to the kitchen
it sounds a 110% better than just 2CH from the av amp to my huge R2's in the
main room.
I am saving up for the Arcam A75 Integrated amp to use with my CD player but
it has this wonderful AV switch which means I can switch my main speakers
back to the full Dolby digital surround thing being run from the Sony amp.
After that I will get the Arcam P75 Power amp to Bi-amp my R2's in the main
room whilst still being able to fix the gain for the surround sound.
Hope this makes sense
hego
R...@hego.freeserve.co.uk
"Patrick Navin" <patrick.n...@NOSPAMbtinternet.com> wrote in message
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george1138
interest whatsoever in "electrical stuff" She hates "ugly black boxes and
messing about with remotes" etc. I have an integrated amp etc all
configured on a single remote. When she wants to listen to a CD she presses
"listen to music" button and everything fires up, the volume levels are set,
and the correct DSP is selected. She was made up when I showed it to her.
Its not about patronising her disrespecting or belittling her its about
making both our lives easier. Without it she just wouldnt bother listening
to music OR watch films. Its so easy to leave the volume on high after
watching a film and then bursting your ear drums when you put a CD on!
I still think that a really good AV amp sounds good enough in stereo for the
majority of tastes and the average budget but then I dont profess to be an
audiophile. I want good picture good sound and good stereo sound with
minimum fuss.
Hope that last paragraph doesnt come across as agressive! Its not meant to
be. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one!
Must go now my wife has finished the ironing and cleaning and is just
starting on my tea and I need to show her how to use the oven (he! he! -bit
of fun)
"Patrick Navin" <patrick.n...@NOSPAMbtinternet.com> wrote in message
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>