Luminous

iTrader: (3)

My old AV amp is dying, and is about to get replaced. The thing is, I have no clue about them at all What I do know is that I love music, have a PC with a stack of mp3s on, and 5 speakers and a sub that need an amp.

My previous amp was connected my a coax lead, upmixed where necessary and provided nice sound to my KEF KHT 2005.2 speakers. No doubt I will, in the future, build myself a nice home cinema system, but at present space does not allow.

Just what are all these video inputs/outputs for Thought you would plug all your video stuff straight into your TV, and your audio into the amp - just like I do now.

Was looking at a Sony STR-DB985. What do people think of that when compared to my speakers?

KiwiGTI

Problem is it's a Sony, who aren't very good when it comes to amplifiers etc. you would be better off with Pioneer, Yamaha, or Denon.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Have heard those makes are good. Its just that this Sony got really good reviews in What Hi-Fi. Dunno what you think about that?

Oh, and whats with all the Video inputs and outputs?

KiwiGTI

The video inputs are their so you can control everything through the amp, you just plug your amp into the TV and then when you select DVD or TV or Game etc on the Amp it changes both the audio and video simultaneously.

I plug my DVD and Sky directly into the TV because I think the picture is better.

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/product_...onomy_id=42-98
for £398

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/product_...onomy_id=42-98
for £198

would be better.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Thanks

Not surprised, using an amp as a pass through is never going to be as good. Seems rather pointless to have all th video conversion features that they seem to be adding to them. Plain old 5 channel amp will do me just nicely

Thanks for the suggestions, will look into both of them

Funkii Munkii

Hello

I have a Yamaha AV amp, very happy with it although it can be a little sensitive, I find I have to re adjust some settings because of the broadcast quality of some channels, but it is super adjustable and you can play until your hearts content, the £398 Pioneer looks very good value for money as well.

dsmith

When you have more sources than your TV has scarts - its time to use the V bit of an AV amp

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Nice explanation dsmith

Thanks funkii, that Pioneer does look good.

Am just wondering why the Sony I was thinking about managed to get so many good reviews. Maybe its all some sort of media conspiracy

corradoboy

In my experience, Yamaha amps tend to be better if you listen to more music than watch movies. I used to run an old Yam DSP2070 back in the days of ProLogic and the surround effects available for music listening knock spots off my newer Pioneer which is the latest DD7.1/DTS. The "church" setting is fantastic for classics, and blues in the "jazz club" is great. I run a separate Cyrus system for pure stereo music listening, but I used to really enjoy playing with the surround effects on the Yammy. Not Hi-fi in it's pure sense, but entertaining. BTW, the Pioneer is absolutely stunning on movies, which is why I got it. DTS through 7 speakers is putting cracks in my walls If I was to buy now I would probably compare Yam/Pio/Denon, with a preference towards Yam for the above reasons but, as most of my time is now watching movies instead of music, I would choose whichever did that job the best and still rely on my old Cyrus audiophile gear for music.

PS. Don't ever buy hi-fi because of a media review, especially one in WhatHiFi! They are famous for giving 5*'s to products that Richer Sounds (their biggest advertiser) have just started flogging at a good price

rik1471

Just got one of these: http://www.hifi4less.com/Denon_AVR_1...V_Receiver.htm

I would highly recommend it, especially for £289 with all the features/quality it has.

rik1471

If you want the Denon rrp £329, Empire Direct have made a mistake with pricing £195 but they're prepared to sell it as it's their mistake. £7.99 postage too isn't bad.

http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/conten...=DEN-AVR1906BK

Iain Young

I can highly recommend the Denon amps. I've got a 3805 and it's the dogs danglies

I run both the sound and video through it, (it converts everything to component output for input into my plsama), and it means I can switch between sky+, dvd recorder / player, xbox, gamecube, and ps2 with just a touch of a single button

Works really well...

Iain Young

Putting the sky output through my Denon amp actually improves the picture. Converts it to component output for the plasma as well

G00ner

Wouldn't buy from Either Seven Oaks or Denon again.

I brought an AVC-A1SE from Seven Oaks, had nothing but trouble, many 30 mile trips back and forth, losing it for weeks at a time only to get the same 'no fault found' cobblers.

Eventually I took home their demo machine that worked perfectly, so would they swap my faulty one for a new one, no chance, I had to settle for the scratched demo machine in the end, with no apology or even a shred of embarrassment. No replys from head office or even Denon, so I hold them both equally responsible.

After 4 years the demo machine is still going strong, but beware the aftersales of both companies.

Iain Young

Sounds like you had a bad experience with your first Denon amp, but I've heard similar (and worse) horror stories with all the other major brands (Yamaha, Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer etc...)

From what you describe, the real problem was with Sevenoaks, (they should have swapped for a working model). Interestingly, you are not the first person I've heard of that has had troubles dealing with them...

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Will have to bear that one in mind

I do not want a whole load of grief when buying an amp.

Daryl

Bollocks!

Daryl

Also bollocks!

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Oh ****, so much divided opinion, life is never simple is it?

That expensive Pioneer looks good, but the Sony I was thinking of is really cheap now, down from £300 to £180 on some internet sites.

Its replacement even has a DAB radio for £350....oh the choices....

My Amp is at its worst when my her indoors decides to use her hairdryer. The amp makes an awful humming noise when she does this. Settles down within a couple of minutes after she has finished. Its a loud transformer hum that comes from the back of the unit itself, v strange

KiwiGTI

The Sony is also ancient, getting close to 3 years old.

Sony's lack the refinement in their amplifiers that other brands seem to have. Musically I've never heard a good Sony amp.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I can see that I am going to have to save some pennies here

(BTW - the amp i have now...it cost £50 got it cheap off eBay STR-DB780) I quite like the sound of it though.

corradoboy

You are entitled to your opinion. Mine was formed many years ago when WhatHiFi! waxed lyrical about some Gale 4 speakers that you could get at Richers for just £130. Floorstanding, biwirable, mass-fillable, spiked little 2 way jobbies. We took a pair to a specialists auditioning room and wired them up to an Audiolab 8000A with a Cyrus dad7 and some quality interconnects and speaker cable. In comparison to the £70 Mission bookshelfs on £60 stands (hence £130) they were total, complete and utter $h!te. 9 people, all hi-fi nuts sat in on that session, and some of them weren't made aware of what the little Gale's were and why we were testing them, but everyone was in agreement. 5 stars my @rse I wouldn't have used them as a doorstop.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I'm way from experienced in all this. I thought that a floorstanding speaker needed to be well over £200 before it could be compared to a booksheld speaker on a stand. Thought the casing of floorstanders cost so much that is why you needed to pay more before you got a good speaker

Mind you, I have heard a fair few people say that the What Hi-Fi is biased, although, several of them were salesmen try to sell me something!

lokokkee

Problem with wiring the video inputs through the amp is that you have to turn it on all the time to watch any thing, even just TV. So unless you are running plenty of S-video and component inputs, wire at least 1 TV signal direct to the telly, saves you wear and tear on your amp and speakers when just watching news or soap.l

RB5201

Give me Denon anyday, I have a AVR-1705, great amp for the money and I have dvd and sky running through this to plasma and picture quality is fantastic. You could do no harm in looking at www.avforums.co.uk its a bit like here, but for all audio/tv etc related issues

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Sweet, nice forum suggestion. Think I may have to head over there

Iain Young

Good tip, although some amps (like my Denon) actually improve the picture quality going into the tv, (although I think part of it is possibly because the amp outputs component video, and the decoder in the telly runs better on that than the scart input).

Personally, I always run it through the amp, although I haven't actually got any speakers on the plasma, (it's just a screen), so I have to run the amp to get any sound

lokokkee

Iain, I think to benefit from the amp's component video output, you need to at least input the video signal via S-video, if not components itself. Using just the composite video input should not result in any improvement, as it is the limiting factor there, something like around 200-250 lines resolution, so 'rubbish in - rubbish out'. Not familiar with scart connectors though, so not sure what's the resolution that you can achieve with them.
From my experience, amps have a shorter service life expectancy than tv, and it is always a good idea to have a lightning isolator wired in if you want to connect any external aerial through it. Don't know about UK weather, but I run through a couple of the isolators every year, much cheaper to replace than the amp, I must add.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I dunno if the amps can do this yet, but if there is some kind of processor it may be able to upscale the image using decent resizing techniques. These techniques could be better than that of the TV, hence the better quality.

Even still, rubbish in is rubbish out, its just that the rubbish may be slightly better than what the TV can do with the signal

christyper

Amps cetainly can upscale video. This was first done about three years ago on the Yamaha DSPZ9 and has become more common over time. It is still only high end amps that do this but will start to become more common on lower models. The process is usually done by a Faroudja DCDi chip.

Amps which convert video formats (ie in composite out component) can improve the picture without scaling it so I would alwayts connect all audio and video into the AV amp. This will also help with lip sync problems caused by some projectors and plasma screens (especially with progressive signals) as many AV amps (nearly all of the current Yamaha range!) will allow audio to be delayed to match the picture.