hi all.

I normally know my stuff on this lot, btu want some advice on where to buy an all singing all dancing home cinema amp.

I dont know which model to get but am happy to spend up to £1k.

thinking about finding a yamaha dsp AX1 or the denon A10 SE. Either way I would prefer gold, and dts is a must.

dont mind second hand.

can anyone suggest a model and or a decent shop. I dont need help setting up or anything, nor do I have a problem with complicated models.

dont think I can be ar5ed with the likes of richer sounds, but if anyone can recommend a cheap place I would appreciate it.

You want the Denon 3802 which has full support for both DD EX and DTS ES although only THX amps can claim they do DD EX this one does. It also get top reviews and can be picked up for about £700 from most places

Si

My Yam 800 also does THX. The goddam best sound track I have ever heard is T2 in THX. I'm sure it moved the furniture.

Yamaha have updated the AX to the AZ. http://www.yamaha-audio.co.uk/homeci...ifier/dsp-az1/

Not sure if it comes in gold, perhaps Pete Lewis can advise ;)

Try the AX-2 (great Amp!)

Contact www.ace-audio.com for good deal.

Tell them that you heard about them on Scoobynet

I have a Yamaha DSP-A1, which is a fantastic piece of kit and I'm very happy with it. It doesn't support the newer 6.1 channel standards, but it does (according to the staff at Audio T where I bought it) sound better than the newer AX-1. Given that they were missing out on the chance to get me to upgrade, I believe them :)

Mine (in gold) was about £1300 new, so a s/h one should be well within your £1000 budget. You might also have to bribe a strong friend to help you lift it onto your equipment rack too!

Andy.

I've been looking for a while now - and would like one that doesn't sacrifice audio clarity.

The model from NAD seems to fit the bill (but have neither heard nor bought it)

http://www.nad.co.uk/Receiver/T751.html

And leave some money over to get a decent sub woofer (eg a REL)

When looking for av stuff in the past i have found it worthwhile to sit with a copy of your preferred hi-fi/av magazine, do a little spreadsheet for the items you want and the places advertising it, then call each one and ask them whether they have it in stock and how much if you purchase it now.

Tends to unlock some pretty interesting deals :)

thanks for the replies guys.

I am not fussed about audio clarity as I have a separate hi fi system, and the speakers runnign from this are small but very high quality satellite. Even still I am not expecting great sound from them.

Not a big fan of nad at the mo.

Looking forward to havnig video switching though, as I currently have a separate hard wired box, which although convenient, seems to be stretching my cabling which at about £1000 worth already, I cannot afford to lengthen!

darms,

great suggestion, but ufortunately the UK version of the AX2 does have an RF input for laserdisc, and this would prevent me watching my star wars collection in dolby digital!

that rules it out straigth away! :(

Adam,

I had a demo of a lot of kit ranging from £200 amps upto £1000 amps and ended up buying a Sherwood amp with RDS,DTS,DD5.1 and 6 channel input. I also bought a Mission Cinema 72 speaker kit. The whole lot cost about £600 including speaker stands and cables. Money was no object the reason I chose the above is that IMHO with the Mission speakers there was no real sound difference between the high end amps and the low end. The Sherwood has all the features of the expensive amps but at a fraction of the cost. No doubt someone will tell me something bad about Sherwood but I have nothing but praise for them.

Si.

Sherwood amps are great for what you pay.

Just like my scan dvd player, it plats EVERY format i care to throw at it with picture quality not to far off my sony, yet it only played 1 format and cost 6 times more!!!!

I'm a Tag McLaren man myself, but given the choice between the Yamaha and Denon I would go with the latter every time

Adam,
If you can stretch to £1900 then get the Denon AVC 1 SE.
Superb piece of kit that is the worlds first 7.1 amp as well as the usual DTS, THX Ultra, DTS 6.1 ES, DTS 6.1 Discrete.

You won't find much better for the price and it's going to be around for a long time before you need to upgrade.

Review is here http://www.leconcepts.com/amps/denonamp.htm

Andy

I ama TAG man also but have found no great difference in quality, selling all my TAG kit to free up some cash and go with denon setup....

Ben: I do kinda see your pount, there's probably only a 5-10% difference in perceived quality. I used to have a very nice Naim Audio system, but went multi-channel before they released their processor. They're 5-10% better still IMO.

So.... what are you selling???

I would love the av32r, but they keep adding bits and putting the prices up.

I have a THX 5 channel amplifier, but cannot fork out £2800 for the standard model for the processor alone now. With M and K satellites it simply isnt worth it.

I have seen a standard av32r with no exatrs second hand for £1800 at audiot, but even then, the limiting factor is3 going to be the speakers.

The beauty of the tag is that it makes a decent front end of a hifi system, but I am already runing an active naim set up, and dotn want a second room devoted to speakers etc. The room is too small for home cinema as it is, so a big amp of the yamaha denon variety will prob be overkill.

As it stands I am suffering having no cinema at all. My old denon avd2000 processor is shagged, and I am forced to watch tv through the main speakers of the 6 channel input since as it is an da converter, it doesnt have any other analogue inputs.

the only way I can watch films now, is to stick in the stereo output of my various sources in the analogue domain into these same inputs, meaning I get no surroundat all, only hassle having to switch wires all the bloody time.

av32 would be nice, but I have a car to pay for, and am thinking maybe I should move then buy it!

Sounds to me like you need to trust your own ears, then :) You'll get as many opinons as there are Scoobynet readers if you wait long enough - personally I didn't rate the Denon amp compared to the Yamaha, it sounded soft and lacking in punch to me. It's all down to your own ears and taste in music/movies.

A.

ptholt,

I have been considering a Scan DVD player, how do you find yours?

Si.

Well i changed my £600 sony dvd for the scan unit as the sony would only play dvd, I called a few hi-fi places i know and they wanted to me purchase a player at @ £1k to maintain same quality and get the features i wanted (wanted cdr + cdrw playback).
Then came across the scan, picture and sound quality seem no different to my sony, access speed is a lot faster, plus it plays everything cdr, cdrw, mp3 etc the whole lot!

Also does multi region and RCE straight out the box for £150!!

The only downside being the build quality which is not as good as the sony, but for the money i think its unbeatable.

ptholt,

Cheers for the info.

Si.

I am not actually selling anything. I am giving my used stuff to my sister for her room.

lol. this conv made me look at a house instead of my flat, but I have changed my mind!

I am thinking I should buy one of the cheaper denons (like £300ish) to tide me over until I find the right deal.

Ideas?

:eek: you've got more money than sense!

I wouldnt buy one just to tide you over.. as you will spend as long choosing that one :D

Just buy right and buy once.. Make a list of the ones you've considered, find the people with them in and then go listen to them... then buy off the net if they wont match the price...

David

Denon:)

I've got a yamaha DSP-A1 which is excellent, though pretty much worthless now (despite costing £1500 3.5 years ago!). Looked at upgrading, but the difference was minimal.

You may be able to pick one up cheaply.

Audio T have the following:

Denon AVC A10SE (gold) Ex-Dem £1300 £770 Camberly

Plus lots of other stuff at their website

Audio-T are quite expensive generally. Avoid their Basingstoke branch, but can recommend Reading and Chandlers Ford.

that denon box sold some time back. I had already contacted them to find out!

oh well, my loss.

Am getting frustrated, so I may just pop into musical images in edgware on the way home from work.

At the moment I dont care, I just want to be able to watch harry potter, which arrived yesterday.

Whats worse is losing itvdigital, as now I cant leave paramount comedy channel on as I got to sleep.

Not allowed to fit sky digital to a block of flats, and the communal satellite installation I have proposed takes 5 months to install!

I'm going to change my sony 930 amp to a denon 2802 or 3802 if i can find a decent deal on the denons, heard a demo of them and the prologic 2 function that simulates 5.1 is stunning!

I hate when i listen to cd that the other speaks are doing nothing, and this seems ideal.

Yeah, Prologic 2 is meant to be very good. Thinking of adding it to my AV32R

eeek, it kills me to know there are other speakers in the room colouring my sound whenh I am listening to stereo!

So turn off the other channels! I listen to music in direct 2-channel, don't even use the sub (unless it's Radio one on a Saturday night!)