My Yamaha A1 is not well so......

I have a Z7 with upgraded DACs from a AVR600 in my cinema room and a 3067 in my living room, not a lot in it really I run both into power amps but have tried them with the same power amps, in built amps are pretty poor like most current receivers (My now dead A1 blew both out the water on that front). I do think the room correction is slightly better on the 3067 but it doesn't offer the same level of tweaking via the receiver manager software you can run on a PC.

On a side note the iOS and Android app works fine with the Z7, you can't play songs from the iOS/Android device like the 3067 but every thing else works.

Really need to look at the current crop of processors that are available, might brave Arcam again but the AVR600 I had came with ridiculous amount of firmware bugs so had to be returned.
 
:) modded Z7 prob sounds pretty good as a pre-amp :)

I guess you mean upgraded op-amps :),changing the DACs themselves would be quite a electronics feat !!

I'm tempted with an Anthem MRX300 + decent power amp - I'm just not convinced it will sound much better than my current Pioneer AX10Ai

MRX300 + Power amp - prob not much change from 1800, 2nd hand value of my AX10Ai - 300-400 max

would the MRX300 + Power amp sound out of this world better ? not sure but not convinced from my home trials of similar priced av receivers

if only I could get a home demo of a MRX300
 
Yeah opamps it has been a long day, chap over on avforums did it first must have been 3 or 4 years ago now when the choice on the processor front was limited. I have been meaning to try an Anthem amp as the room correction is suppose to be superb but I want to try and avoid upgrading as it is a downward spiral !
 
One other issue with a Z11, your not going to find one second hand anywhere near the OP's budget.

I would also be very scepticle about the newer Yamaha Amps, 3067 or 3010, being better than a Z7. I know my 3900 isn't.
 
As I suggested earlier I'd look a mid range modern AV amp, but add a power amp at least the L+R channels. Not only does the external power amp drive the speakers better it removes a lot of strain and demand from the AV amps power supply. Perhaps get a three channel power and do the centre also.
That way you get the latest extras and avoid the corner cutting/cost savings of modern amps.
Beyond that get a good spec BD player with all the processing onboard, then use an analogue out into a multi channel pre-amp and power combination. Works if you don't want to process too many digital sources !

Having gone from old tech but very quality to latest codec's etc and "average" quality new kit, the old kit running full rate DTS is far far better than any HD sounds I've heard since.
If that bothered me too much I'd go get my old Linn AV pre-amp and powers again..... it then does music superbly as well..... and now is bargain prices ;)
 
Easy to be side tracked by numbers and spec...... DTS was always said to CD quality... what ever that means !!!..... People are happy to listen to music in lossy MP3 but want movies in Lossless master Audio etc.... which is the wrong way around to my mind....

DTS done right/well even at 1.5mb will blow away any HD audio done average, feed through average analogue stages, which is where the real loss is ....
 
Got off the phone with the engineer who was repairing my amp.......
Good news is that he has fixed it :D
Basically what he said he did was to replace a capacitor that held settings when power off,it had failed.Re-soldered the display contacts
and took the digital board out.Could not find anything wrong with the board but he cleaned the ribbon cables and re inserted them and the amp has been playing all day at his workbench with no dropouts
Had the option of picking it up tonight but traffic getting to and from the shop would be horrendous,so will be picking it up tomorrow
Cost around £55,bargain
Will let you know exactly how much and how it all works tomorrow eve or on Sunday :)
Happy Bunny here :D
 
similar case with my AX10Ai - had been using it for 3 years or so after butying 2nd hand - and one day i got a quick burst of static - didn't think of anything - then a few months later - no output at all - would turn on and could access menus etc- but nothing, no test tones, nothing on pre-outs etc

checked all the internal fuses, all looked good, took most of the boards out - nothing really obvious. Was about to start attempting some fault finding onboards themselves using the service manual when a colleague at work said - did you actually check the continuity of the internal fuses or jsut visually check them ? He'd had a the wire in a fuse break near inside of one of the caps (ie not obvious visually) due to age etc

so checked continuity of each fuse in turn (all 8 of them) - one looked fine - but no continuity

changed fuse - amp working perfectly - cost £2 :)

and the week before as I'd almost given up - I'd put the amp up fro sale for £50 or something - to get "at least something for it" - so glad it didn't sell :)

and its still going strong - a year later :)
 
Got the amp connected up yesterday
Within 5 mins of playing music,sound dropped out :(
Now trying other cables optical versus coaxial,still dropping out frequently :(
Last thing to try will be taking one of the devices,probably my main pc downstairs to the other Yamaha amp in the front room and trying that to eliminate this pc`s out put,but as it happens with the other pc(htpc)i am not hopeful
The engineer sounded confident and competent too,but as it happened straight away after I got it home I just don't know
NOT a happy Bunny now
wasted £56.45
Could have been a lot more I suppose,he only charged me for his labour and the cap he replaced that was bulging(showed me this)and fixed the display
 
The fact it was almost immediate suggests something may be amiss elsewhere. Have you tested the amp using an analogue connection? (by the description of dropout i'm assuming you are losing all sound not just a channel) I've had similar issues and both times it was a damaged cable causing the intermittent sound loss.

I'd speak to the engineer and see what he says.
 
Just tested with a coaxial cable from main pc still same dropout
Was speaking to the engineer in the shop yesterday
He said it only dropped out on him once when he first plugged it in and he had it running for a few days with no drops(he said anyway)
Not worth my time and effort to keep returning to the shop,will keep testing different things for a while and it no luck will be scrapping it and looking for a new/different amp
So to conclude will be trying the other amp soon if it passes soundwise with that one I will be binning it unfortunately :(
Testing a CD via analog connections now (cd separate not pc)
 
Last edited:
Nightglow said:
Splendid news.:)

One troublesome capacitor caused all the problems.:D
Click to expand...
Actually the cap that was `dodgy` was to store memory settings for presets/speaker db etc

Just played a cd in my bluray player via optical cable ,no drop outs in 10 mins

Currently playing a cd in my pc dvd rom drive,no drop outs so far:confused:
Play mp3 via this pc or my htpc via optical or coaxial,drop outs quickly:confused:
Same mp3s played on my van stereo plays fine (ruling out a bad music file ?)
Tried a few DTS music files via main pc and optical/coaxial,near instant drops in sound,Could it be windows media player? but it does drop out when playing mkv etc with zoomplayer and mpc and others
Oh well back to trying/testing again
 
Try giving the volume control a sharp turn when a drop out occurs. Check the couplers at the back sockets labelled pre out and main in. (short metal links) Make sure it is all clean and shiny and they are reinserted tightly.

Have you tried it with analogue connections? (just to rule out the problem being in the dac)
 
Testing by me is still ongoing :)
Analog works fine,no dropouts
Tests I have done in post above

Last night played a few mkvs on my HTPC to the amp using a coaxial connection.....no dropouts:) all evening
Just a few minutes ago started up my main pc playing mp3`s to the amp,sound dropouts within 10 seconds,BUT not as many as before it was `looked` at by the engineer:confused:

Testing in progress.............
 
Not sure if this a similar issue but some years back my Linn AV pre amp would make horrid noises or not play from the PC via coaxial... it was fine when fed by the Unidisk player... Turned out that the power supply was failing and the voltages on the digital board were out of spec, so the DAC could't lock onto the signal. The PC signal I guess was closer to the tolerance limits than the player.....

So if you have any sender or receiver that is drifting out of spec for any reason I think you'll get the drop and farting noises I got... Is the PC output on a plug in sound card ?... can you swap it for another.
I'd take it back to the repair guy and say it didn't work 100%, please try again FOC. Perhaps he can measure to see if the Dig-in is working with in spec.
 
9designs2 said:
Not sure if this a similar issue but some years back my Linn AV pre amp would make horrid noises or not play from the PC via coaxial... it was fine when fed by the Unidisk player... Turned out that the power supply was failing and the voltages on the digital board were out of spec, so the DAC could't lock onto the signal. The PC signal I guess was closer to the tolerance limits than the player.....
Click to expand...

Strange, I had the exact same thing with the Acoustic Energy Aego P5 system I have in the games room. When playing the xbox through optical it would constantly drop out. Had it in bits, could find anything wrong. Email AE and they said its a faulty PSU on the P5 decoding unit. sent me a new one for £10 problem fixed.
 
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