£500 av amp

new speakers are already on the list for a later upgrade, the b&w wasjust a temp till i got my replacement kef center back but i'm thinking of replacing the whole lot.

thanks for the input guys, it's looking like the yamaha has it in the bag. just wish it looked a sexy as the pioneer 1018 :( hate lots of buttons and exposed phono inputs on the front lol
 
marscay said:
i'm far from anti Arcam as i run a Arcam pre-amp and power amp for my 2 channel needs but the Onkyos are stonking for movie playback, the 130w per channel on the 805 is real and been measured by plenty of experts versus 80w for the AVR-280 ....it's no wonder the Arcams have a weak centre channel they're just a bit underpowered for HT imo.
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the 805 has never been measured to output 130w rms per channel all channels driven. it would be more like 100-105w. its got a maximum consumption of 870w so it is *impossible*. 7 * 130 = 910w total output, never mind the inefficiancies of the output stages or the fact the unit will burn 60-80w doing nothing at all.


not that that matters much, because i dont know anybody with the space for 7 full range speakers to push the amp with. i managed > 130db clean output with a subwoofer and bookshelf speakers playing music in all channel stero (5.1 not 7.1 bare in mind) and i did it with the amp drawing <400w.
 
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no upscaling and lower quality DAC's from what i can see but then again it is nearly £100 cheaper than the yamaha's alread cut down price.

only problem is the yamaha is still out of stock and its a lot more expensive anywhere else :(
 
well theres not a lot else to want it for lol.

i've just been reading up on upscaling and upconverting and i'm starting to think my tv is doing a good enough job of upscaling as it is because SD stuff is very good considering my el cheapo tv.

the main reason for wanting it though was for upscaling my videos that i play via the pc so i can disable upscaling in FFDshow which uses quite a lot of cpu at times.

the more i think about it the pioneer is looking to be a better option as the £100 i save can maybe go towards a decent soundcard or maybe towards a new gpu :D
 
spookywillow said:
i've just been reading up on upscaling and upconverting and i'm starting to think my tv is doing a good enough job of upscaling as it is because SD stuff is very good considering my el cheapo tv.

the main reason for wanting it though was for upscaling my videos that i play via the pc so i can disable upscaling in FFDshow which uses quite a lot of cpu at times.
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I've used ffdshow many times for this kind of thing and to be honest I have found that a codec that can utilise hardware decoding on the gpu will give just as good a PQ, or even better, as ffdshow. There's also the obvious benefits of reducing the cpu load. I have come to this opinion from a large projected image in case you were wondering.

spookywillow said:
the more i think about it the pioneer is looking to be a better option as the £100 i save can maybe go towards a decent soundcard or maybe towards a new gpu :D
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That's more like it, I like the cut of your jib fella! Why have one new toy when you can have two. :D

Ooh, you could get the new low profile Asus HDAV when it comes out. Shouldn't be too long now as they have finished the testing and the final drivers are meant to be out about the same time. Full bitstream of lovely HD audio to your new amp, unless there's no BD drive of course.
 
spookywillow said:
so what can you recommend for dumping the workload to the GPU?
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I find the MPEG2 codec in Vista as good as any but there's loads on the net. Cyberlink's one is highly rated for PQ. Obviously the right GPU is needed too.

spookywillow said:
and this is the drive i was going to get too, http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...Reader & HD-DVD ROM Serial ATA Drive - Retail
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I have one of those. No complaints at all.

spookywillow said:
ha doubt i'll be getting that soundcard if its £160 :O
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It won't be as it's a basic version of the HDAV1.3 that's half height and HDMI only (maybe spdif too , not sure). No analogue and no asus 'splendid' video which is no bad thing at all. I reckon it'll be around 100 sheets.
 
No, it's currently the only way of having it unmolested.

It can be decoded by PDVD and TMT and sent out over analogue outs or as PCM over HDMI, with certain GPU's, but it'll be downsampled without a HDAV. The discussion rages on as to whether or not you'll be able to tell the difference.

I won't give you my opinion on it as I feel it's up to each individual to decide for themselves. After all it's your money..............and ears!

What I would say though is that there's a lot of people saying that their new amp must be able to decode HD audio but don't really need it because their HTPC or PS3 can't bitstream it.
 
wolvers69 said:
What I would say though is that there's a lot of people saying that their new amp must be able to decode HD audio but don't really need it because their HTPC or PS3 can't bitstream it.
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see thats what i was just thinking this morning, i know i want those features as it saves for the future but can i actually use it now

seems i need a few other things to actually get the most from the amp :)
 
Exactly, that's why I suggested the half height HDAV.

I'd quite like to do a poll on here as to who has a HD decoding amp and is using it with a HTPC or PS3 etc that doesn't bitstream.
 
easyrider said:
If anyone spots a 863 in stock either get me on msn or email me in trust :)
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I spotted a 763 in stock last week, ordered it and rang up today as heard nothing and it's still in stock on website.

'Waiting for stock from Yamaha - should have them next week'

Cheeky gits took the money already too, looks like there are more amps coming next week though so keep an eye out
 
I got my Yamaha 763 just b4 xmas and it has been fun. I have now put my DVD recorder through component plugged my 360 directly into the TV and plugged in my old HD-E1 HD DVD alongside my Samsung BDP-1500. I have the latest Toshiba LCD with built in upscaling (CELL Processor). My Sky HD goes directly into the LCD because I have 3 inputs. The last input comes from the AX763 via HDMI which combines all my standing HD inputs plus the DVD recorder with built in HD.
The truth is, for £300 I was able to turn my 5.1 amp into a 7.1 output HD audio with HDMI output from multiple inputs. The sound quality isn't bad either. If you listen to a lot of music then the DSP of the Yamaha is good espescially if you have MP3's it has a dedicated process for them. You will find the onscreen menus quite reasonable as well. It above all saves you bending down over your Amplifier reading the LCD.
I don't trust the YPAO but it may work for you. I setup my own speakers to my own taste and then set the overall tone after I have setup the speakers.
The Yamaha has its faults but nothing is perfect. But for the price it offers more in terms of the DSP for music listenners.
 
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