Amp Spec Help

V1N

V1N

V1N

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Joined
29 Jul 2006
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1,705
Location
Cornwall
Hi there.

Somebody I know just bought an amp from a small independant electrical shop in the area.

I've been waiting to upgrade my amp for some time, just waiting to be able to afford it, to go with the rest of my setup, which includes a PS3 as my media centre and DVD/bluray playback, connected to both a Sony 40w2000 and Panasonic AE-2000E giving me a 108" 1080p screen.

I'm still using old DD5.1/DTS sound though.

So, this person told me their amp was on offer at the moment, and was just £180.

I went down to the shop to take a peek myself.

Seems this amp is a

Yamaha DSP-AX863SE
http://www.yamaha-uk.com/av_amps_receivers/?product_id=207

Now, it seems to do quite a lot for the money.
Upscaling to 1080p, lots of HD audio decoding, except, I don't know if this amp supports decoding of PCM 7.1? If I get an amp myself, I'd like one that can do this, for the blurays (and few PS3 games) that have PCM 7.1.

I did a Google, and found a review from competitor


There it states

Dolby: TrueHD, Digital/Plus/EX, Pro Logic/IIx Movie, Music, Game
DTS: DTS-HD Master Audio/High Resolution Audio, 96/24, Neo:6 Movie/Cinema, ES 6.1 Discrete/Matrix
Linear PCM
*Supports 7.1 high definition audio up to 192kHz decoded as Linear PCM at source
Click to expand...

What does that mean?
The player has to decode the PCM stream, and then pass it onto the amp as... what? Did I once read that the PS3 does decode some HD Audio and pass it out as PCM, or something like that?

As you can tell, I'm not at all up on amps etc, which is why I'm hoping somebody here can give me their opinion of this amp, and whether I'd be able to play PCM 7.1 on it.

Also, my current old amp and speakers are fine for movies, which is why I still have it. Nothing like as good as the kit I know some of you guys must have, but it's always been good enough. For music however, it's terrible. Crap in fact. It can rumble the room with explosions (I especially remember the explosions near the beginning of Der Untergang/The Downfall DTS track) yet, when it comes to music, the bass drums sound.... flat, lack any punch, the cymbals are non-existant (I listen to very heavy music) so I'd also like an amp that can deliver great sounding music.

At the moment, I use a PC for music playback, connected to some Boston Acoustic speakers, which sound frankly amazing... sound coming from my X-Fi Fatal1ty sound card.

However, these days, I don't leave the PC on much, and all my music is on a server, so I plan to maybe use the PS3 for MP3 playback, and possibly SACD and CD playback. Alternatively, I still have my old DVD plaer, a Pioneer, which can play SACD etc.

So, I'd like an amp that would be great for bluray HD soundtracks, and also music.

The guy in the shop also recommended these speakers.

KEF KHT3005 5.1

Although I just googled and it says they're discontinued!

EDITED COMPETITOR.

Anybody know anything about these speakers?
I know they're just 5.1, but the chap in the shop said I can buy two more to connect to the amp.

So, is the amp above any good? (For the money, £180) and can it do PCM 7.1?

Thanks for your help.
Vin.

EDIT: Sorry, didn't realise the page I was quoting also sells media centre PCs, so have edited the name out.
 
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If that's the price you paid for an 863 then you got a billy bargain!

Are you sure it wasn't the 363 because that about the sort of price they go for

PS don't tell Easyrider ;)
 
if it is the 863se then you got a £600 (was £800) amp for £180!

yes it can do the lot as far as im aware, a very capable amp.
 
I spoke to the guy at the shop, and he said he sent me the wrong link ;)

That one is £380.

The one he meant to send he said was one model down, same specs, but instead of 105w it's 95w, other than that, he said it's the same?

Which would make it a

DSP-AX763

It's good then?

As is obvious, when it comes to the audio side of things, I don't really have a clue. I just wanted an amp that can cover all the HD audio formats, including PCM 7.1, for blurays.

If you guys think that's a good bargain, then I may well get it.

Basically that amp, and the Kef speakers for about a grand.... I'll have to add a bit more though, as the Kef's are a 5.1 system, so I'll need to buy 2 extra for 7.1.

I'm gunna get them to set the amp and those Kef speakers up for me in the shop for a test run before buying anything, the thing is, I have nothing to compare them to. It'll be my first listen of HD audio. I'd never even considered a Yamaha amp before, simply because I do read this thread from time to time, and I thought Onkyo was the way to go.

But, this amp seems to be pretty good, and if it does indeed do PCM 7.1 then I may well go ahead.

By the way, those Kef speakers that I mentioned, they do have a cheaper model at about £500. Would they suffice, or are the KHT3005SE really the dogs doodahs?

Also, the DSP-AX763, would you guys recommend that, or is it worth the extra £100 for the DSP-AX863SE. The guy in the shop did say they're both the same, except for the wattage difference.

I appreciate any input, because as you can tell, I'm really not up on audio stuff. If the DSP-AX763 and Kef KHT3005SE would be a good match, give me great sound to match my Panasonic AE-2000E projector image quality, then I'll be absolutely delighted :)

Cheers,
Vin.

EDIT: OK, sorry chaps, I've no idea what the guy in the shop is up to. After reading your replies, and checking the Yamaha site, it seems they still got it wrong!! (I did say it was a small independant shop) It seems the two amps they're selling are the DSP-AX763, NOT the AX863SE, and the cheaper one is the 563, which oddly, looking at the spec, even though it has HDMI and 1080p upscaling, doesn't mentioned HD Audio modes at all!??!

http://www.yamaha-uk.com/av_amps_receivers/index.cfm?product_id=209

Oh well, I'm going to leave it for now then.
I'll take another look into it in a day or two. Seems the shop don't know what they're selling themselves at the moment. But yes, seems to be nothing to do with the 863SE, rather a choice between the 763 and 563.
I'm not sure if either of those do PCM 7.1, as well as have the other HD Audio decoders, but this is obviously something I need to know before deciding anything. So sorry for messing you all about, and thanks for your replies anyway!

Vin.
 
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That's still a good price for a 763. it does do multi channel PCM . The 563 does not do HD formats though it will accept multi channel PCM. Yamaha amps go well with Kef Speakers but go for the 763 rather than the 563 (or get the 863 if you can afford it & he's got one in stock)
 
Grimley said:
That's still a good price for a 763. it does do multi channel PCM . The 563 does not do HD formats though it will accept multi channel PCM. Yamaha amps go well with Kef Speakers but go for the 763 rather than the 563 (or get the 863 if you can afford it & he's got one in stock)
Click to expand...

I'm considering it still, thanks for your reply.
I just lost interest in it all for a bit, from the feeling of being messed about, and now things are looking more expensive than I'd planned. I may just give it a few months and have another look, but I'll see. Next week I may just go down there and make a purchase, that's what happened when I bought my 40w2000 ;)

Do ALL HD amps support PCM 7.1 sound then?
Even the 563, now I've read the PDF manual, suggests that it supports multi channel PCM sound, even though it doesn't list any other HD audio formats. If that's the case, could I get the PS3 to decode the audio streams and output as PCM, and still get HD audio?

Basically what I want to be able to do is pick up an amp that can play back PCM 7.1 audio from the bluray movies that have it, and few PS3 games that have it too, as well as all the HD audio formats that I'm likely to find on bluray movies. That, and also an amp that can handle music quite well.

If I were to buy one today, it looks like the 763 would fulfill my needs then, so long as it does support PCM 7.1. The reason I ask if the amp definitely supports it, is because on the stickers on the front, it shows how it supports TrueHD, and this and that, but no mention of PCM 7.1. The fact that inside the manual it does mention multichannel PCM sound is fine, except that the 563 says exactly the same thing, and that doesn't support any other audio formats, which is why I'm confused?

Sorry to bang on about it, but I hope you understand that I don't want to spend a fair amount of money, just to get home and realise that something I want isn't supported. (I've never even heard PCM 7.1 yet! So I don't even know if it's "all that" but I just assumed that, coupled with those Kef's, I should be impressed)

Vin.
 
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