Another spec me a new amp thread

lego · 27 Jul 2008 at 11:19

After a little win in the casino last night, i've decided to upgrade my amp. I'm only running a set of Mourdant Short avant 916 floorstanders at the moment, but with the arrival of my new projector (hd65) i'de thought i'de splash some cash.

Basically looking for something to run my speakers, and then something to pass my PS3 and PC through for use with the projector. Sound over HDMI would be great. And also some HDMI switching which will be seperate to the audio (if that makes sense)

Looking to spend about £500 but if it's worth say spending a couple of hundred more then just post your recommendations away.

ps. Although i'm only running the Advents, i will be upgrading over time, so hence the upgrade.

Thanks in advance

moogie · 27 Jul 2008 at 11:47

onkyo 605 or 705
good av recievers i have the 605 never had a problem

lego · 27 Jul 2008 at 21:04

would that allow for 2 inputs and 2 outputs over hdmi?

HummuH1 · 28 Jul 2008 at 11:15

lego said:
would that allow for 2 inputs and 2 outputs over hdmi?

Not currently, if you want 2 HDMI outputs your looking at closer to £900 i.e. Onkyo 905.

There's meant to be some mid-price units coming out with 2nd HDMI but not sure by who, when and at what price.

badbob · 28 Jul 2008 at 11:18

HDMI means you have to buy a av amp, which IMO will be crap compared to a stereo integrated amp. Do you really need HDMI & multi-channel- do you have a stereo speaker system or 3 or more to complete the HT?

Richdog · 28 Jul 2008 at 11:39

The newer model of the Onkyo is the 606... the 605 is the outdated version. Either way they are feature-rich, but have problems with overheating and many people don't consider them good "musically" compared to other AV amps in this price-range.

For £500 I would be looking at the following:

Denon AVR-1909 (TrueHD, 3x HDMI, has Audyssey, 1080P upscaling, got 5* in this months What-HiFi) http://whathifi.com/Review/Denon-AVR-1909/

Yamaha DSP-AX763 (TrueHD, 2x HDMI, 1080P upscaling, decent musically)

I'm going for the Denon when it's released in the next week or two.

badbob said:
HDMI means you have to buy a av amp, which IMO will be crap compared to a stereo integrated amp. Do you really need HDMI & multi-channel- do you have a stereo speaker system or 3 or more to complete the HT?

To the vast majority of people a decent AV amp will sound fine and fit all of their HDMI requirements to boot. The OP will be fine with one from the sounds of it.