AV processor for separates
- Thread starter Mikey
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Onkyo 605 - entry level, no pre-outs - £399
Onkyo 705 - has preouts, £599
Got the 605 here and it's great
Should've got the 705 since now I'm getting into music....
Onkyo 705 - has preouts, £599
Got the 605 here and it's great
Should've got the 705 since now I'm getting into music....
I believe the cheapest Onkyo with pre-outs is around £600 (the model being the 705 IIRC).
The real question is whether you want/need to process the latest surround sound formats. If you do, there's not a lot of choice and those that exist will need to be brand new and command an appropriate premium.
Option B is to look at say a s/h older AV amp. These tend to depreciate like a stone being thrown off beachy head. I've seen 3 or 4 year old £2000 flagship amps sell for just £300-400. These older amps won't have niceties like video scaling to HDMI, auto room calibration or process newer formats. They will however has some seriously good audio implementations when compared to something like a newer Onkyo unit, meaning that it'll probably sound better.
As an example, I bought a Yamaha E800 processor for all of £47 recently. It only has amplification for the centre and rear speakers, no video processing and no new formats. It does however use the DD/DTS digital processing from a £1000 AV amp (the old Yam A2) and sounds awesome for the dosh.
You makes your choices....
Those mentioned are not av pre-amps, they're av amps and not using the poweramp stages, or 3 channel av pre-amp/processor. Av pre-amps cost a lot of money.
Second hand there are the Tag and Lexicon DC/MC processors. The Lexicon don't have analogue 5.1 inputs however they're renowned as superior units in processing (Logic 7)
New there's Naim- about £3000. Arcam I think that's £2/3K. Lexicon MC-8/12, somewhere between £5-£12K. Yamaha are miles behind in processing and power amplification. Crap.
I've got a Lexicon MC-1, it's fab. The lack of 5.1 inputs (or HDMI) wasen't a concern, but if you're going into new formats then have to make a choice. Processing on top-end processors is superior to new budget av amps. DC/MC are about £400/£500. The MC-1 is superior processor than the DC-2 (higher quality DAC's)
If you do buy a Lexicon- DC-2, make sure it has the DTS board fitted, and with Dolby Digital option,with latest firmware -V4. When you switch it on it'll display
V4
AC-3 DTS.
The MC-1 comes supplied as standard with DTS & DD, but again check for latest firmware. On both Lexicon's, V4 also adds THX Surround EX. It also has other THX options, two useful modes are re-equalistation and subwoofer peak protection. The Lex's can upscale stereo to full stereo sides and surround 7.1, and it sounds great. For music, I recommend Music Surround. You can have settings per mode, Logic 7 music & film settings By default re-equalisation is enabled for all film Logic 7 modes, so disable them. Only need it if your centre is a bit harsh on the top end (probably cheaper centres) It's disabled by default for all Logic 7 Music modes. You can have seperate settings for 2 channel ie.
Calibrate.
2 channel
Subwoofer -6db
Logic 7 Music DTS
Subwoofer -4dB
*
Logic 7 Music Dolby
Subwoofer -3dB
*
Logic 7 DTS
Subwoofer - 00dB
*
Logic 7 Dolby
Subwoofer -2dB
*- denotes you can tweak other speakers channel levels.
Second hand there are the Tag and Lexicon DC/MC processors. The Lexicon don't have analogue 5.1 inputs however they're renowned as superior units in processing (Logic 7)
New there's Naim- about £3000. Arcam I think that's £2/3K. Lexicon MC-8/12, somewhere between £5-£12K. Yamaha are miles behind in processing and power amplification. Crap.
I've got a Lexicon MC-1, it's fab. The lack of 5.1 inputs (or HDMI) wasen't a concern, but if you're going into new formats then have to make a choice. Processing on top-end processors is superior to new budget av amps. DC/MC are about £400/£500. The MC-1 is superior processor than the DC-2 (higher quality DAC's)
If you do buy a Lexicon- DC-2, make sure it has the DTS board fitted, and with Dolby Digital option,with latest firmware -V4. When you switch it on it'll display
V4
AC-3 DTS.
The MC-1 comes supplied as standard with DTS & DD, but again check for latest firmware. On both Lexicon's, V4 also adds THX Surround EX. It also has other THX options, two useful modes are re-equalistation and subwoofer peak protection. The Lex's can upscale stereo to full stereo sides and surround 7.1, and it sounds great. For music, I recommend Music Surround. You can have settings per mode, Logic 7 music & film settings By default re-equalisation is enabled for all film Logic 7 modes, so disable them. Only need it if your centre is a bit harsh on the top end (probably cheaper centres) It's disabled by default for all Logic 7 Music modes. You can have seperate settings for 2 channel ie.
Calibrate.
2 channel
Subwoofer -6db
Logic 7 Music DTS
Subwoofer -4dB
*
Logic 7 Music Dolby
Subwoofer -3dB
*
Logic 7 DTS
Subwoofer - 00dB
*
Logic 7 Dolby
Subwoofer -2dB
*- denotes you can tweak other speakers channel levels.
Last edited:
Soldato
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i know.
mikey, what sort of money are you looking to spend? that really dictates the sort of kit people can recommend to you
Last edited:
Soldato
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he said AV AMP/ processor, and im all for it if he wants to spend 14k on a processor, monoblocks and some speakers to do them justice. something tells me thats not what he's after......
No look at the thread title
"AV processor for separates"
which means a processor without amp stages. You don't need to spend £14K, I was just giving an example. A second hand Lexicon DC-2 is under £500, and it'll trounce a Onkyo or Yamaha av amp for sound quality and processing for normal DD/DTS, albeit not having HDMI and HD audio.
"AV processor for separates"
which means a processor without amp stages. You don't need to spend £14K, I was just giving an example. A second hand Lexicon DC-2 is under £500, and it'll trounce a Onkyo or Yamaha av amp for sound quality and processing for normal DD/DTS, albeit not having HDMI and HD audio.
Soldato
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its in his first post come on.
This sounds like it has potential Lexicon DC-2
Basically I was looking at around the £500 mark for this and I can deal with speakers later.
I suppos I just reluctant to get rid of my existing, yet old kit.
Arcam Alpha 6+
Marantz KI67 (I think) CD Player
Kef reference 1 speakers
Basically I was looking at around the £500 mark for this and I can deal with speakers later.
I suppos I just reluctant to get rid of my existing, yet old kit.
Arcam Alpha 6+
Marantz KI67 (I think) CD Player
Kef reference 1 speakers
You don't get rid of anything, you just add the processor into your system. Although if you want to get into HT you'll need at least a matching centre, I have Kef Model 2.2's, with the matching Model 200 centre. You'll want a Model 100, but ideally a 200.
All multi-channel sources go into the DC-2, and stereo only into the Arcam. Left & right out from the DC-2 into your Arcam, either poweramp in jacks or a spare line level input. Need surround speakers and a subwoofer too.
Oh you would need a three channel poweramp, for centre and rears. Rotel had a RMB-993, also Rotel had a 60Wx6 which is quite affordable.
All multi-channel sources go into the DC-2, and stereo only into the Arcam. Left & right out from the DC-2 into your Arcam, either poweramp in jacks or a spare line level input. Need surround speakers and a subwoofer too.
Oh you would need a three channel poweramp, for centre and rears. Rotel had a RMB-993, also Rotel had a 60Wx6 which is quite affordable.
MMm sounds expensive...
My other thought was one of these Denon compact systems..
The kef speakers are old too and I got them while we were in Hong Kong. Absolutely love them, but I'm sure they're not what they used to be compared to the current stuff.
Tried pursuading my father to part with his Meridian kit, but got told to errr go away
My other thought was one of these Denon compact systems..
The kef speakers are old too and I got them while we were in Hong Kong. Absolutely love them, but I'm sure they're not what they used to be compared to the current stuff.
Tried pursuading my father to part with his Meridian kit, but got told to errr go away
Those speakers will outclass cheaper newer speakers, nothing has changed in speaker design. You could replace crossovers and drivers, that's if they need changing.
The Rotel six channel poweramp isn't too expensive, I think £600-£800 new so probably around £300 mark now.
urggh..
The Rotel six channel poweramp isn't too expensive, I think £600-£800 new so probably around £300 mark now.
urggh..
If your prepared to go second hand, the Yamaha DSP E800's are really cheap, support Dolby Prologic, Dolby Digital, and DTS. They have built in amplifiers for centre and rears, and pre-out's for all channels.
Its a very cheap entry into AV, and easy to upgrade. I know the Arcam Alpha 8's have an AV button on the front which converts the integrated amplifier into a pure power amp for AV use (Disables the volume control so the AV processor handles the volume of all the amps directly). If you dont have that, you can still use the processor you'll just have to calibrate the volume on the Alpha 6 so that the front speakers are at the same level as the centre and surrounds.
Its a very cheap entry into AV, and easy to upgrade. I know the Arcam Alpha 8's have an AV button on the front which converts the integrated amplifier into a pure power amp for AV use (Disables the volume control so the AV processor handles the volume of all the amps directly). If you dont have that, you can still use the processor you'll just have to calibrate the volume on the Alpha 6 so that the front speakers are at the same level as the centre and surrounds.