AV Receiver Advice

[Tommy B]

My thread in Sound City was terribly messy, so I'll try and keep this concise and simple.

I'm looking to buy an AV receiver that doubles as an amp. I've already got an old AMP with three Hi-Fi speakers connected to my X-fi. I'm looking to go 5.1.

I've been looking at AV receivers such as the DENON AVR2105 HOME CINEMA RECEIVER. What I want to do is use three Jack>Dual Phono wires plugged from the X-Fi and into the AV receiver. I will then attach the Hi-Fi speakers (and buy two more in the process, as well as a sub) via traditional speaker cable. Finaly, I'll have an external DVD player connected via either optical or co-axial.

My question is, the AVR2105 is £300. Is there any need to spend this much money? The design looks really nice, but I've seen a Cambridge AV receiver for only £200 that seems to do exactly the same job.

Cheers,

 

[Tommy B]

Mainly listening to music, but also gaming and movies. It would be nice to get something future proof though, so that it lasts a good 10-15 years.

When I bought the X-fi, I had no idea how crap it was. I can't believe it doesn't even output a 7.1 signal via optical; it's a disgrace for a company like Creative. I may sell it and buy a Mystique.

 

[Tommy B]

And would the sound quality be just as good as a dedicated £200 AMP?

On the subject of Hi-Fi, what the hell has happened to my speakers. I used to have a mission getting bass out of them, I'd need sound card EQ, bass EQ on the amp. Now, the bass is much better with everything in neutral. Have I messed up the speaker drivers?

 

[Tommy B]

Tommy

I personally think in stereo a £200 amp sounds better for music ( not mp3's unless encoded very high) but its much of a muchness really

but in my opinion if you really love movies then a 5.1 or greater av amp is the way to go ( there is a long thread from a few days ago which refutes this opinion )

Inregards to your speakers, it can take some time for speakers to warm up and work as they were designed - depending on how long you have had the ones in question and how much they have been used , there shouldnt be much to worry about

this is actually true of amps as well, the more they are used at reasonable power levels the the more warm the sound gets - or the nearer it gets to how it was designed to sound

If you were well off, you could combine an AV Receiver and an amp? Surely you'd just connect the normal amp to the front output on the sound card (hence music just wants the front 2 speakers) and the centre/side/rear/sub to the AV receiver.

 

[Tommy B]

Have you changed anything, doesn't sound like warm up or run in to me, sounds like they were wired up wrong or something. "Flat" setting should be more or less sounding right in a well set up system.

Just make sure you get an AV amp with "Pre Outs" then if you want to use a stereo amp to get better music you can hook them up later, so a CDP plugs into the stereo amp, and the Left and Right speakers are then driven directly by the Stereo amp, and not the AV. (The AV L*R pre out plugs into AUX on the Stereo amp for movies etc)

Do you mean that I use phono outputs on the AV receiver and then use the phono inputs on the AMP?