AV receiver for 2.0? Or another solution?

hornetstinger · 5 Apr 2017 at 15:31

jpaul said:
... for tv input ... The VeLLBox HDMI 5x1 Ultra-High Performance Switcher, 5 In 1 Out for £30 have reasonable usa reviews, only hdmi1.4 (is the $$$ Octava too) and seems to be IR, not rf switching.

I would still be considering arc output from the TV - PCM 2.0 stereo and then a DAC into existing AMP, which ought to be ~£200 w/schiit dac say.
which should give better sound, than entering the >£350 AV receiver market, with all the >5.1 redundant functionality, you do not need.
*IF* you can confirm TV arc capability
(that is where I am heading to keep current amp in the loop)

AVR's have bass management and room correction though. Which you may want, especially if you have smaller speakers (bass management)

jpaul · 5 Apr 2017 at 15:38

for bass management - do you mean 2.0 downmix might be off ?
(I had already winged about downmix quality earlier in this thread but folks think it is ok)

hornetstinger · 5 Apr 2017 at 15:42

No bass managment is when you set crossover per speaker then below that frequency it's redirected to the sub. If you have a bookshelf speaker with a standard stereo amp, your amplifier is reproducing full range (sapping power) and your speakers are sent those frequencies even though they can't reproduce them cleanly without distortion and higher spl.

Downmixing is fine, but if you're anal use PCM option in your sources, that'll also solve and source-tv-avr problems when the TV drops DD/DTS as some don't support it.

jpaul · 6 Apr 2017 at 08:03

I think he has Gale 3030 full range floor, so should be ok.
The LowFrequencyEffects are stripped from the downmix I understand.
Could also get something like Yamaha as-103 amp/dac (discussed in earlier thread) that has a (albeit digital) cross-over to divert the low frequencies to an optional sub ?

EDIT: I meant stripping LFE from 2.0 downmix/blue-track is good, and would avoid destroying your hi-fi speakers

hornetstinger · 6 Apr 2017 at 08:06

When you downmix, if no subwoofer is present, the LFE and bass from below all other speakers (present or not) is re-directed to any speakers that are set to large. Nothing is lost, unless you set speakers to small, set subwoofer to on, but don't switch the sub on.

maj · 7 Apr 2017 at 08:53

I have a AVR with my 2020i's. I only have the 2 speakers and play everything in stereo so it's probably a bit of a waste at the moment. Do have plans to go 5.1 but whether that happens or not time will time. Sub and center speaker is next on my list. Did wonder if I'd of been better of with just a stereo amp as I use it for PS4, Pi2, TV and music streaming and will go down the 4K blu-ray player route when prices drop. Do most modern AVRs have DACs? I tend to stream FLAC files either via network or from phone.

hornetstinger · 7 Apr 2017 at 19:46

maj said:
I have a AVR with my 2020i's. I only have the 2 speakers and play everything in stereo so it's probably a bit of a waste at the moment. Do have plans to go 5.1 but whether that happens or not time will time. Sub and center speaker is next on my list. Did wonder if I'd of been better of with just a stereo amp as I use it for PS4, Pi2, TV and music streaming and will go down the 4K blu-ray player route when prices drop. Do most modern AVRs have DACs? I tend to stream FLAC files either via network or from phone.

AVR's have multi channel DAC's, and usually ADC's as well, to digitise analogue signals, process then, then convert then back to analogue for amplification/pre-outs.

I do prefer stereo amps, and have a seperate stereo system for just 2 channel and 2 channel sources, but if you start having video sources, computers, consoles etc then I'd go for a AVR, even if you only have stereo speakers.

Unless you can buy stereo amplifiers with HDMI inputs, that decode and downsample DD/DTS, have bass management, also possibly room correction.

jpaul · 7 Apr 2017 at 21:38

hornetstinger said:
Unless you can buy stereo amplifiers with HDMI inputs, that decode and downsample DD/DTS, have bass management, also possibly room correction.

..you can, yes - see earlier pioneer post in this thread
just need to convince ourselves that for a similar price as an avr, the dac and other components are giving superior sound quality. ?

maj said:
and will go down the 4K blu-ray player route when prices drop

I increasingly like this idea, the pany ub900, they rate the 2.0 dac, get one for £350 ...
it is only the optical in that is missing, to drive it from a Tv/freeview optical out, and, cannot chromecast to its dac.