AV setup advice

[Big Chris]

After some advice on improving my home setup. I inherited a pair of Acoustic Energy Evo3 speakers a few years ago which are in mint condition. They're currently connected to a 10+ year old cheapo Sanyo hifi amplifier that was part of an Argos (yeah I know...) separates system.

At the moment I play films and occiasionally music via a media PC which is connected to said Sanyo amp via a QED audio cable (red, white and black jobbie) and it's a bit rubbish to be honest. I've recently got Sky HD which since the crappy Sanyo amp only has one input, only comes through the speakers on my LG LED TV.

I want a new AV receiver so I can use the speakers when watching Sky, and also when watching films etc via the PC. I watch mainly downloaded content - films/TV shows and the like. The long-term plan although I only have the two speakers at the moment, is to add a centre and some rears. I'm also looking to get a new 4k TV in the next 12 months. Due to space constraints I'm looking for a slimline AV receiver and have spotted the Marantz NR1605 which seems to fit the bill.

Am I on the right track here? Since I'll be connecting the PC to the AV receiver via the same audio cable is it worth upgrading the soundcard in the PC at the same time?

 

[lucid]

You're on the right track with the Marantz. It fits the bill in terms of being slimline, and yet has most (if not all) the features and connections of a full sized AV receiver.

As for the PC audio card, I think a lot depends on what audio formats are used by the film and TV downloads you're watching, and what connections you have currently.

The way I see it, unless you're thinking of throwing big money at a high-end audio card for analogue output in to a purely analogue audio system then you're better off leaving the source signals in digital format. That way the receiver can take care of the decoding well away from the PCs noisy power supplies and transformers. So it then becomes a question of audio formats...

Optical and digital coax can handle 2 channel PCM (digital stereo) and compressed multichannel surround in Dolby Digital and DTS formats. If you want to decode the HD audio formats (Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio) as you'd find on Blu-rays, then you need to get the audio out of the PC via a HDMI connection to let the NR1605 take care of it. So any sound card upgrade should be appropriate to what you're watching/listening to. A new graphics card with HDMI will cover all the bases. A sound card change to one with optical or coax will provide DD/DTS and everything below, but not HD audio.

 

[Big Chris]

Thanks for the reply lucid. I'm something of a novice when it comes to AV so some of what you've said has gone over my head I'm afraid!

The films/TV programs I watch from the media PC are .avi/.mp4 and I don't have a BluRay player. I thought perhaps getting a slightly better soundcard for the PC would be an improvement over the onboard audio? The PC connects to the TV via VGA cable so perhaps a graphics card with HDMI out would be an option to cover both video and audio? I'm into unknown territory here so not sure what the best option is really.

In terms of speaker connection - I'm currently using some cheap black & red speaker wire, how much would you recommend spending to raplace this? I'll need about 4m in total. It's currently bare wire at both ends but I think you can get proper connectors instead?

 

[lucid]

The films/TV programs I watch from the media PC are .avi/.mp4 and I don't have a BluRay player.

The files you are watching have originated somewhere. Either they're from official sources or someone has ripped a DVD/Blu-ray or recorded a TV program and then created a file that you have then downloaded.

Some of these files will have high quality audio, possibly in the same format as the original source. Others will be compressed and converted in to something such as a basic stereo signal. All the surround info will be gone, and possibly quite a bit of the dynamic range too. Worse case scenario: Think "CD ripped down to highly compressed MP3" quality.

AVI and MP4 aren't formats themselves but "wrappers" i.e. the video and audio inside an avi or mp4 can be any of several different formats. For example, the sound in a mp4 wrapper can be AAC (lossy stereo) or AC-3 (lossy multichannel, very much like the best sound from DVDs).

The job of the PC at the moment is to open the wrapper, decode the video and audio inside, and then play it out in stereo to your existing Sanyo amp.

A better sound card may well do a better job, but the source signals themselves might not be good enough that you can really tell a difference. Keeping the signal in its original format and then just handing off the processing to the Marantz will be as good as an expensive sound card upgrade.

Those graphics cards with HDMI out will do the job of transporting audio as well as video. Buy a HDMI graphics card. Don't waste your money on a sound card upgrade. That's your best option.

In terms of speaker connection - I'm currently using some cheap black & red speaker wire, how much would you recommend spending to raplace this? I'll need about 4m in total. It's currently bare wire at both ends but I think you can get proper connectors instead?

Buy some Fisual S-Flex 1.5mm @ £1.50 per metre, or Van Damme Blue 1.5mm (it's about the same price). Either option will cost you less than £12 for 4/5 metres.

Banana plugs at the amp end make it a bit easier to make connections because there's no risk of shorting out with stray bits of wire. At this level they won't improve/change/degrade sound to any appreciable degree.

Banana plug at the speaker end are entirely optional. Bare wire in to the screwdown terminals is as direct a connection as you could wish to get. Get banana plugs for the speakers if you're a bit anal about these things. If not, don't bother.

 

[Big Chris]

Interesting... I never really knew that about different file formats so thanks for the explanation. Which is the best audio to look out for in these types of video file then? They often give various bits of detail about audio quality so I'll know what to look out for in future. Or are they all similarly middle of the road?

Back to the setup, would to recommend investing in an HDMI graphics card given the types of media coming out of the PC? Or will the current VGA to TV + audio cable to Marantz be much the same?

 

[lucid]

Interesting... I never really knew that about different file formats so thanks for the explanation. Which is the best audio to look out for in these types of video file then? They often give various bits of detail about audio quality so I'll know what to look out for in future. Or are they all similarly middle of the road?

If you are sourcing your files from dodgy download sites then it's impossible to give a definitive answer. How good or bad the audio quality will be is determined by just how much compression the person used when ripping or converting the Film.

All I can say is that 2ch (two channel) is just basic stereo. The Marantz will use its ProLogic decoder to make that in to pseudo surround. Any rip with 5.1 format sound track still probably has individual channels of information for each of the surround speakers and the sub. This should give a more convincing surround effect, but much depends on how the file was ripped and compressed.

Back to the setup, would to recommend investing in an HDMI graphics card given the types of media coming out of the PC? Or will the current VGA to TV + audio cable to Marantz be much the same?

I though we'd covered this... twice.... and in clear easy-to-follow detail.

Buy a HDMI graphic card

Unless you're using very old-school PC monitors without a digital input then HDMI is probably going to give you a marginal picture advantage on a desktop monitor. On a lounge TV your more likely to find that HDMI is better supported.

For sound Buy a HDMI graphic card

At the level you're playing, HDMI will do everything you need.


So, just to recap'.... Buy a HDMI graphic card

 

[Big Chris]

I get the impression an HDMI graphics card is the way forward here...

Just wasn't sure given what you'd said about the potential crappiness of the files being played that's all!

How deep do I need to go here? There are literally hundreds on OCUK! Will any HDMI one do or are there ones I should focus on? I've got a small form factor Lenovo PC with (according to the website) the following expansion slots:

One half-length, full-height, 32-bit PCI 2.3
One half-length, full-height, PCI Express x16

Or should I take this over to the grahics card forum and see what they reckon in there?

 

[lucid]

I get the impression an HDMI graphics card is the way forward here...

That's a damned good idea. I wish I had suggested it

I think asking the boys in the GFX forum is a good idea. Playing movies and transporting digital audio doesn't require much from the card. They'll be able to advise you on some decent choices for PC. Good luck

 

[vintage-x]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-311-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1833

Have a look at this. Its cheap low profile and has hdmi out. As lucid says any card with hdmi out will do as it will be the amp decoding the sound and not the pc.

With regards to audio on dodgy files look at the bit rates. 1500 is an ideal medium for great sound and low file sizes but dts-HD master audio at bit rates of 4000 or more are a lot better but the file sizes tend to be bigger but not always by much.

Oh and if your amp comes with a setup mic then place your speakers and use the mic to setup the sound. It made a large difference on my onkyo when I did it recently

 

[Big Chris]

Thanks for the advice chaps, I'll post on the GFX forum and go from there. Glad I don't have to spend loads, just a bit worried about the lack of space in the PC but I'll pop it open and see what's what.