AV setup advice

Big Chris

Big Chris

Big Chris

Soldato
Joined
5 Apr 2004
Posts
5,461
Location
Bloxham
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?
 
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?
 
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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?
 
I get the impression an HDMI graphics card is the way forward here... :p

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?
 
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.
 
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