Firstly a confession: I have a problem with wires. The more the better, I can’t throw out a good wire. Why do I even need a flat 5m SCART cable? Naturally when we re-did our downstairs I put Ethernet everywhere and ran speaker cables in the wall to a central media cupboard. This was all connected to an Onkyo NR737 which did most of the things that I wanted and ran well until a week ago. The cupboard is hot and that has probably accelerated its demise.
Harmony Hub Remote connects everything, but relies on a phone app. A BIG problem is the complexity of the system as without a phone in your hand (which the kids don’t have), it’s tricky to get it all working as intended. Alexa used to voice activate things, but she’s got progressively worse to the point that we’ve got rid of her!
Inputs:
Virgin Media, Apple TV. Streaming music. Will likely need games consoles in the future but the kids are a bit little now. It’s all 1080 HD rather than 4K. I don’t utilise surround sound or atmos in the current setup.
Rooms:
Open plan kitchen with TV (Sony LCD Android with very basic apps) and KEF eggs mounted on the walls. Currently setup as a 5.1 layout.
Adult living room with stereo speakers (Mission 783, previously connected to Cyrus 8, now connected to zone 2 on onkyo to try to simplify) and a TV (old Panasonic plasma, no apps).
Actual use:
Streaming TV and VM using TV speakers. Music through the AVR and KEF eggs rather than the room speakers as originally intended with the TV. AVR outputs in all channel stereo mode. We hardly use the adult space at the moment.
Wants:
Run two totally independent zones from a central media cupboard with two different HDMI sources. For example, I want to watch rugby on VM and the kids want to watch a streaming channel on Apple TV. Ideally this could be in either room.
Nice to connect my Cyrus 8 back to the Mission speakers via pre outs.
Budget set at arbitrary £500 and will be second hand hunting.
Possible solutions in my mind:
1. Second hand higher end AV amp to run two independent zones.
+ One box solution
+ pre outs for stereo amp
+ Shiny new toy
+ Decent kit for a potential media setup when moving house
- Complicated to operate, potentially requiring phone apps.
Potential Kit - Denon X3x00 series amp, Marantz 701x, Yamaha with equivalent features. Might be a stretch at the budget though.
2. Buy older HDMI amp for minimal outlay as a stop gap.
+ System gets up and running again
- Streaming music may suffer with older tech and rely on external source (adds complexity)
- Lesser amp for future media setup, might want an upgrade.
- No up to date surround sound (wouldn’t rush for an atmos amp for this)
Potential kit - Whatever AVR I can find second hand, second Apple TV for “multi-room” connected directly to one of the TVs. I have an HDMI splitter I can use if the AVR only has one output.
3. Bin the media cupboard and go for a soundbar and separate the systems
+ Easier to use for family
+ Easier streaming music from phones (large Bluetooth speaker essentially)
+ Dedicated stereo system setup in the adult living room (dust off the CD player and record deck).
- More boxes to buy
- System not completely hidden
- No kit for potential new house, soundbar at the budget likely to be pretty average.
Kit - Soundbar, another Apple TV.
Thanks for reading. I’m mostly just trying to get my own thoughts together. Would appreciate any obvious second hand AVR bargains that I might not have thought about.
Harmony Hub Remote connects everything, but relies on a phone app. A BIG problem is the complexity of the system as without a phone in your hand (which the kids don’t have), it’s tricky to get it all working as intended. Alexa used to voice activate things, but she’s got progressively worse to the point that we’ve got rid of her!
Inputs:
Virgin Media, Apple TV. Streaming music. Will likely need games consoles in the future but the kids are a bit little now. It’s all 1080 HD rather than 4K. I don’t utilise surround sound or atmos in the current setup.
Rooms:
Open plan kitchen with TV (Sony LCD Android with very basic apps) and KEF eggs mounted on the walls. Currently setup as a 5.1 layout.
Adult living room with stereo speakers (Mission 783, previously connected to Cyrus 8, now connected to zone 2 on onkyo to try to simplify) and a TV (old Panasonic plasma, no apps).
Actual use:
Streaming TV and VM using TV speakers. Music through the AVR and KEF eggs rather than the room speakers as originally intended with the TV. AVR outputs in all channel stereo mode. We hardly use the adult space at the moment.
Wants:
Run two totally independent zones from a central media cupboard with two different HDMI sources. For example, I want to watch rugby on VM and the kids want to watch a streaming channel on Apple TV. Ideally this could be in either room.
Nice to connect my Cyrus 8 back to the Mission speakers via pre outs.
Budget set at arbitrary £500 and will be second hand hunting.
Possible solutions in my mind:
1. Second hand higher end AV amp to run two independent zones.
+ One box solution
+ pre outs for stereo amp
+ Shiny new toy
+ Decent kit for a potential media setup when moving house
- Complicated to operate, potentially requiring phone apps.
Potential Kit - Denon X3x00 series amp, Marantz 701x, Yamaha with equivalent features. Might be a stretch at the budget though.
2. Buy older HDMI amp for minimal outlay as a stop gap.
+ System gets up and running again
- Streaming music may suffer with older tech and rely on external source (adds complexity)
- Lesser amp for future media setup, might want an upgrade.
- No up to date surround sound (wouldn’t rush for an atmos amp for this)
Potential kit - Whatever AVR I can find second hand, second Apple TV for “multi-room” connected directly to one of the TVs. I have an HDMI splitter I can use if the AVR only has one output.
3. Bin the media cupboard and go for a soundbar and separate the systems
+ Easier to use for family
+ Easier streaming music from phones (large Bluetooth speaker essentially)
+ Dedicated stereo system setup in the adult living room (dust off the CD player and record deck).
- More boxes to buy
- System not completely hidden
- No kit for potential new house, soundbar at the budget likely to be pretty average.
Kit - Soundbar, another Apple TV.
Thanks for reading. I’m mostly just trying to get my own thoughts together. Would appreciate any obvious second hand AVR bargains that I might not have thought about.
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