Hi-end processor recommendations

badbob said:
tbh I wouldn't spend £1500 on a av amp, it'll depreciate too much and it'll never be as good as a av pre-amp. A older higher end av pre-amp + poweramps will sound better than a newer, av amp.
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I didnt say that :)

I included 5.1 speakers in the total as well (allowing £700 for av amp, £700 for speaker kit and £100 for cables and maybe a multi remote) seems like a reasonable allocations to get a decent setup


If you are able to have a room set aside for your cinema and dont have to consider available space in your living room, then having multiple power amps audio and video processors etc etc is probably an enviable way to go (not to mention having a several degrees to set all the equipment up to the best of each componants ability) but the general population will never go for this route for many reasons.

imo even using a mere 805 there is an impressive improvement from DD/DTS to the high def codecs and thats even with budget bookshelf speakers and a 6 year old REL sub. Saying that even the DD/DTS from standard DVd's is more expressive than my previous amps (a Pioneer AX4is and an ancient Sony av amp)

Isnt it also true that just like amps and speakers have to be well matched otherwise you get "colouring" of the sound in one way or another (some combinations just sound awful)- wouldnt this also be true in this case?
 
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Im glad i hesitated...

FrankJH mentions several things, will the amps match my speakers, or be so different to what im used to i may not appreciate the difference. Im buying it blind without demoing, 9d says their lifeless and bland, seems a great way to blow a grand on untested hifi and whats happening is your all recommending different hifi you yourselves like. I dont even know what my taste is, what my speakers will like and for 10 years its been high end yamaha for me, perhaps my ears have got too accustomed to that? More importantly ive never wanted for more even with stereo so shouldnt i just tell myself to carry on that way.

Coming to the conclusion its too much hassle besides theirs no dedicated hifi stores close to me id be bothered visiting to find demos.
 
Indeed James...

Sorry for hijacking the thread from the OP.

If anything it seems the audiolab AP due early next year might be right up his street. AVF has a thread gathering a few eager people awaiting it. Should be priced around £999
 
I've got an old Audiolab/Tag hybrid system (8000M monoblocks with a Tag AV32R Processor). Its driving my Mission 75 speaker system (753 Freedom fronts, 75C centre, and 750LE rears). Its a very enjoyable sound, a deep yet controlled bass, clear vocals, and a detailed yet never harsh top end. (The mission 75 speakers seem to compliment the amps well, partnered with bright aggressive speakers the amps would sound terrible)

I dont think the 'new' IAG Audiolabs are as good as the older UK built ones, but they are half the price, bringing them down into sony/pioneer/yamaha price levels. And in this context I believe they still offer a good sound.

When Tag bought Audiolab they made some minor improvements and quadrupled the prices. Audiolabs were designed to be solid yet affordable products, so its not surprising that when compared to some of the other 'Audiophile' brands they dont sound as good. But then again, if you compare a BMW 7 Series with a Bentley, a lot of people will obviously say the Bentley is the better car. But does that make the Beemer 'bad' at its considerably cheaper price point. And of course to the average Joe, the BMW is an expensive quality car.

Buying without the ability to audition is a bit of a problem though (unless you can return on the 7 day distance selling act), as most 'Hi'fi' brands including Audiolab, Linn, Naim all have their own distinct family sounds.

The new 8000AP could be quite an interesting little processor. High end spec's for £1K. Although it may have some Codec limitations. The exact details are being kept quiet at the moment, but it will probably have HDMI 1.3 and it will almost certainly support 7 channel HD LPCM audio.
 
Thanks the AP def supports 192/24bit 8 channel, think they said so on the latest AVF podcast when it was demoed at the recent hifi show.

I cant see why they wouldnt do 1.3, in fact it would be stupid not to as all those Sony Yamaha Pioneer models @ £1000 certainly will do the deepcolour 1080/24 bypass
 
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About 2 years ago (or is it 3 now? Might be 4!) I started the process of looking for a (high end-ish) AV amp or processor. After looking at a lot of options and a few demos I ended up with a Yamaha DSP-Z9.

I really cannot accept that the Yamaha pre/processor stage is as 'lousy' as some people are stating. Maybe on the lower cost products? My very first AV amp (Pro Logic era) was a Yamaha and I really like their surround processing. Admittedly I don't use all their variations on DD/DTS etc but the sound field they generate seems as good as anyones to me.

In addition it was, at the time, the most flexible product on the market - There was nothing at any price that I would have rather owned. Pre/pro or integtrated.

This was at about the time of Tag's demise and I did have a demo of the AV32R but was left a little flat. Can't really recall why. Maybe it was the Tag power amp but possibly more likely the speakers used.

Even though I knew that HDMI/DVD-HDCP was on it's way I don't regret it one moment and have no plans to upgrade to a unit that handles HDMI switching/scaling or supports the new sound formats. If I was doing I would probably look at the Z-11 first and then see what else was around.

On the video side I would probably look at adding a DVDO video scaler processor/scaler if I ever have multiple HDMI sources that need switching but currently I don't.

For the new audio formats I will wait until the BR/HDDVD nonsense has sorted itself out and get a player with decent onboard decoding and use the multichannel analogue inputs.

As I have active speakers for front L&R I am in some ways using the Z9 as a pre/pro but with the advantage of amplification for the centre and rears.

In conclusion - From my point of view, the top of the range integrated amps from the likes of Yamaha and Denon are very good indeed and offer the latest tech and are more flexible than the slower moving pre/pro market.

Having said the above I do have a separate stereo preamp and SACD/CD player. The Z9 didn't quite have that last little bit that I was looking for with music but it isn't a massive difference and to a large number of people would not bother them in the slightest.
 
What your saying echoes a few peoples comments regards the new 3800.
I remember one guy saying their wasnt much in it sound quality wise between the 3800 and his Rotel power amps.

Id too of thought that Yamaha if anyones movie decoding would have been excellent. Maybe what were looking at is audio excellence but which not everyone will appreciate for the hefty premiums it costs. I agree a well tuned system in seperates will have the edge, not just because of the hardware but to the owner it allows them if they really bother to mix/match components brands to achieve a sound more to their liking.

Then again most of us just want out of the box solution with 80% perhaps of the performance.
 
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tbh i'd say the sound quality of yamaha's or denons latest flagship model is enough for anyone interested in movies, films are'nt like music where you can shut your eyes and listen for every detail in the sound, when your watching a film the main focus is thru your eyes watching the screen and your ears become more of a secondary sense, so some of the more fine detail is lost.
 
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