New Amp(s) suggestion (Audio & AV possibly)

[NickK]

This is a possible AV and/or Stereo amp replacement.. possibly a rethink

First my kit:
Front Mains: Castle Harlechs
Front Centre: Castle Keep
Rears: Mission 734s
Stereo Amp: Musical Fidelity A220 (power, volume, input select - no remote)
AV Amp: Harmon Kardon AVI300.
CD Player: Myryad MC100 (coax digital)
DVD Player: Poineer DV-717 (optical out)
LD Player: Poineer LD-2950 (optical out)
Media stream: Pinnicale Showcentre 100 (optical out)
HD Recorder: TiVo
Free View box: Fox (optical out)

So - next the complicated wiring:
Front Mains (Harlechs) are biwired into the MF A220
CD Player is connected to the MF A220
Preout Front from the AVI 300 goes into the MF A220
AVI 300 then drives the Keep center and the Misson rears.

Now it's time to modernise and reduce the monolith that is my stack. As the AVI 300 doesn't have digital inputs and only has Dolby Pro-Logic it's a prime target to replace.
The Pioneer LD2950, although top of the range in 1995-6... is another prime target (and ebaying the discs perhaps).

CDs played on the MC100->MF amp->Harlechs are very good considering my musical taste is exceptionally varied. However this means manually powering on the MF amp.

Um - help! lol I want to keep the clarity, subtleness with the ability to drive the Harlechs like they should be driven (Prodogy has never sounded as good with the bass stopping on a sixpence and at the same time female vocals are handled with the subtleness that's needed for opera and soul). However I want to reduce the amount of stuff I have.

Help from AV and Stereo-philes alike would be appreciated.

Do I have to make the brave step to replace the Musical Fidelity and Myryad??

edit: correct version numbers.. long time since I've actually needed to remember the them!

 

[Matblack]

Do I have to make the brave step to replace the Musical Fidelity and Myryad??

No not at all, in fact you can keep the stereo parts of the system isolated from a decent AV amp by running the front stereo pair from your stereo amp and feeding it with the preouts from an AV amp.

The MF will do all the amplification for the stereo pair and an AV amp handle the power for the other speakers, if you don't feel you need the LD player then loose it and your AV amp/ decoder and buy a decent AV amp, maybe a Denon 3805/6 or something in a similar price bracket.

Thats what I have done and I keep my stereo amp switched to AUX (the AV preouts) most of the time, changing to CD or TT when I want a purer stereo sound, works well for me

MB

 

[tom_nieto]

Don't be daft! You sound like you really like the sound of your stereo system. Sure it's a pain to have to manually control the volume of the stereo amp, and it's an extra box, but you'll not really be able to get an AV amp that will match the sound until you start spending mega bucks.

Replace the AV amp and see how you go.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

The inference from your post is that you want a single, integrated amp with digital inputs.
A thought upfront is that you're only reducing the box count by one. Bearing in mind the amount of other boxes you have, is it really that important?

With regard to your AV amp solution, be aware that most new AV amps might not support digital inputs from your laserdisk player, which I seem to remember needs an AC3 input. Might be worth checking on that.

Personally, I'd be inclined to suggest a seperate AV amp and stereo one, preferably keeping your MF amp and adding a new AV amp.

Assuming you do want a single amp, a few thoughts from to mind:
- The already mentioned Denon unit
- Sony make a high end tripath digital amp that is meant to be VERY good. I know a chap who even prefered it to his dedicated stereo amp. Might be worth hunting one down
- If you can stand the additional boxes and have the money, consider a processor/power amp combination. There are a number of high end options around, from around £2k upwards (e.g. Rotel, Parasound, Linn), the choice really being down to your personal preferences.

 

[9designs2]

If you like the 2 channel performance keep it.......and as offered above, add an AV amp with pre-outs to the "AUX-IN" on the 2 channel amp, and simply pre set the volume when watching a film etc.

OR...

To combine AV and 2 channel start with looking at a LINN AV5103 Pre-amp / Processor amp...... Around £500-800 on auction... An AV amp that can do music !!!

OR

To splash out, a Linn Undisk SC, which is a CD/DVD player, Preamp Processor in one box.... just add powers amps. Just under £3k new... again plays music...if you like the Linn sound.

 

[NickK]

Yup that's my concern - an equivilent sound quality amp is going to be expensive for both an integrated AV amp/processor or a processor/power amp combo.

Part of me says that long gone are the days when I seriously looked into buying hardware such as the TacT Millenium and Chord amps..

So having all the digital sources plug into unit that then drives the speakers is spot on.. however sound has always won over remote controls.

Your right, it's not much of a bind to switch the MF manually- so it looks like I'll be looking into AV amp just to replace the existing AV amp.

Perhaps I was thinking that AV amps have moved on and caught up with old but very good (imoho) 1998 stereo amps..