I wouldnt like to risk it, I expect you could get some kind of switch box, to let you switch the front speakers between an AV amp, and a dedicated Stereo amp. Would have to be good quality in it's own right though to make sure it didnt affect sound quality.
Will music from a CD player sound exactly the same as from my DVD player?
- Thread starter NeilF
- Start date
I've been doing the old two amp trick for years.
Never blown anything up, and am sure i've had both on at the same time briefy ..oops
You can get switch boxes for this very purpose though, probably a wise investment, especially if you have a wife and kids that are likely to use it.
Never blown anything up, and am sure i've had both on at the same time briefy ..oops
You can get switch boxes for this very purpose though, probably a wise investment, especially if you have a wife and kids that are likely to use it.
Mr_Sukebe, i'd love to know what you think of these new av amps with regards to music performance, from an audiophiles point of view
Have to say that I've not heard any of the most recent "HD capable" AV amps such as the big Onkyos. Having said that, the mags seem to still rate kit like the Arcam AV amps as better at music than the Japanese behemoths.
To help with context, I have heard a number of Arcam amps, and really don't rate them, though some of that is personal preference. Extrapolating both of the above points, doesn't look good for an all in one AV amp.
As stated earlier, it is possible to build substantially better AV processors, and I've heard the £2500 Naim AV2. Shame it sounded roughly on par with the pre-amp section in their old £800 Nait 5 integrated.
I've no idea where the limit of an AV processor is. I've been told that digital circuits create a lot of RF noise, which is meant to be bad news for analogue circuits that are nearby. If that's true, that infers that a more simple analogue pre-amp should have higher possible capabilities.
Either way, I've still yet to be swayed by the argument of coughing up the dosh for a set of rear effects channels.
If you do want to use both a stereo amp and an AV amp at the same time, with some AV amps it's possible to use them in series. What I mean is that you use a digital connection from your DVD player into the AV amp, pre-outs to the stereo amp, then speakers powered by the stereo amp. That will work fine for AV. For music, connect a CD player directly into the stereo amp, thus bypassing the AV amp.
Wiring two amps to one pair of speakers is potential suicide for the amps !, your probably only relying on built in protection circuits if you get away with it, when both get switched on by mistake....
Switch box is one solution. But I use to use the method describe by Mr_S.
Connect a stereo amp to the speakers, connect the L&R pre outs of the AV amp to the AUX input on the stereo amp.
Connect CD player by analogue connection to Stereo amp.
Connect DVD player via SPDIF to AV amp.
To listen to CD just use CDP and stereo amp.
To play DVD switch to AUX input on Stereo amp, and set volume control to about half to 3/4 volume. now use volume on AV amp to control, volume level in the room.
You need to calibrate your AV amp levels with this preset volume position on the stereo amp.
RE AV amps for music. It's more a cost issue then a technical one. It can be done, but of coarse you are paying for all the extra functions and channels, ok if you plan to use them. You are still better to connect a CD player via analogue, and just use the internal DAC's in the amp for DVD's/PC etc.
When you use the analogue inputs, the digital circuits should automatically be shut down or at least out of the signal path, by selecting an analogue input on the controls.
So can AV amp play music... all one boxes, not really, exception that come to mind is the Linn Movie Classic or the NAIM and Arcam equivalent. The combo units from Denon etc struggle if you use the internal power amps. Hook them up to separate power amps, and it gets a lot better.
Processor Pre-amps is where you need to be, like the Tag example. That said I was always told it made a better job of films than music, and still was lacking.
Ok into fanboy mode
the best AV Pre amps are from Linn, these are designed as music playing devises, and when they got that bit how they want, they add more channels of the same quality.... then work out the cost !!
The Linn AV5103, now a bit dated on the AV side, is superb sounding amp in 2 channel stereo, better then the Tag. It's final retail was about £3250, and can be picked up for around 400-700 on auction depending on age and spec.
If you don't need video switching and are happy with DD and DTS decoding only it will spank most stuff. The AV SQ is also better then the new higher tech stuff, which normal sounds harsh and brash at higher volumes.
I sold mine, and bought it's replacement, the Linn KINOS, which again is even better sounding on Stereo and AV, though the AV side is easy not to notice.
It's retail is 4.8K..... there is version without DAC's and video switch etc, and it drops to 3.2K. So as others have stated you pay for the "extra".
For me mine acts as 2 channel pre, a 5.1 channel pre for SACD, DVD decoder, PC decoder for rips, and a multi room driver to feed sound to other rooms, and can be control by my PDA over wireless and LAN
Switch box is one solution. But I use to use the method describe by Mr_S.
Connect a stereo amp to the speakers, connect the L&R pre outs of the AV amp to the AUX input on the stereo amp.
Connect CD player by analogue connection to Stereo amp.
Connect DVD player via SPDIF to AV amp.
To listen to CD just use CDP and stereo amp.
To play DVD switch to AUX input on Stereo amp, and set volume control to about half to 3/4 volume. now use volume on AV amp to control, volume level in the room.
You need to calibrate your AV amp levels with this preset volume position on the stereo amp.
RE AV amps for music. It's more a cost issue then a technical one. It can be done, but of coarse you are paying for all the extra functions and channels, ok if you plan to use them. You are still better to connect a CD player via analogue, and just use the internal DAC's in the amp for DVD's/PC etc.
When you use the analogue inputs, the digital circuits should automatically be shut down or at least out of the signal path, by selecting an analogue input on the controls.
So can AV amp play music... all one boxes, not really, exception that come to mind is the Linn Movie Classic or the NAIM and Arcam equivalent. The combo units from Denon etc struggle if you use the internal power amps. Hook them up to separate power amps, and it gets a lot better.
Processor Pre-amps is where you need to be, like the Tag example. That said I was always told it made a better job of films than music, and still was lacking.
Ok into fanboy mode
the best AV Pre amps are from Linn, these are designed as music playing devises, and when they got that bit how they want, they add more channels of the same quality.... then work out the cost !!The Linn AV5103, now a bit dated on the AV side, is superb sounding amp in 2 channel stereo, better then the Tag. It's final retail was about £3250, and can be picked up for around 400-700 on auction depending on age and spec.
If you don't need video switching and are happy with DD and DTS decoding only it will spank most stuff. The AV SQ is also better then the new higher tech stuff, which normal sounds harsh and brash at higher volumes.
I sold mine, and bought it's replacement, the Linn KINOS, which again is even better sounding on Stereo and AV, though the AV side is easy not to notice.
It's retail is 4.8K..... there is version without DAC's and video switch etc, and it drops to 3.2K. So as others have stated you pay for the "extra".
For me mine acts as 2 channel pre, a 5.1 channel pre for SACD, DVD decoder, PC decoder for rips, and a multi room driver to feed sound to other rooms, and can be control by my PDA over wireless and LAN
I've been doing the old two amp trick for years.
Never blown anything up, and am sure i've had both on at the same time briefy ..oops
You can get switch boxes for this very purpose though, probably a wise investment, especially if you have a wife and kids that are likely to use it.
Probably depends on the amps. Class A poweramps hate anything 'odd' about the speaker load. B's on the other hand are much more forgiving.
The Tag isnt good at 'analog' unless you have the analog bypass (which most people would rather use for HDDVD/BluRay anyway), as it converts all the analog inputs to digital with 20bit ADC's.
But in the digital domain, I think it does a good job, At least as good as an Audiolab 8000DAC+8000Q.
It was probably a little overpriced, and if you dont like the Audiolab family sound, its not for you
. I did say it was a matter of taste.Either way, Good AV processors still mean you can pick your own power amps, and the whole system isnt running off a single chunky PSU.
Linn and Naim both make excellent stuff, no disagreement there, and as you rightly point out the second hand market is a great place to snap up bargains. You may lose out on TrueDolby, and DTS-HD, However most of then can handle 640kbps DolbyDigital+ (which in reality is just the full spec for dolby.. was just never used due to space on DVD), and likewise DTS, DVD only ever used 768kbps, but its full spec allows 1500kbps.
Hopefully with HD players, they will use full bitrate DD, and DTS streams in addition to the even better HD audio streams, rather than just using the 'DVD' rate streams.
That said, I think I'd be pretty happy knowing if I knew I could pick up a blu-ray/hd-dvd and be ensured that every disk would have at least DTS.. The difference between DD and DTS is quite noticable, and far to few DVD's include DTS
