Component Upgrade Time

[bym007]

Hi folks,

I have just got a bankers bonus (no no no kidding!!!), and I am looking to upgrade one or two components of my home AV setup...

Current stuff:

Pioneer Kuro PDP LX5090 display panel, Pioneer XSV-1016-S AV Receiver, SVS SBS-01 5.0 bookshelf speakers, SVS PB10-NSD 'Textured Black' "boofer" lol!

Harmony One, Xbox 360, Popcorn Hour A-110 with 1TB Harddrive, V+, Sky+HD And plain ol' Internet.

I was looking for the possibly weakest link in my setup and it appears to be my AV Receiver, Pioneer 1016 which serves me fine at the moment, but is not ready for HD audio of Blue-Ray. It is also not

I am planning to get a Blue-Ray player at some point in a year's time, but would not mind upgrading my AV receiver to something recent at this point. I am thinking that this may actually improve the video and sound quality of my current setup (Please enlighten me on this).

-As always is the case, I am not sure where to start?

-Am I actually barking at the wrong tree? Shall I upgrade something else at the moment? Or that nothing needs an upgrade?

-As I have no idea currently what component to get, the budget is no issue at the moment.

Please send me all comments!

A very confused member!

 

[safcalibur]

Hi mate,

I know you say that budget is not an issue at the mo (lucky git lol!!) but it really would be helpful if you could tell us say for example the max you are willing to spend on the amp. Thing is, there are just soo many makes, models, variation out there that without a budget we wont have any kind of direction or starting point at all.

Also are you happy with the sound of your pioneer? If so we can recommend some bright amps or would you be up for a change in which case a warm amp could be recommended.

Best thing would be to demo but really a budget is what is needed.

Cheers

Saf

 

[PSM1]

Upgrading your reciever to a newer HD enabled one would certainly be beneficial to sound quality.
I would suggest spending no more than around £500 to £700 for a reciever unless you plan to upgrade your speakers at the same time. IMHO you will see little benefit spending more on a reciever unless you upgrade the speakers. As such I would look at the Yamaha 1065/2065 of the Denon 2310.

 

[bym007]

I could go as much as £1500 on the receiver to roll the ball...

I have used my setup for about 2 years, but I am still not sure if the terms bright or warm are still any clearer to me (as much as I wish to know )

 

[PSM1]

As I stated above I feel £1500 is excessive considering the speaker package you have (£700ish from what I see online).
With surround sound systems the recommendation is to normally spend more on the speakers compared to the reciever to get the best overall result. YOu would do better to spend £700 or so for the reciever and then use the rest to upgrade some of your speakers i.e. get a set of floorstanders etc. This will get you a better end result.
You are not going to get the benefit of that quality of reciever with your current speakers imho.

 

[bym007]

Upgrading your reciever to a newer HD enabled one would certainly be beneficial to sound quality.
I would suggest spending no more than around £500 to £700 for a reciever unless you plan to upgrade your speakers at the same time. IMHO you will see little benefit spending more on a reciever unless you upgrade the speakers. As such I would look at the Yamaha 1065/2065 of the Denon 2310.

By upgrading to one of your recommended receivers, should I expect an improvement from my SVS speaker setup keeping in note that my sources are still going to be same...

By the way, I watch (recorded and downloaded) SD and HD material most of the time. Only some time is spent watching normal TV or listening to music (about 5-10 hours a week).

 

[Passingbat]

I think you need to decide if this upgrade is going to be part of an overall upgrade plan. If it is, and you plan to upgrade the speakers at some stage, then buy an amp now that will be good enough to drive speakers at a price you will eventually spend on them.

If you do intend to upgrade the speakers and buy an amp that won't get the best out of your proosed speakers, then you will be faced with another potential amp upgrade when you upgrade the speakers.

 

[PSM1]

I feel you will still hear the benefit of HD audio with your current speakers. Obviously the more expensive your equipment then the more you will hear within the HD audio.
Many people hear the difference on budget speakers/recievers so I am sure you should with your equipment. The difference is a more imersive and detailed sound so probably not 'night and day' difference but still significant.

 

[bym007]

I think you need to decide if this upgrade is going to be part of an overall upgrade plan. If it is, and you plan to upgrade the speakers at some stage, then buy an amp now that will be good enough to drive speakers at a price you will eventually spend on them.

If you do intend to upgrade the speakers and buy an amp that won't get the best out of your proosed speakers, then you will be faced with another potential amp upgrade when you upgrade the speakers.

Ahh, the plan:
In long-ish term future I intend to add front floor standers and move the current speakers to surround and back (to upgrade to 7.1 ), but nothing major as I feel the current setup is an over kill with a very young baby (28 days today) in the audience

I feel you will still hear the benefit of HD audio with your current speakers. Obviously the more expensive your equipment then the more you will hear within the HD audio.
Many people hear the difference on budget speakers/recievers so I am sure you should with your equipment. The difference is a more imersive and detailed sound so probably not 'night and day' difference but still significant.

Not taking an offence by your comment about my speakers, I want to ask if my speakers would do a decent job handling HD audio ?

 

[PSM1]

Your speakers will be fine handling HD audio. GEtting some floorstanders in the future will enhance your system nicely and give you further benefits with HD audio too.

 

[bym007]

Your speakers will be fine handling HD audio. GEtting some floorstanders in the future will enhance your system nicely and give you further benefits with HD audio too.

Thought so!

So back to the original question then, which amplifier will do nicely ?

So my revised requirements that I can currently think of are:

- HD Audio decoding
- Plenty of connectivity.. since my Pio 1016 has run out of connectivity and that plain scks...
- Digital to Analog and vice versa signal conversion; My current amp will not upscale from Analog to Digital, so I am running separate HDMI and component cables to my plasma for different signals!

 

[safcalibur]

with a very young baby (28 days today) in the audience

First of all congrats on the little one , best of luck!

And secondly, the amps which PSM1 mentioned (Yamaha 1065 and Denon 2310) both excellent amps but would sound different to the sound of your pioneer as it stands as they are both warm sounding.

If you like the sound of your pioneer then may i suggest the following:

Onkyo TXNR807 Black | AV Receiver With HDMI Interface | Richer Sounds

Sony STRDA3500ES Black | AV Receiver With HDMI Interface | Richer Sounds

Pioneer VSX1019 Black | AV Receiver With HDMI Interface | Richer Sounds

All of these have plenty of inputs/outputs and will upscale/output video from analogue to hdmi. These are all traditionally bright sounding amps so might produce a sound you are more familiar with.

I'd prob pick between the sony and the onkyo edging slightly more to the onkyo due to more inputs/outputs. But tbh, my personal pick would have to be the denon 2310. Lovely number!! But i prefer the sound of them anyway.

Prob best to get a demo in, a couple of warm amps and a couple of bright ones and see what you reckon.

Cheers

Saf

 

[bym007]

Planning to go in my local richer sounds tomorrow afternoon for a peek at some of the warmer and brighter receivers!

 

[PSM1]

Depending on your local store Richer Sounds may not be the best place to go. Most now do not seem to have dedicated listening/demo rooms and imho they are starting to become more of a 'stack them high sell them cheap' kind of retailer. Yours may be different but I would recommend going to a specialist dealer who can set some up for you to listen too properly.

 

[bym007]

Depending on your local store Richer Sounds may not be the best place to go. Most now do not seem to have dedicated listening/demo rooms and imho they are starting to become more of a 'stack them high sell them cheap' kind of retailer. Yours may be different but I would recommend going to a specialist dealer who can set some up for you to listen too properly.

There is one in our town center, and I have had similar observations about them while walking by once or twice.

So who would you recommend then ?

 

[safcalibur]

My local RS in Cambridge is brilliant. They've still got a dedicated demo room and are great about setting up a demo if you ask. Might be worth popping in to your local RS and asking, failing that do you have a sevenoaks at all? They may be able to sort you out a demo.

cheers

Saf

 

[PSM1]

Not sure where you are but do you have a branch of Superfi or Audio T near you? If you give your location other members may be able to help. I would look in your yellow pages for a hifi specialist. Preferably you want one that stocks a range of equipment from all manufacturers and you want them to have a demo room. They may not be quite as cheap as Richer Sounds but in my experience the customer service and demoing ability more than makes up for it. Also with a bit of haggling etc. you can normally get fairly close in price too.

 

[bym007]

Great idea. I am in Southgate N14. I might call RSounds once just to see if they have a "hidden" demo room somewhere.