System Upgrade help needed

MarbellaMogul

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I could really do with some helpful advice and opinions
I am looking to upgrade my Home cinema system, starting with the purchase of a 50" Plasma (I still favour Plasma as I have heard and read that Plasma screens can do better (read true) blacks where LCD (LED) cant as there is always a degree of light bleeding through from the backlighting, correct me if I am wrong.

Currently I have a Harmon Kardon AVR5500 Amp and also a Harmon Kardon DVD20 DVD player and a Harmon Kardon DAB/FM Tuner (I forget the model number) I have the KEF Eggs home cinema speaker package, I think its called the KHT2005 or something like that. What I want to do is first buy a decent screen, probably 50", then shortly after a blu ray player. I am still in two minds as to whether to upgrade my amplifier or not for reasons I will explain later. I am also considering getting a SACD/DVD-A player for high-def music unless a universal player will do a half decent job. Finally I am toying with buying a Network media player to stream content (music) from a NAS drive but unsure if it’s really worth it as I also plan to build a high spec Home Theatre PC.

I would normally look at reviews in magazines but after doing a little research online recently it seems several people are of the opinion / hinting that certain publications seemed to have developed certain biases (probably based on advertising revenue / brown envelopes), Is this the reason Sony seem to be getting some 5 star reviews of late for their screens and blu ray players? I am aware Sony use to make great CRT televisions but thought they hadn’t quite cracked it with the flat screen marker (Plasma or LCD)? I also hear Sony use Samsung panels in the new TV’s, is this true?
Comments please based on the below notes. Please bear in mind I have been living abroad for several years so haven’t been focussed on home cinema and therefore haven’t been following any industry trends or developments. I would mainly be watching films to picture quality is important to me but I feel that sound quality is probably more important as that is what I feel really "takes you there" in the movie watching experience. I will also listen to music but fully appreciate that an AV amp will never be as good as a dedicated stereo amp

SCREEN

I have heard that Panasonic & Pioneer make the best plasmas so a 50" Plasma is high on the agenda, however I would appreciate people’s opinions and suggestions on other worthy contenders. Must be 1080P!

Requirements

• Great Picture quality
• Sound quality unimportant (as will mostly use amp & speakers)
• Built in tuners is probably not that important to me as I will be using a SKY+ HD box

Questions

• Are Panasonic still at the forefront as far as Plasmas are concerned
• Are Plasmas still considered better for movie watching (true blacks, better contrast ratio, response times, etc)
• Are the new Sony Screens REALLY that good?
• What other models should I consider buying with a budget upto £700 (maybe a bag ask on low budget)

BLU RAY

I like the idea of SACD and DVD-Audio compatibility BUT only if it does this well. I read recently that most “universal disc players do a poor job of SACD playback since they convert the data to PCM instead of decoding it in its native DSD (bitstream) format which is better quality, or was it that they only do it in stereo instead of multi channel. Forgive me if I haven’t quite remembered this right but the technicalities of the piece I was reading was of secondary interest at the time. I am also unsure of when said article was published so maybe todays players do do DSD or bitstream decoding of SACD discs. Essentially what I am saying is if a universal player will do such a bad job of SACD playback then I would rather just get a dedicated SACD player, afterall, what’s the point of having a high definition audio format if you listen to it through a pair of 1980’s walkman headphones. Its kind of like the opposite of “polishing a turd”, covering a diamond in poop if you will.

Requirements

• Blu Ray playback is most important factor
• DVD Playback (and upscaling) is only important if it will better the performance of my existing HK DVD20
• Ability to playback “downloaded” content from a USB ‘stick’ or SD card would be nice but not essential

Models under consideration

• Panasonic DMP BD85 (I like that this has multi-channel analogue outs – good for my amp since it doesn’t decode hi-def audio formats)
• Sony BDP-S760 (thought about 770 but read it didn’t have 5.1 analogue outputs – why? SACD playback?)
• Oppo BD 83 / 83SE (Read good things about this player in its own right but how does it perform against the above two models (SACD / DVD-A playback being the key factor to consider this player. Also would there be any benefit to getting the SE which is mainly audio upgrade if you didn’t use the analogue outputs)
• Cambridge Audio Azur 650BD (likewise – read good reviews but how would it fair next to the Panny / Sony?)

Questions

• Do you think I should consider any other models at this price point i.e. Sub £400 mark (ish)?
• Which of the above players do you think would be best for me?

AMPLIFIER

I suppose ultimately I will upgrade this amplifier but although its quite an old model I am only just starting to use it again as its been in storage for several years whilst I was living abroad (I know – wasted but hey). My main reason to upgrade would be as it doesn’t decode high-def audio formats like Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio, however what I want to know is if I was to get a blu ray with 5.1 analogue outputs would this really matter. Also how would the audio performance of the Harmon Kardon stack up against todays modern AV amps like the Onkyo TX-SR608, Denon 1911 / 2310? These are the two models that spring immediately to mind but again my question is are there others to consider at this price point (£500). Also I am aware the features / spec. list on the new Onkyo 608 are phenomenal at this price point so I have to wonder just how well it does it all? I remember when I bought the HK I was told it did a fair job of stereo amplification so could be used for music listening too, something AV amps aren’t generally highly regarded for. Would you agree with this statement today in respect of the HK? Also if I up’d my budget say, to £800 mark which puts me into the Onkyo TX-NR708 territory, would this buy me noticeably better sound? When I say noticeably I don’t mean ‘hand on chin, head leaning forward’ – “ hmm thats a little more refined” kind of better, I was thinking “F?**k me! Thats sounds amazing” kind of better. For me, thats the kind of improvement I would want to experience to make it worth almost doubling my spend on an amp.

I’m sorry if its a long post but as you can see from the above I have many questions, your responses will of course be most gratefully received....
 
Your best bet is to split this question/topic into sub topics and post in the relevant subforums. People are pretty territorial on here so if you want the best advice on bluray players, go to the bluray players forum, if you want the best advice on AV receivers, go to the AV receivers forum and so on.

There are specific subforums on "What TV should I buy?" questions too. The topic of LCD vs Plasma has been done to death, so use the search function and also get out to a shop and get comparing and don't be afraid to adjust the settings instore. Stores such as John Lewis are better than Currys, Comet etc.

Re. media streaming devices. I use a couple of Squeezeboxes for multi-room and they have transformed my music listening. All my music is stored in lossless (FLAC) format on an external drive hooked up to my laptop which is pretty much running 24/7. I use my Squeezeboxes a lot for internet radio and general music listening and rarely use CD. In fact, I can't remember the last time I put a CD on, other than in the car. Again, there is a separate forum for these devices. Sonos, Apple and Logitech are the main contenders and you can't really go wrong with any of them. I chose Squeezebox as it offered good sound quality at a fraction of the price of Sonos and it's more flexible due to the plugins etc. If you go down the media PC route, it will need to be near the TV and running all the time. There is a separate forum on HCPCs and as technology with mother boards and GPUs changing monthly, again head there for more information.


As you have placed a fair degree of emphasis on music ability and sound quality, I don't really think that a £500 AV Receiver hooked up to some Kef eggs is going to cut it. If you're serious about music, I would look at a better receiver (or separate stereo amp) and maybe a pair of bookshelf speakers on stands or floorstanders hooked up to speaker B output of a suitable receiver with A/B capability.

Obviously sound quality is subjective and as I've never heard your setup, I won't judge how much of an improvement, if at all, you'll get from a new AV Receiver. To this end, I would suggest a demo. Book a demo at your local dealers, take a long some CDs and a familar movie and get listening, even if it's just with a pair of stereo speakers.

http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/H...ng_Multi-Channel_Analog_Outputs_And_Why.shtml
 
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First off, thanks for taking the time to reply.

Actually, my CD collection isn't that vast and music isn't as important to me, I was just "sold" the amp on that basis when I bought it. I wanted a good all rounder rather than something that excelled in a particular area. But that's all changed now and that's the way I want to go, get decent kit that does its main job well.

I looked at Logitech or slim devices as it was, like the squeezebox but love the idea of their flagship model the Transporter, do you know it? Heard any reports or maybe know where I can read a decent review?

Keen to get your opinion

Thanks
 
I'm afraid the Transporter is no more. You might bag one second hand but slimdevices/logitech have stopped supporting the older SB architecture AFAIK and are concentrating on the new kit, which is a shame but it couldn't go on for ever. There are other high end alternatives from Linn, Naim to name but two. The slimdevices forum should have plenty of information inc. links to reviews. I'm afraid that Linn/Naim/Transporter/SB+ would be wasted on the end of a budget AV Receiver though.
 
Thanks again Dave for the insight, it was interesting to hear your thoughts regarding the Transporter, I dint realise it was that audiophile to be honest. I know CD aficionado's and vinyl fans have been resisting digital formats for ages but maybe now that storage has become affordable the lossless formats can really provide audiophile sound quality.

The long term plan is to get a decent pair of speakers for music, but thats after I have finished upgrading the cineam side of things. I used to have a pair of Kef Q90's but lost them unfortunately in a burglary! So would almost certainly go for floorstanders again and probably upto around £800 mark, maybe a grand if something blows me away. Then I am faced with settling for the "B" speaker outputs on my AV amp or going for a seperate amp entirely for the transporter (or maybe SB3 with seperate DAC) I was thinking something along the line of an audiolab 8000A.

Interested to hear your thoughts on how well matched these components would be. if you still think the Transporter would be wasted here then my question would be what sort of budget for speakers would you think "match" the transporters sonic capabilities?

Thanks again
 
Have a look on my thread, the link is in the sig below. It may give you one or two idea's for your setup.

regards
 

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