Upgrade advice

ET4

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Ok so I'm looking to upgrade my AV amp but toying with changing the speakers too??
Current using: Yamaha RX-V483 - Monitor Audio Vector Speakers - LG OLED55C9PLA - PS5.
Usage split - movies 70% music 20% gaming 10% but I do enjoy the music listening a lot more than movie crashes and bangs.
Not really got the room set up for anything more than 5.1 (unless I get those upward firing speakers I've seen?)
The amp seems to be the let down for me, the music side is just .. meh.
Got a budget of around £2-£2500 so the question is whether to blow it all on an amp or split the difference and get speakers and an amp?

Appreciate your thoughts!
 
An idea of your room and room layout would be handy.

If the current system meets your needs for movies you could think about your potential spend being concentrated on the music playback.

Joe
 
Room layout is quite good for home cinema. Typical 5.1 set up, rectangular room 3M x 7.5M (3M from TV viewing) Adding height speakers would be difficult as the house is over 100 years old but upward firing speakers are a possibility. Just had a Marantz SR7015 on demo for a week (you can see the tip in TV reflection, lol). Bit disappointed if I'm honest. I was expecting to be blow away due to the price bracket of the product but just wasn't. Going to give the Yamaha Aventage range a trial next and take it from there.
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Room layout is quite good for home cinema. Typical 5.1 set up, rectangular room 3M x 7.5M (3M from TV viewing) Adding height speakers would be difficult as the house is over 100 years old but upward firing speakers are a possibility. Just had a Marantz SR7015 on demo for a week (you can see the tip in TV reflection, lol). Bit disappointed if I'm honest. I was expecting to be blow away due to the price bracket of the product but just wasn't. Going to give the Yamaha Aventage range a trial next and take it from there.View attachment 1715655

The issue is more about the speakers and sub you have being mediocre than the receiver (SR7015). For some reason people tend to think you can suddenly get superior sound from cheap speakers with expensive amp. You should always spend more on the speakers as they will be the biggest factor for SQ.

SR7015 isn`t really worth it over SR6015 if you aren`t building larger Auro 3D system. Both models are heavily overpriced currently. Denon is introducing new models later on and that should apply to Marantz aswell. Sadly we don´t know which models and when it happens as it would mean price drops for current models. Denon X3700H is equal to SR6015 with the price of 979£, SR6015 goes 1149£ which is too much but i think you could get discount if you have a little chat. In case that you buy speakers + sub with receiver you are definitely going to get better "bundle" price! Never settle for list prices! :nono:

Marantz will sound slightly different due to using slow roll off in DAC and other changes which seem to be made more by ear as in reality it has more noise and distortion, the older model of 6000 serie rolled off the highs more than Denon X3700H which is quite strange but maybe some folks prefer this then and feel it sounds "warmer". In general these two models share lot of parts together being sister companies. Which is going to sound better for your ears with 2ch music listening is something you have to find out. Suprisingly Denon has 6year warranty and Marantz 5 years (Peter Tyson). If you are going to listen Yamaha then RX-A4A is closest to these, but it´s stuck on 7.2 (5.2.2) and costs over 1200£ but again better deals could be possible.

Rather than dreaming of upfiring speakers now you should concentrate buying better front three speakers and better subwoofer with new receiver. Let`s say you spend 1k£ for receiver, that leaves you 1500£ for three speakers and subwoofer. For subwoofer you would be looking to spend roughly 450£ IF your aim is to get bit more performance, good sound (bass) quality with music listening rather than shooking the room with movies even if that is your main use. Oh and also as a bonus you would get much better looking finish, real wood veneer example in walnut to suit the av-unit. With the choice i had in mind you can choose from FF vs. DF driver orienation. Taller with lower depth (driver hidden) or lower with deeper cab (driver/grille visible). Of course there is better subs for similar money if the aim would be on action/scifi flicks with the more physical sensation.. But the XXLS400 has been forum favourite for mixed lounge use for nearly 10years if not more and being wife/kid/pet friendly could be important factor.



Choosing the speakers is more trickier and ideally you would write a list which intrests you and are possible within your budget. Then you would call local dealers which has them stock for demoing so you could listen/compare. If you like Monitor Audio sound the new Silver 7G 50 and C250 7G could be ideal start point. Many dealer giving nice discounts for them so i wouldn´t be too worried about the list prices. I`m not sure if possible but i would want the front mains little bit more forward as the left side is directly in corner which is not ideal. You have good space below the tv for larger center channel which is great to see! :)


Thoughts?
 
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So the speakers I have use the same C CAM tweeter and MMPII bass driver as the old version MA Radius HD speakers. When I tested these prior to buying them, to my ears, I preferred the sound over the Radius versions (much to the annoyance of the sales guy). They were nothing like my outgoing TDL RT3's but space, children poking cones in etc. meant they had to go and in came the MA's. I was using these alongside a 2004 Marantz SR (something) and I remember really liking the sound from them. 2 Yamaha receivers later, I never felt that the speakers had reached the point where the sound quality was letting the system down.
I think this is something I am going to have to improve one step at a time. Replacing just the front 3 speakers and a sub is an option (something I'd not considered) and further testing of amps.
Quite enjoying the research though!
 
So the speakers I have use the same C CAM tweeter and MMPII bass driver as the old version MA Radius HD speakers. When I tested these prior to buying them, to my ears, I preferred the sound over the Radius versions (much to the annoyance of the sales guy). They were nothing like my outgoing TDL RT3's but space, children poking cones in etc. meant they had to go and in came the MA's. I was using these alongside a 2004 Marantz SR (something) and I remember really liking the sound from them. 2 Yamaha receivers later, I never felt that the speakers had reached the point where the sound quality was letting the system down.
I think this is something I am going to have to improve one step at a time. Replacing just the front 3 speakers and a sub is an option (something I'd not considered) and further testing of amps.
Quite enjoying the research though!

With 2,5k£ budget i would definitely look in to new speakers as the Vector range were fairly affordable lifestyle range using the lowest technology. Even the latest MA Bronze 50/100 would be step up, but i would want to jump straight to Silver range as that is where the magic start to happen especially for 2ch listeners. You could also look in to Dali Opticon mk2 and Elac Debut Reference to name few highly praised and loved options.


Another popular way to go with AVF members if music listening is very important is to look more affordable av-receiver with preouts like Yamaha RX-V6A (649£ normally) and then add integrated stereo amp with ht-bypass feature like the Audiolab has. So you got the stereo amp with high quality DAC for music listening and for movies the Yamaha, but the Audiolab is then powering also your front mains. Sadly Yamaha is still not available so probably one month wait time and i`m wondering is new models coming cause they use lower bandwith hdmi 2.1 board.

 
I did consider the pre amp av route and it's still an option. I looked at the Marantz NR1711 mainly due to it's size (no modification required to the TV unit) and paring with the PM6007 as they both look great in sliver/ gold! not sure if the PM6007 has the HT bypass you mentioned though?
more reading required!
 
I did consider the pre amp av route and it's still an option. I looked at the Marantz NR1711 mainly due to it's size (no modification required to the TV unit) and paring with the PM6007 as they both look great in sliver/ gold! not sure if the PM6007 has the HT bypass you mentioned though?
more reading required!

It doesn`t have HT-bypass and it´s rather cheap unit. The Audiolab should be better one overall and available in Silver. This model is likely the most popular within 600£ range.


I didn´t consider the NR1711, but yes that would indeed work. It`s bit shame to go with such unit though if you don´t need it to be slim line as you basically get 50-60w less power compared to those full size X3700H/SR6015 and also the weakest version of Audussey room correction. Even the Yamaha you have now is slightly more powerfull. You will also pay hefty price for it just to get preouts. :( I would rather take the RX-V6A for same price.
 
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The speakers are the Vectors (new replacement are MASS) and were based on the original Radius speakers, so you're right there. The subwoofer really was and is a weak link and I completely agree that the Marantz is over kill for those speakers. So, if you are jumping up the levels on the AV Receiver, then the front three speakers plus woofer also require the same treatment

The other side is that is quite a large room (regarding air volume) and those old Vector speakers will probably have always on the limit of their ability as that a lot of air for them to fill

Can I ask why you are looking at HTBYPASS is only 20% of usage is going to be music?

If you are looking for a sonic improvement and your current AV Receiver is of a reasonable level, you could look at doing a staggered upgrade with the front three speakers. If you want compact again, move to the Apex as this will be a significate jump over those vectors. If its more excitement with rumbles and booms, then you need to sort the woofer out as it was a little poor even back then. So, maybe look at something from SVS. There are new Pro editions together with a handful of older none pro models currently available.

If you are happy to buy nearly new products (which many are ex-demonstration show products), we also have an array of Monitor Audio Silver speakers finished in Gloss Black which should which are idea if you are wanting to keep the vectors for rear audio duties
 
So I’ve just bought the Yamaha RX-A4A with B&W 607 S2 fronts, HTM6 S2 centre and an REL T5X sub. The MA Silver 50’s sounded nice on demo but I preferred the B&W’s. The sales guy did his job and put me off the B&W sub, but to be fair the REL is really nice and sounds mint. Can’t see me changing much for a good while now👍
 
So I’ve just bought the Yamaha RX-A4A with B&W 607 S2 fronts, HTM6 S2 centre and an REL T5X sub. The MA Silver 50’s sounded nice on demo but I preferred the B&W’s. The sales guy did his job and put me off the B&W sub, but to be fair the REL is really nice and sounds mint. Can’t see me changing much for a good while now👍

At the end of day your ears are the best judge. :) I can see why some prefer the B&W sound and you got some beefier Yamaha which is reliable and sounds great no doubt! 👌 I hope you didn`t pay the list pricesas model 607 S2 went 319£ and the centre 349£ few weeks ago, now they milking lot more..

The T5x purchase was questionable (dealer pressured?) as that is more ideal for 2ch hifi system and the price is astronomical vs what you get (8" 100w tiny shiny cab), but it looks really nice which probably was big factor. I hope you didn´t pay 699£ for it cause you would have got slightly better one for ~320£ with similar compact size (BK XLS200). Or considerably better compact one for 450£ (SVS SB1000).
 
I got £500 off total so didn't do too bad. Regards the subwoofer, I live in a semi detached so I am conscious of the big impact movie scenes upsetting neighbours (he is a bit moany...) so a sub leaning more towards music and smoother integration with the fronts was something to consider. Space was also another factor and wanting to keep things clean and unobtrusive. The REL seemed to tick the boxes and is definitely a step up from my current sub. More tweaking required but overall I'm quite pleased with my set up.
 

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