MoNkEy MaGiC
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Registered: 12th Apr 03
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im after a good AV amplifier unit for a 5.1 DTS home surround sound system, but i have not got a clue about AV amplifiers or what is good and what to look for??
it needs to be DTS and have at least 3 x optical in and 3 x coaxil in
any suggestions/tips/advice would be great guys??
my budget is about £200, could i get a really good AV amplifier for that much??
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SVM 286
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quote:
Originally posted by MoNkEy MaGiC
my budget is about £200, could i get a really good AV amplifier for that much??
 Sorry M.M. No mate. Our average Sony Dolby Dig unit cost more than double that, trade, five years ago.
You'll need a bit more dough to get a quite run of the mill sort of piece of kit i'm afraid. 
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John
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http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/products/details/index~modelcode~DEN-AVR1706~dt~HiFi+Separates~st~AV+Receiver~make~Denon.htm
That'll do the job nicely.
You could spend tens of thousands, more than double 200 quid doesn't buy you anything special either tbh.
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Dom
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butch on richersounds mate and have a look and spend as much as you can 
but yea, if you want half decent gear (Arcam, Rotel, Cyrus), ur looking at around a grand just for the processor, then about the same for the power amps 
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MoNkEy MaGiC
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hmm, i see a lot of AV units on sale around the £200 mark, so u lot saying they are really just rubbish!!???
all i need is just the AV amplifier unit itself, i have 5x100watt surround sound speakers allready and all the equipment to connect up, cd/dvd player, ps2, xbox, plasma tv etc
i only need the av amplifier for the sound inputs really... couple of optical, coaxil and RCA analogue inputs etc
[Edited on 22-04-2006 by MoNkEy MaGiC]
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John
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That denon is about the best in the pricerange mate. It doesn't have all the imputs you wanted though so youi'd have to see if you could make everythin fit.
As sai, you could spend tens of thousands if you wanted.
That amp will do the job fine.
I've been listening to a 130 quid sony amp and 80 quid yamaha speakers recently, and although not the best, I can't see how spending 10k more than that is getting your monies worth.
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MoNkEy MaGiC
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at the moment i have a sony 5.1 surround sound hi-fi, it was top of the range 5 years ago when i got it and its never let me down and the sound is great but it has not got enough inputs! so as long as the AV amplifier i buy is as good or better i dont mind really, i dont want to spend shed loads on it either lol
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drunkenfool
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Registered: 7th Feb 03
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I got the pioneer VSX 1015 which was about £400 and im really really pleased with it 
I got it running a set of Bowers & Wilkins MT20's which were about £1200
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MoNkEy MaGiC
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that av amp looks mental!
why it so big, how many connections/inputs does it have??
which brands should i look out for and which should i avoid????
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drunkenfool
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7.1 channel at 100w RMS per channel, this is a pic of the back of it...
I used to have a sony amp which i was pleased with till it blew up LOL Cant fault this one at all, even comes with a mic that you plug in the front and it sets all teh speaker levels up for the optimum listening area using test tones from the speakers Took me a while to choose it, but if you are definately gtting one then its worth spending a couple of quid on some home cinema mags and reading the reviews. I never tested the amp before buying, but I did with the speakers.
EDIT - high res pic here of the back if u wanna know what all teh connections are for
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pio/pe/images/portal/cit_3442/209686388VSX-1015TX-K_Rear_300.jpg
[Edited on 23-04-2006 by drunkenfool]
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drunkenfool
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Just found the group test review when they compared it against other sub £500 receivers too if you are interested.
http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-bin/displayreview.php?reviewid=6083
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MoNkEy MaGiC
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oh wicked, thanks for your help mate, really appreciate it!
i really like that amp 
it has 3 optical in and a 5.1 phono input to, more than enough for my eqipment 
no coaxil inputs though!
so it cost around £400, bit over my budget but worth it, do u know if their are different models in that range with different or more amounts of inputs??
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ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
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Nakamichi make some quite good stuff 
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drunkenfool
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Yeah its got DVD and CD coax in on the back, plus another optical on the front as well as S video, component video and stereo phono for connecting up digital cameras and games consoles etc. Took a couple of pics of mine, slightly higher res ones if u get the link by right clicking - not the best quality cos my camera phone didnt like the reflection from the flash but u get the idea
Front
Front with panel open
Wiring at the rear
Coax in on rear
Just had a look online and its going for around £360 now. If its still out of budget then as i said, best thing to do is get down to smiths and get a decent mag like home cinema choice or something along those lines and have a read of the reviews. If u need any advice then get in touch
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MoNkEy MaGiC
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sweet, cheers dude,
i just read the review fully, its a awesome amplifier! and it has more than enough inputs then lol
so whats the sound quality like from it??
and what type of sound modes/bass options etc does it have??
the remote control looks mad too! but is it practical and can it operate all the features easily??
thanks
[Edited on 24-04-2006 by MoNkEy MaGiC]
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drunkenfool
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I got it running the B&W MK20s which were £1200 and it sounds fantastic, couple of times when ive been watching films ive had to pause it cos i thought someone was outside making a noise when it was actually on the film Its got all the THX and Pioneer's custom sound modes, I pretty much just use the TXH Movie mode and the straight through stereo mode for listening to music, but its got 4 THX modes, all the dolby pro logic, neo 6 cinema, advance music, advance movie, tv surround, sports, advanced game, expanded (dunno what that is lol) as well as custom sound levels if you arent happy with the way it sets itself up using the supplied mic.
The remote is pretty good yeah, not backlit but its not a big problem cos the one for the projector is and thats mainly the one you need in the dark You can alter all teh speaker volume levels seperately from the remote but the only time i use that is for turning the sub up or down when i cant be arsed to do it on the sub itself. Also got midnight mode which levels out the dialogue and explosions etc so you dont have to keep turning it up and down to stop pissing off the neighbours, and dialogue enhancement which works pretty well too.
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MoNkEy MaGiC
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Registered: 12th Apr 03
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ive been searching up on the amp, i really like it, cheapest i found is about £368 delivered from amazon.co.uk, any good/competitive???
one thing im not sure about is the component in/out, pre outs and moniter video/s-video in outs... what are these Visual connections for?? i thought its just a music amplifier?? sorry to sound daft
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Tim
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I use a Yamaha DSP-AX750 (iirc) and I'm really pleased with the sound from it (~£400 I think)
The visual connections are so when you switch audio source it switches to the right video source too. The TV is always set to view the amp output. Also means the on-screen display (volume etc) works
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drunkenfool
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Yeah as Tim said, it means that all you have going into your TV is the output from the amp, then you can connect up sky/dvd/games console/video camera or whatever to that, then when you press the button on the remote it automatically switches the amp to play the video and audio source for whatever compenent you selected. I got the component out going to my projector, id definately recommend that to anyone too, best gadget ive ever bought
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MoNkEy MaGiC
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i see
so how does the pre output work and what is it for??
i also see it has a remote in/out on the back, so if i was to get a Pioneer plasma i could connect it up?? and how would it operate it??
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Dom
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preout is usually used to connect it to power amps, as for the remote in/outs, in probably only used so the AV amp can control other pioneer units - such as tuners, dvd/cd players - i doubt its used to control a pioneer plasma
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MoNkEy MaGiC
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im not sure if the amp is a good match for my speakers, all these numbers and figures are confusing me lol what you guys think???
ive currently got 5 surround sound speakers:
Front 2 speakers-
DIN power output (rated) 90+90watts (6ohms at 1khz,DIN)
RMS 110+110 (6ohms at 1khz 10%THD)
music power 180+180watts (6ohms at 1khz 10%THD)
centre and rear 2 speakers are all-
DIN 25watts (8ohms 1khz, din)
RMS 35watts (8ohms 1khz 10%THD)
music power 70watts (8ohms 1khz 10%THD)
This AMP is:
Front 2 speakers-
(DIN) 2x150W (6Ohm 1%THD 1 kHz)
Surround Front 150W+150W (1kHz 1%THD 6Ohm)
Centre speaker- 150W(1kHz 1%THD 6Ohm)
2 Rear speakers 150W+150W (1kHz 1%THD 6Ohm)
(optional) 2 Surround Back speakers- 150W+150W (1kHz 1%THD 6Ohm)
[Edited on 30-04-2006 by MoNkEy MaGiC]
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drunkenfool
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You can set the speakers levels up, or as i said let the amp do it for you. Only thing is the center and rear speakers might be a bit underpowered. What make and model are they? Think mine are all 100w RMS and the sub is 150w RMS.
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MoNkEy MaGiC
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underpowered?? i thought the centre and rears would be over-powered??
they are a set of sony surround sound speakers, about 5-6 years old, they sound great through the hi-fi at the moment for stereo music and DTS dvd movies, yeah your right the amp must be able to set up the power/sound level, but as long as this pioneer amp will sound as good or better than the hi-fi i will be happy
the front 2 speakers are 110 watts RMS and have built in subwoofer and tweeter and the centre and 2 rear surround speakers are 35watts RMS
[Edited on 30-04-2006 by MoNkEy MaGiC]
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drunkenfool
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the 35w ones might be a bit too small to be run by a 100w amp (think its 100w RMS x 7) I meant the speakers might be underpowered for the amp to run properly, kinda worded badly sorry LOL Yeah you are right, the amp will overpower them at full volume.
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