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Add a stereo amplifier or will an A/V receiver do
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Fuzzy View Drop Down
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    Posted: 17 May 2015 at 9:57pm
Hi,

The answer to my question (if it is at all a good question) may be obvious to most out here, but it is far from clear to me what I should do :-) I mean, I have a rigg that is focussed on (SA)CD and Blu-ray listening and watching, via a budget Pioneer A/V-receiver. My Project Debut carbon with Denon DL160 cartridge will very soon be connected to that receiver via a Gram Amp 2 SE, which will hopefully give a noticable difference. But I was wondering if upgrading (by adding or changing elements in my set up) is possible, and if yes, how? I mean, are there (half) decent A/V receivers that are also good stereo amplifiers, or would I have to completely change the set up? I do have a budget that can be stretched a little (say beyond £1500), but not too far ;-)

Thanks,

J.

Edited by Fuzzy - 17 May 2015 at 9:59pm
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Gary View Drop Down
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Points: 89 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gary Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 May 2015 at 10:27pm
From past experience I'd say an AV receiver will be nowhere near as good as a stereo integrated amp of the same price. If I wanted a combined AV and music system I think I'd be looking in the Arcam direction, but I don't think that would compare to a Majestic, Proprius setup.
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miT View Drop Down
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Points: 890 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote miT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 May 2015 at 10:42pm
Hi Fuzzy,

I'm not quite sure I understand what you are looking for... Are you after a stereo only (i.e. 2-channel) system or a full surround sound system? What speakers are you using? What is the main focus/usage of your system, music or films?

Deciding on the direction you want to go should help others to advise you but in my experience with AV receivers above and below your budget, a good stereo amp will be in a league of its own for 2-channel music and the Proprius will be untouchable.


Tim
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Fuzzy View Drop Down
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Points: 89 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fuzzy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 May 2015 at 12:50am
Hi Gary, Hi Tim,

Well, I do have a full surround sound system, but I have a turntable connected to it via a phono preamp. (I'm getting a Gram Amp 2 SE for audition soon.) My A/V receiver has of course an 'analog direct' setting when listening to LPs (which uses probably not a great ADC, to put it mildly, right?). I use a set of Monitor Audio SR6 floorstanding speakers. As of now, the turntable feels kind of an appendix to my setup, but I wish to give it a more prominent role. I think I understand correctly that there is not a way that I can connect my turntable to my floorstanding speakers via for example a Majestic/Proprius setup and at the same time keep those floorstanding speakers connected to my receiver? I mean, I would have to buy separate speakers for a stereo setup for my turntable if I were to use a dedicated stereo amp setup?

Sorry if I am not making myself very clear. It is my ignorance. But I hope to learn :-)

Jan.
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DaveG View Drop Down
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Points: 481 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DaveG Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 May 2015 at 8:30am
Hi Jan 

I had a similar problem some years ago when I used to have an A/V set up that I ran in tandem with my 2 channel, with separate amps. My solution was to run a 2nd set of speaker leads to my mains & swap them over depending on what amp I was using. Not really satisfactory and too many boxes. In the end I ditched the AV setup, I decided that watching movies in stereo was good enough for me. I guess it depends on whether you watch a lot of movies?

I would think your MA's are pretty good speakers no? So they're  probably not the weak link If you really want to upgrade it may be possible to find a receiver within your budget that performs well with music and movies, but I don't know enough about them to be able to recommend one. Arcam as suggested above would probably be a good starting point.

I'd take it one step at a time, I would expect the Gram Amp to be a big improvement on the NAD. Try it out & see first if you can hear an improvement through your system. If you can, and decide to buy one, then see how much vinyl listening you do over the next few months, compared to other sources. That might give you a better idea what to target for future upgrades. It can get expensive if you don't have a plan and try too many different things (I know, I've done it Embarrassed)

Good luck.... and welcome to the forums! Smile





Edited by DaveG - 18 May 2015 at 8:32am
Dave

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miT View Drop Down
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Points: 890 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote miT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 May 2015 at 9:00am
Wise words from DaveG. I agree that the best course of action is to plan it out first after analysing your usage. And maybe keep in mind the option of a headphone only music system (if circumstances permit) as that would be well under budget with a set of Ash's HD540s?

On the AV receiver side of things, Arcam aren't known to be the most reliable according to AV biased forums. I tried Rotel before and while very musical a GSP system would easily beat it, but I guess how critical you are of music plays a big part too. If you can live with the extra boxes, it maybe worth separating your TT/music system from your AV system and keep swapping the speaker cables over. Even if you could join the two, the less you have in the chain, the better. I'm confident you couldn't beat the GSP music reproduction with an AV amp of any cost, and I've heard some costing over £100k. But then Graham hasn't started making AV receivers yet...
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Points: 246 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JamesD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 May 2015 at 6:37pm
If it helps I was in a quandary over music (stereo) listening and surround sound film watching but I started with a stereo system first. I didn't want to have any more main/front speakers in my living room (5 or 7 channel surround means enough speakers are in there as it is) and didn't want to have to be plugging/unplugging wires. Neither did I want to compromise when it came to stereo listening which is what I listen to most of the time.

The result was that I bought a second-hand Yamaha AV receiver that had pre-outs (line-level outputs) for all the 5/7 channels required for surround sound. The front two pre-out channels are fed into my stereo integrated amp which means the AV receiver's own amplifiers for the front two speakers are redundant. The AV amp only powers the centre and rear/surround speakers.

In this way my stereo amp is always used to power my home-made (and very good IMO) speakers regardless of whether I'm listening to music or watching a film.

To calibrate the surround sound I just set my integrated amp to a certain moderate volume level ("30" on my setup) and then run the AV amp calibration tool with the microphone as usual. Then, when watching movies I always make sure the volume level on the integrated amp is set to that same volume level ("30"). The remote control for the AV amp can then be used as usual to adjust the volume of the whole setup.

Despite the Yamaha amp having good reviews (in What Hifi etc) I don't find the amp anywhere near as good as my integrated stereo amp. The FM receiver in the AV amp is particularly poor in comparison to every other FM receiver I have.
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