Replace Pioneer VSX 1123

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oldhack

23 posts

Geek

#269785 8-Apr-2020 10:35

My Receiver is hooked up to 65"Samsung QLED (finally) and drives a 5.0 speaker setup , as well as 'B' speakers, Zone 2 Audio psuedo 'B' speakers and a stereo amp driving another outdoor set. Getting this sorted took time and frustration but I have it sorted now. The setup is all wired to speakers and plugged behind the receiver.

I'm not after cinema quality performance - the room is just too live and open. I do like the surround elements when I'm able to crank up the sounds. The 1123 is far more than I need but has the audio outputs that suit my set up.

After 6 years the 1123 is requiring more frequent resets when it becomes non responsive. More compellingly the SO can't work the remote out, and prefers to just turn the receiver off if I'm not home to change any config when required. That's ok but is a point of frustration for her.

If a good deal on Receivers comes up after unlockdown I'd be tempted. Is there a simple replacement worth looking at ?

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#2456972 8-Apr-2020 11:22

As several retailers and wholesalers will be stressed about 'going to the wall' because of the lock down, there's a few who appear to be flouting the rules and selling right now - some of whom are discounting to see them through.

AV World are going cheap and even listing heaters for sale all of a sudden...

OnLine HiFi (the importer / distributor / retailer) have also announced they're fully open on-line (for those essential power amps and turntables).

To get the specs right...

You're after a Zone 2 and a Zone B?

Personally, I'd get a smaller cinema amp for the 5.0 zone, a network amp for the 'Zone B' and a network pre-amp for Zone 2.

Keep them all in the same brand / eco-system and your significant other can control them all via an app / widgets on their phone and tablet.

On top of being easier to work, this approach is modular, expandable and has very much started to replace the concept of large cinema receivers in multi-room fitouts.

The three main brands on the market that will make this do-able are Denon / Marantz (extremely similar from the same manufacturer) using their HEOS eco-system and Yamaha via MusicCast.

The question I have...

Is what are the speakers you're running in the 5.0 / Zone B / Zone 2?

oldhack

23 posts

Geek

#2457011 8-Apr-2020 12:19

Thanks for that advice and the heads up on the stores - which I ducked off to.

I have a mix of speakers some - oldish Mordaunt Short MS20i s for fronts, a Polk centre and Polk OWM3 as rears hung from the wall. There's a a pair of Polk 8" in ceiling in the dining area, and in the back patio. Open plan living /dining so that set is a 'B' speaker. Back patio via stereo amp off 1123 Pre out as B speaker as well. Front patio some Yamaha NS-AW592 , generally as zone 2 - but 99% as B speaker fed off same input feeding Zone 1.

Have toyed with the idea of replacing the MS20i s but never pulled the trigger.

Dunnersfella

4086 posts

Uber Geek

#2457307 8-Apr-2020 13:06

Thinking about it I would look into...

A Yamaha RXV685 for the cinema zone.

Use its Zone 2 pre-outs into your existing 2-channel amp.

Use a Yamaha WXA50 to power Zone 2.

Basically...

Setup the RXV685 as a 5.1 + 2 zone unit.

Create two 'rooms' in the MusicCast app.

Setup the WXA50 as a 2nd zone in MusicCast.

You'll see 3 x rooms / zones on your tablet.

You can not only do 'main zone sync' on the RXV685 to effectively mimic Zone 1, you can then link that those speakers to Zone 2... Or you can link Zone 2 to Zone 1 etc etc.

The key to simplicity sits in creating 'scenes' in the MusicCast app.

The scenes can be 'all house music', 'all house TV', 'Front patio music', 'TV in lounge' etc.

There are 4 x scenes in MusicCast (and 8 on the remote control itself) that you can access from the app or in your phone/tablets widget section.

Of course you can use a remote control... but the app is typically more straight forward.

Have a play with the app - it has a demo mode so you can muck around with linking zones, setting up scenes / shortcuts, changing input names + icons, changing zone images and names etc.

Oh yeah, personally, if it was me, I'd get 2 x WXA50's to power speaker B + Zone 2 as it gives far more flexibility and would allow you to on-sell your 2-channel amp if you want to raise more funds towards your upgrade.

I don' t know enough about Denon's HEOS setup to recommend anything, but have a play with both apps and see what you like / prefer. They both have pretty much the same sort of streaming services built in etc etc.