Time to upgrade the Stereo

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Time to upgrade the Stereo

doolz

35 posts

Geek

#58768 19-Mar-2010 00:23

That's right, the STEREO - remember those?
So my HTPC has spdif outputs for 7.1
All I want is an amp and speakers that will make produce beautiful 7.1 surround sound from the coaxial spdif input. Nothing else, no HD upscaling, don't care about other inputs, or a tuner, or cd player or nothing.
Price range up to $1000

What suggestions have ye?

Doolz
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ErnieII

17 posts

Geek

#319566 16-Apr-2010 23:41

You won't get a receiver and speakers that will sound good for $1K. Try doubling or tripling your budget. Otherwise go for a home theatre in a box. LG, Sony, Panasonic, Onkyo. You get the idea. An alternative you may not have considered is a decent headphone amp and headphones. You'd get close to reference level for that kind of money.

ajst2duk

170 posts

Master Geek

#320695 20-Apr-2010 14:20

ErnieII: You won't get a receiver and speakers that will sound good for $1K. Try doubling or tripling your budget. Otherwise go for a home theatre in a box. LG, Sony, Panasonic, Onkyo. You get the idea. An alternative you may not have considered is a decent headphone amp and headphones. You'd get close to reference level for that kind of money.

Ernie is that you?? - the headphone speak gave it away I'm afraid !

I was going to suggest a good 2ch setup, although for 1K would be challenging to get some decent sound Q.

I'm just a crazy newbie?
My HTPC: www.jenkin.net/HTPC.htm
Silverstone grandis, E8200, Corsair2GB, Seagate 1.5TB + OCZ 30GB SSD, ~~HD3870XT~~ 9600GT Passive Vista HP Hauppauge HVR2200/USB 500T Corsair HX620 modular PSU, Pioneer BDC-S02BK Blu-Ray, Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R, Logitech MX Air Citipulse DA2.03E USB DAC

ErnieII

17 posts

Geek

#320704 20-Apr-2010 14:31

Afraid so AJ. Spreading the gospel according to St Ernie.

richms

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#320817 20-Apr-2010 18:59

coax digital connection will only pass the lower bitrate audio codecs, so no awesome 7.1 sound for you.

Try HDMI if you want that, but not all systems are equal with bass management.

In that budget I wouldnt think anything would be even partially acceptable without looking at used, and that will still be a tall order.

Richard rich.ms

ErnieII

17 posts

Geek

#320838 20-Apr-2010 19:26

By lower bitrate, that's DVD quality. Depends what your definition of awesome is.

Cij

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#320849 20-Apr-2010 19:39

If it's going to be mainly for music then definatly go for a decent 2 ch setup.

Look around on trademe for some decent older speakers and amp.

I managed to get a pair of Cerwin Vega VS-100's for $100 and put new foam surrounds on for $30. And an Onkyo tx-sv414 Pro reciever (great power output 2 - 4 channel) for $40.

Both off trademe, but had to search around... Sounds great for lows, highs a bit harsh, mids lacking.

Sooo...

I got some JBL Control 25 AV's on the cheap 2nd hand, disconnected my mids and tweeters on the CVs and run the JBL's from the B speaker output of the amp and CV's 10" speakers off the A output. Sound is now amazing for the price..

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

richms

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#320852 20-Apr-2010 19:42

The real time encoders are noticibly worse than the quality you get off a dvd soundtrack.

Try it, and then try the analog jacks and see which is better.

While picking up a dirt cheap obsolete reciver will sort out a coax/optical in and 5 channels of amplification, the need for good speakers will still blow the budget.

Richard rich.ms