AV receiver ruminations

[luckykaa]

Now that I've disposed of a lot of my junk, I'm starting to consider adding more.

I've had a hankering for a surround sound system for a while now. Anyone know about these things? I'm no audiophile so I don't care about anything more than decent sound quality. And according to this article, there's very little between them.

Amazon does a nice Pioneer receiver and speaker bundle. Cnet highly recommends this Yamaha unit, which is available for an excellent price, but a lot more expensive than that entire bundle.

Do I actually need 7 HDMI inputs? I can actually use all of them (Amazon Stick, Tivo, Blu-ray, PS3, HD-DVD, and occasional PC and Raspberry pi) but then I think the digital out on my TV will mean I don't actually need any. Do I need bluetoth? It's a nice-to have certainly. Should I raid Richer Sounds instead? Always the joy of getting equipment home in an impractical car.

I think I might need to do more research.

Comments

[xenaclone.livejournal.com]

Flanders and Swann have a song which might suit your dilemma..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fJmmDkvQyc

[gaspode.livejournal.com]

Unless the TV has a pure audio pass through (which is unlikely as ARC return tends to be limited bandwidth) you really don't want to use its TV out unless you have to and it somewhat defeats the point of having an AVR.

You want all inputs going to your AVR and just the video going to the TV - I never use the built in tuner - always use a settop box because at the very least I always use pause and genrally time shift anything with ads

J

[gaspode.livejournal.com]

Otherwise happy to answer any questions as I've researched this fully before settling on my Denon 4200x.

If you ever plan on watching 4K (on Netflix, Amazon or UHD) then it needs HDCP 2.2 passthough. That's pretty essential (and what the shops forget to tell you.

[luckykaa.livejournal.com]

Am currently tempted by this one.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/marantz/nr1506/mara-nr1506-blk

Price is about right, and the front connector is a nice-to-have. 50W output seems lower than others but I suspect that's more power than I'll need. Any opinions?

Edit: And what is the network used for? Seems some of them support spotify and DLNA, but is there anything else?

[gaspode.livejournal.com]

looks fine and Marantz is just Denon under another name.

the only thing its missing is Atmos but if you aren't adding height channels on top of the 5.1/7.1 (I have 7.1.2) then that's fine and a good price

[luckykaa.livejournal.com]

The other question is do I need to watch out for anything regarding speakers? Are there any compatibility issues that I need to be aware of regarding speakers?

[gaspode.livejournal.com]

Speakers are speakers - pretty much universal. I'd get good ish speaker cable and banna plugs

[gaspode.livejournal.com]

But also - it's worth investing in speakers - good speakers will still be good speakers in 20 years even if you have changed your amp, gone 10.2.4 or what ever - I have 20 year old KEF q series speakers which are as good today as when I brought them

[gaspode.livejournal.com]

Some models have app control (mine does) with a rather natty Marantz app.

This one also supports DNLA which is you use (for example) plex or Jriver for music is quite cool. It also has internet radio support so it will use that too.

J

[gaspode.livejournal.com]

Thought I answered the network question.

Basically yes - dnla for streaming music and apple connect, also this one has internet radio - so can tune in with that. Also Marantz has a rather cools smartphone app that you can use instead of the remote and also firmware updates are delivered over the internet ... there's probably other stuff too

[luckykaa.livejournal.com]

Yes. You did answer