MATCOS

iTrader: (1)

I was looking at this Sony one from Richer Sounds
http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...d=SONY-STRK880
Is it worth getting or is there another better amp?
Budget is £300.00

thanks

daz1968

I went for a yamaha amp and have been well impressed, but a friend of mine has a sony one and that is also very good, I think for under £300 that one would be a good buy, but I don't run my picture through my amp so would not put hdmi interface on my list of priorities

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

Here's a link to the manual for it - always usefull when reading up on what it can and can't do

http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/2662263322.pdf

MATCOS

iTrader: (1)

I am going for HDMI purely as it's for my HD TV I thought this was the best way to transfer sound and pics now??

Porkie

iTrader: (1)

Thats the one I have I think. No complaints from me!

Its has a sweeeeeet blue long light that comes on when it gets a proper Dolby Digital signal from either the DVD, Sky HD or a games console. Always makes me smile

Actually looking again, think my one has one more silver rotary knob. Not sure....

It will be good anyway. Go for it

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

Mat - HDMI can be likend to a "digital scart" if you like. It's a digital interface that can transmit both uncompressed (ie, Hi Def) video and up to 8 channels of uncompressed (ie, Hi Def) audio in the same lead. Currently, upscaling (SD) DVD players use it, along with proper HD optical players like HD-DVD and BluRay. HDMI allows full bitstream uncompressed video to be transmitted from the player to the display/TV.

With amps that conform to the new HD-Audio standards, these can read the 8channels HD-Audio from the players, and turn this into audio for a 7.1 speaker set up. Audio types for this include TrueHD, Dolby Digital HD, DTS-HD, along with LPCM (completely uncompressed, usually stereo but also multichannel, audio) etc...

Now, if you are just using this to hook up source players to your TV, and not using full on HD-Audio, you won't be reaping the full benefits. Sure, you will be getting a shit-hot picture tho.

The main bonus to having HDMI enabled amps is that many TV's only have one HDMI input, whereas HDMI AVR's usually have two - allowing you to connect say, a SkyHD box and an upscaling (HDMI) DVD player, or one of the aforementioned with a PS3 for example....

What you need to look for in a HDMI amp tho, is whether it allows upconvert or passthrough of lesser analogue inputs to the HDMI output. This means if you have a few source units, you can plug them into the AVR in either composite, S-Video or Component and the video output can be passed through the HDMI to the TV. Of course, this doesn't mean that your VCR connected by composite will look as good as a DVD connected by HDMI, but it does solve headaces with wiring, as you connect everything to the amp, and then output to the TV with just one cable. This means the amp handles all the audio AND all the video inputs, leaving the TV to just display the image (plus, you only need the TVto be set to the HDMI input as you change source input with the AVR)

Now I odn't know if this amp does upconvert/passthrough, tho at this price, I doubt it does. I know the 3200ES and 5200ES do, and I *think* the 1200ES does aswell.

You're best off asking on www.avforums.com as they know far more about HDMI stuff that I do - I still live in the analogue world

MATCOS

iTrader: (1)

Lee thanks for the advice mate
Thrush-OMG I need to sit down and take all that in
You certainly seem to know your stuff though

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

I read too much shit online

SS1

iTrader: (3)

MATCOS

ring your local shop up ..tell them what you want and your price range..

the staff work there for a reason .. ..they know there onions ..

and wont sell you shit ...

ive got a £1000 sound system from r sounds ...

the STAFF carnt be beat IMO

MATCOS

iTrader: (1)

Thanks mate I think I will do this as you say they do know their stuff
cheers to all

M.A.D.RST

Mat, have you looked at Denon and Marantz? I need to start looking and am in favour of these
Will you be putting everything through/into the amp?

Thrush, do you have all leads going into your amp??

Reason i ask is, i have a Yamaha at present and all leads/wires go into this (dvd to amp, sky to amp, etc...)! Only thing that goes into my Plasma is the video/picture lead from the amp.

MATCOS

iTrader: (1)

I will be getting a Denon HDMI DVD player and yes I think everything will go through the amp, although the TV does have 2 HDMI ports-will wait till I get it all and have a look at whats best

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

M.A.D.RST

No, I will only be using mine for audio switching, not video switching. Mainly because all my video feeds are analogue, of which the DVD uses component YUV (YPrPb, or the red, blue and green RCA leads) and the Freeview box uses the higher quality RGB Scart connection. Of course tho, AV amps only support three types of analogue video input : composite (single yellow video RCA) and S-Video. Both of which are fairly crap (composite is POO!!!!), and some amps also do component, but since only one of my source units uses component it wasn't worth paying the extra. I could of course use all the composite inputs and run full video switching through the amp, but the quality loss on the video wouldn't be worth the added convinience....

So all I run is the audio and all video sources connect directly to the TV - these include : DVD - component YUV, Freeview - RGB Scart, and a media PC - s-video. All of these connect to the amp in digital audio form : DVD - digi coax, Freeview - optical, and media PC - optical.

I also have a VCR, but it's not set up (mainly as I have nowhere to put it in my AV unit!!!!)

M.A.D.RST

Mat, is that player a HD (high definition)one or just the norm? You not thought about a blueray player??

Cheers Thrush So what do you think of me sending everything via scart to 3 rca to the amp?

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

M.A.D.RST - The only full Hi Def (as in HD-DVD) player on the market at the mo is the Toshiba HD-E1 and XE1 (or A1 if you buy a USA import) Currently only two BluRay players exist - the Samsung BD-somethingorother and the PS3... So any other brand "HDMI" DVD player will be a normal standard def dvd player, that does "upscaling" via it's HDMI output. Which is a con anyway, as all HD tv's (LCD, plasma etc) upscale everything anyway (as otherwise the 480-line or 576-line TV/DVD/Video wouldn't fill the 70-line or 1080-line screen ) and you can't use them on normal (non-HD) CRT's anyway (why? A) how do you plug a HDMI, digital video source, into a TV only equipped with scarts and analoge phono's? and B) how can you upscale a 576line picture on a TV that only display's 576lines anyway? )

As far as sending all video and audio sources through the amp - if you want to, go for it! I personally wouldn't as I get a better pq off my Freeview box when connected by fully wired RGB scart that I would through composit/s-video, and a better PQ from my DVD player when connected through component YPrPb than I would through composit/s-video - so it's pointless for me.

Of course if I had a HDMI capable amp, and a HDMI DVD player (which actually mine is), and SkyHD coming in via HDMI then I probably would Specially if I got one of the HDMI Sony amps that upscale/passthrough component YPrPb inputs to the HDMI aswell

MATCOS

iTrader: (1)

No as I dont know who will win the war of new dvd format I am playing safe and going for HDMI upscaling

M.A.D.RST

Price, multi-region, where from, pics, etc.....???

MATCOS

iTrader: (1)

Hold on....................................

MATCOS

iTrader: (1)

http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...d=DENO-DVD1730

http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...d=DENO-DVD1930

Both multi region, my choice would be the more expensive one, however I think the first one gets very good reviews, certainly there is a Denon one that costs under £100 that gets rave reviews if that helps

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

Here, picture of mine since I finally got it all up and running - tho I still need to wall mount the rear surrounds, just haven't decided exactly WHERE to mount em

salmon

Recently bought a yamaha amp and a set of KEF KHT3005's, sound quality is on a different planet to the Kenwood amp and Eltax speakers I had before. Amp was well cheap at £250 from Global Hi-Fi Newcastle who gave 2yr warranty as well.

http://www.yamaha-uk.com/av_amps_rec...product_id=134

http://www.kef.com/ht3000/index.htm