Processors or AVR Recievers

jongal

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Hi all,

I have a dedicated home cinema 6meters x 5 meters. I am using Monitor Audio RS6 fronts, and 2 pairs of RS1 for surround, RSLCR for centre and RSW12 as a sub. My question is about amplification. I have three power amps Denon POA S1 connected with the front speakers these are old power amps but deliver good and neat sound, plenty of power too have to be careful with the RS6!! I moved from Cambridge Audio 640R to Marantz SR6003 that I sold recently. Now I am thinking about a replacement. My budget is between 1000 and 1300 euros and I have these options:

Option 1: Buy a second hand NAD T775HD for 500 euros in mint condition. The only problem is the video card that is version VM100 that does not upscale. To upgrade to VM 150 I need another 500 euros that puts the whole thing in question. Sound wise I tried it and it is excellent.

Option 2: Buy a new Reciever like Marantz Sr7009, Denon or Onkyo (same price range) which has the latest codes Dolby Atmos etc... but I am not sure how it compares to the Nad T775HD or any other better 7.1 amp without these codecs. In other words I am still not certain whether I should go this way with atmos speakers etc...or invest more in better amplification w/o atmos , auro, or DTS X

Option 3: Buy a processor. Obviously considering my budget in my country there is only one available that is the Nu force AVP 18 which I auditioned today at the showroom and was impressed but it is very short on connections. It costs 1100 euros new!! I will use the Denon Poa S1 to power the fronts and the amplification of the Cambridge audio 640R to power the rears until funds will permit to buy a dedicated 4 channel amp for the rears. The retailer also stocks Onkyo and he insisted that the Nuforce is a different league when it comes to imaging, detail, etc..

Any help will be much appreciated and thanks in advance.

Jonathan

I
 
AV processors are expensive. There's the Nakamichi AV1, but it seems to have a few bugs. Apart from that, not much until around £1500 for the Audiolab, and Marantz have one around that 7701/7702.

I have a av pre-power and would not go back to a AVR.

Generally you pay more, but the good thing is you're not paying for amplifiers as you already have them, you are splitting them into seperate boxes, less heat from a av pre etc.
 
Nakamichi AV1
This Nak uses the same platform as the Nu force AVP 18 (and Emotiva UMC-200).

As a stop gap until you get an Atmos processor, it is an unbelievable value.

I pay a lot more for my Emotiva UMC-200, and sound wise (without enabling its PEQ), it is as good as my old Arcam AVR350 (and better with the PEQ enabled).
 
Generally you pay more, but the good thing is you're not paying for amplifiers as you already have them, you are splitting them into seperate boxes, less heat from a av pre etc.

Comparing the cost of processors to there nearest equivalent receiver one could argue that you are paying for the amps, you just aren't getting any
 
NU Force = Emotiva UMC200 = Nak AV1

The NU Force must be much expensive than the two other options, but sound quality should be the same in all of them.

You can find more info here:
- NuForce AVP-18, any love? | AVForums
- Nuforce AVP-18 Preamp/Processor - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews

So my question here is! Neo is there a better more accurate calibration mic that one can buy / use for the Nak AV1 pre / pro like there is for the UNforce pre / pro.
 
I don't understand what you mean by the video card doesn't scale, which video card?
 
So my question here is! Neo is there a better more accurate calibration mic that one can buy / use for the Nak AV1 pre / pro like there is for the UNforce pre / pro.

Sorry, i do not understand your question.
If you are referring to the calibration mic for running the EMO2, i don't know if its possible to replace it. Nevertheless, EMO2 is unusable, so its a moot question.

The real advantage of the Cirrus platform that is the same on the Nak / Emotiva / Nuforce, is the PEQ. I use an Umik-1 and REW to calculate the filters for the PEQ.
 
On reading the link you provided i see that there was an upgraded auto calibration mic you could use for auto calibration than using the standard mic on the unforce pre / pro.............And if this was correct i though one could use the same mic with the nak av1.
 
Hi Jonathan personaly you would be better off with a processor reason being its doing the processing properly where if you get an amp it has to deal with amplification and processing so youre not really getting a 100 percent from your amplification where processing is concentrating giving you the best sound performance.Im using MK sound SS150 speakers and heard them running with a denon amplifier sounded okay but when i heard them runing on primare processor the sound stage is brilliant obviously the amplification and processing was seperate.

Regards Lino
 
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