Confused - stereo amplifier or A/V Receiver

naveenroy

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Jun 13, 2011
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Atlanta
Hello everyone,

For years, I have yearned for a good music system - with seperate amplifier, speakers etc. Now I've finally managed to lay my hands on a pair of Mordaunt-Short Carnival 6 speakers. Buying the speakers was an impulsive decision but sometimes, impulsive decisions are the best ones :). I have totally fallen in love with the speakers and they have been my money's worth. I do not own a source to run the speakers yet but am hoping to get one soon. I have tested these speakers with a Pioneer stereo amp and a Topping amp and have been blown away by the speakers - especially connected to the Pioneer amp.

I am looking at buying an amp/receiver. My budget can at a max, stretch up to 25K. No more.

I am primarily interested in listening to music. Listening will be confined to Rock, Hard Rock, Metal and the odd slow rock with some folk rock thrown in :) . Music CDs but more of mp3s from USB. But I will be watching the odd Blu-ray or some BD-Rips on my Sony BDP-S370 player. Genre of movies is mostly Noir, Drama, Westerns. Considering this, here are my questions:

1. Since it is going to be primarily music, I was thinking of buying a stereo amplifier. But since these come in the price range of A/V receivers - I was thinking why not buy an A/V rx itself? But here is where I ask - is there really that much of a difference in quality of music that is output by a stereo amp compared to an A/V rx? Is there a simple reason for this?

2. I see there are settings in the A/V rx for using only stereo speakers. When we use this feature, will it down-mix multi-channel audio down to stereo and what is the quality of this output? Will movies encoded in multiple channels sound once downmixed, atleast sound better than my TV speakers?

3. I see there is an option in my Sony Blu-ray player for down-mixing multi-channel audio to stereo. Will this feature be doing the same thing as an A/V rx as in point no 2 above? Can it do the same for movies that I play off the USB drive connected to the Blu-ray player?

4. Do you need an equalizer connected to the stereo amp to really fine tune the music output? But are equalizers available these days? Does the A/V rx have the capability to give that equalizing capability (?) that even a stereo amp does not have? Do stereo amps only have bass, treble settings?

I know its a long list of questions but I have thought them out for long. Hoping you guys can help me out here. If any clarifications are needed, please do reply....
 
Last edited:
Hello everyone,

For years, I have yearned for a good music system - with seperate amplifier, speakers etc. Now I've finally managed to lay my hands on a pair of Mordaunt-Short Carnival 6 speakers. Buying the speakers was an impulsive decision but sometimes, impulsive decisions are the best ones :). I have totally fallen in love with the speakers and they have been my money's worth. I do not own a source to run the speakers yet but am hoping to get one soon. I have tested these speakers with a Pioneer stereo amp and a Topping amp and have been blown away by the speakers - especially connected to the Pioneer amp.

I am looking at buying an amp/receiver. My budget can at a max, stretch up to 25K. No more.

I am primarily interested in listening to music. Listening will be confined to Rock, Hard Rock, Metal and the odd slow rock with some folk rock thrown in :) . Music CDs but more of mp3s from USB. But I will be watching the odd Blu-ray or some BD-Rips on my Sony BDP-S370 player. Genre of movies is mostly Noir, Drama, Westerns. Considering this, here are my questions:

1. Since it is going to be primarily music, I was thinking of buying a stereo amplifier. But since these come in the price range of A/V receivers - I was thinking why not buy an A/V rx itself? But here is where I ask - is there really that much of a difference in quality of music that is output by a stereo amp compared to an A/V rx? Is there a simple reason for this?

2. I see there are settings in the A/V rx for using only stereo speakers. When we use this feature, will it down-mix multi-channel audio down to stereo and what is the quality of this output? Will movies encoded in multiple channels sound once downmixed, atleast sound better than my TV speakers?

3. I see there is an option in my Sony Blu-ray player for down-mixing multi-channel audio to stereo. Will this feature be doing the same thing as an A/V rx as in point no 2 above? Can it do the same for movies that I play off the USB drive connected to the Blu-ray player?

4. Do you need an equalizer connected to the stereo amp to really fine tune the music output? But are equalizers available these days? Does the A/V rx have the capability to give that equalizing capability (?) that even a stereo amp does not have? Do stereo amps only have bass, treble settings?

I know its a long list of questions but I have thought them out for long. Hoping you guys can help me out here. If any clarifications are needed, please do reply....

Hi Naveen,
Let me try to answer your queries, bro.

1. There is actually a very simple reason, actually, ie almost all AVRs are not really designed for pumping stereo music and tend to run quite hot doing so. See, today you have cellphones that carry an inbuilt 12 MP camera but then, these cannot hold a light even to a stand-alone 8 MP camera. An AVR, IMHO, is more of a computer with a built-in transformer. Thats why you have firmware updates for them. Here, the emphasis is usually more on the video part by way of upscaling. The audio part is dedicated to decoding various movie sound formats. When you switch to stereo mode, it tries to come back to basic analog performance but it doesn't really happen. Moreover, thats why at the same level, 2 ch Amps cost more than 7 ch AVRs.

2. That stereo only setting is meant to be used only when you are feeding it a stereo input, actually, even if its a CDP, ipod or TV set top box. Downmixing etc apart, yes, it will sound better than your TV spkrs in any case.

3. Yes, it should, by default. Not too much of a cause for concern.

4. Two schools of thought here. One, the purists who believe that music MUST be heard as recorded and not coloured or doctored by an equalizer. Using an equalizer to them also means further lenghthening an already long signal path. OTOH are gents who believe in listening what sounds best to their ears even if they have to use equalizers to achieve that. Yes,AFAIK, DNM audio in Mumbai makes an equalizer in case you want new or you can buy pre-owned by commencing a thread in the 'wanted' section. There may be more firms making these. Have a look here
DNM Enterprise Product

No, an AVR cannot give you the flexibility of a stand-alone equalizer as it usually only has a handful of settings to choose from. Some amps(very few) have another 'mid-frequency' knob too while OTOH, some hi-end amps don't even have the bass and treble controls, just a volume knob and a selector knob/switch.

My personal take is that a good modern amp precludes the use of an equalizer. Never felt the need for one. In fact, most audiophiles today believe in listening with the bass and treble knobs at 12 o'clock or neutral position or by using the tone defeat switch which inactivates the bass and treble controls.

Which Pioneer amp do you own? If its working fine and can drive your carnivals w/o running out of breath (clipping) till the 1 o'clock position, then, IMHO, you dont need to buy anything else for normal stereo listening.

Hope this helps.
Regards
 
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Hello,

Please select one of the AVR according to your budget and if possible buy polk audio RM705 speaker package( excellent sound quallity- crystal clear sound-sweet sound -excellent sound reproduction-Im sure you and your friends become a fan of Polk Audio ) If you like floor standing speakers , you can add 2 more floor standing speakers later.
1. Yamaha RX-V 471/571
2. Pioneer VSX 920/1020

Thx
 
Hi Naveen,
Let me try to answer your queries, bro.
...........................
My personal take is that a good modern amp precludes the use of an equalizer. Never felt the need for one. In fact, most audiophiles today believe in listening with the bass and treble knobs at 12 o'clock or neutral position or by using the tone defeat switch which inactivates the bass and treble controls.

Which Pioneer amp do you own? If its working fine and can drive your carnivals w/o running out of breath (clipping) till the 1 o'clock position, then, IMHO, you dont need to buy anything else for normal stereo listening.

Hope this helps.
Regards

Hello trittya!!

Many thanks for having taken the trouble to check and reply to my long post. Since asking the questions, I have been re-visiting my own questions and thinking about what I really need. Your answers have also pushed me to the right direction - I do realise that I need a stereo amp, not an A/V receiver. Music is what I will be using it most for, so best that I get a decent stereo amp and route my movies also through it - might not be great for movies, but will do a decent enough job.

Since I have decided on the stereo amp, I am looking at the Yamaha A-S500 and am on the thread for the group-buy too. Hoping to land it by this month end and enjoy my music - and movies!! :)
 
naveen,

Try NAD before you take the yamaha route. I have auditioned the yamaha and found it to be lacking punch. Everything sounded pretty flat (may be they call it natural sound) .... :eek:
 
naveen,

Try NAD before you take the yamaha route. I have auditioned the yamaha and found it to be lacking punch. Everything sounded pretty flat (may be they call it natural sound) .... :eek:

Hiya Kittu
Was it your missions or some other spkrs that you auditioned the yamaha as-500 with? I agree that for most speakers NAD is a very safe option. Cambridge is another(340/540 not 640 IMHO) as also the old faithful marantz pm5003/6003. Its quite subjective too, so maximum auditioning with own speakers grants most satisfaction later as it must've happened before you homed on to that nice audiolab 8200 you got.

@naveen
You probably forgot to mention which pioneer amp you own.
Also, you have not mentioned which topping you played the carnivals with. If its a tp-20, then you may be asking for too much from the otherwise quite worthy little fella. The passive XO in your carnivals alone would be using up so much of the power that it puts out.

Cheerio
 
trittya bhai,

not only my missions , in the past I have auditioned Paradigm monitor 7 floorstanders and polks with yamaha. Some reason it sounded pretty flat to me(lil dull and slow) . Paradigms suppose to have lil brightness and punch , but yamahas natural sound signature made them sound quite calm and dull ...

(It was just my ears) ;)
 
Also you need to make sure you either try the amp and speaker combo before you buy or settle on to something tried and tested. It'd be helpful to have a look at what combos people are already using.

To get step further, there are combinations in the market that are actually manufactured together, and are tested in unison. The NAD we are talking about work closely with PSB so that combo will sound the best (326BEE + Image B6). The other similar combo is Cambridge Audio and Mordaunt Short (CA550A + Aviano 2).
 
Thanks for all the helpful advice, friends. Really appreciate it. Thanks to Kittu also providing me with some direction, I have done some auditions of the Yamaha amps and am not satisfied with the soundscape. I am now thinking that I will indeed have to go for something like Marantz.

I auditioned the Marantz 6002 and was quite impressed but dealer quoting 20K for it. I want to audition more amps before I decide on something good. As mentioned, my budget can stretch upto a max of 20K only. Please advise on some dealers for Arcam, NAD, Marantz and CA in Bangalore. I am trying to get in touch with AbsolutePhase to see if I can audition some amps. Lets see how that goes.

I know the amp for me is out there.....

Any advice, help is appreciated.
 
An update - finally!

Spoke to Prithvi from AbsolutePhase and setup and audition on Tuesday. Listened to the Advance Acoustic MAP 101 and the Marantz PM5004. Listened to the same songs on both amps and liked the sound of the Advance Acoustic more. Thought it had a more "full" sound than the Marantz. He offered it for around 19K and the Marantz for around 22k. How are these prices?

Would say that Prithvi was very helpful and did not push me in any direction but allowed me to listen and make my own conclusions. I am thinking that I will not get any other integrated amps for my budget of 25K. I might end up buying the Advance Acoustic but would appreciate any of you pointing out any other options that I might have. Please do let me know.
 
Hahahaha, thanks for the heads-up. :lol:

Where can I audition this amp? None of the dealers in Bangalore that I spoke to have NAD amps. Helpp!!!
 
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