Venkat, since you own Onkyo 875, could you please inform how is its capability for stereo music? I have a pair of Quad 12L2s and am looking to pair it with a decent Integrated amp. or if I can have the best of both worlds i.e HT(future add-ons) and music, can settle for an AV reciever. Please advice.
Thanks
Sorry Ajith, for hijacking your post but couldn't hold myself.
I think most of Ajith's questions have been answered.
Arun I am going to provide a long answer to your question. Hopefully you will understand what I am arriving at.
First the equipment - I have an Onkyo 875 connected (for now) to an Akai Barvo 32 inch. I have two sources. One is an Oppo Digital 983H, and the other is a Pioneer DV-696AV. My speakers are all Diamond 9 series - 9.5 front. 9.1 bookshelf for rear, a center, and two dipoles for surround. I use a 7.1 system. The sub is from Hsu Research.
I use a van den Hul Optocoupler Mk II for optical connection, two AR Performance Series RCA cable for audio, Tara Labs Prism Series for Component Video, and a DAC HDMI Cable. I also use a HDMI cable that came with my Oppo to connect the AVR to the TV.
My speaker cables are 32 gauge OFC cables from DAC.
The Onkyo has three modes for listening to audio called Pure Audio, Direct, and Stereo. In Pure Audio, the video circuits are switched off. In Direct, the source is output with minimal processing. In other words, you are dependent upon the CD Players circuit for DAC processing. In Pure Audio, the Onkyo DAC comes into play.
While listening to Audio, I switch off the sub.
Some of the favourite numbers I enjoy on my system are the following:
1. Rhythm House's Fusion Mosaic featuring Ravi Shankar, Shakthi, L. Subramaniam, Rahul Sharma and others.
2. Shankar Mahadevan's Breathless.
3. Kojiki by Kitaro.
4. Ragamala by Ravi Shankar and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
6. Old hindi film songs.
7. Old singles by singers like Neil Diamond, Chris De Burg etc.
I have heard the RagaMala 100 of times, and am very familiar with the nuances of the music and when a instrument starts and how the orchestra catches on from the strings of the sitar. My equipment renders this faithfully and transparently.
Neil Diamond's songs have just his voice and the guitar. I just love the moments of silence in between and this is also render beautifully.
In the song titled Breathless, Shankar starts the songs literally alone and the orchestra including drums catch on after 20 or 30 seconds. Usually in an ordinary system, the sudden beating of the drums would be jarring. Here the blending of Shankar's voice and the accompanying orchestra is very smooth, and you eagerly wait for the orchestra to start.
In the Fusion Mosaic again, I can hear individual instruments without any problem and, though the music is heavy, there is no ear fatigue.
One of my favourite film songs is 'Is Rang Badalthi Duniya Mein' by Rafi sung for the film Rajkumar. The song from a CD sounds better than the original DVD that I have. Rafi uses constantly varying pitch in the song. In the beginning he starts very low. In the second stanza he starts at a high pitch and them tapers down. I just love it when I can hear these nuance of a song.
The only music on which my system fails is the Kojiki by Kitaro. Because of the huge Japanese drums involved I have to switch the sub on. Then the whole mosaic changes. You can hear the birds chirping in the air, and the deep thruump of the drums without any echo.
BTW, I use only the Oppo for music. I am planning to purchase a dedicated CD player, which I am sure will improve the sound even more. I am also replacing my Pioneer with an Oppo 980H.
