I am setting up a home stereo system after not having one for many (15) years. At some point there will be a home theater system as well, but it will be a separate system located elsewhere in my home. So, what kind of receiver should I get? Reading older posts here (like 5 yrs ago) it seems I don't need anything fancy to enjoy good quality sound. I plan on having 4+ speakers (2 Klipsch F2 Synergy's are on the way already). My understanding so far is that a good stereo receiver would work fine for a music only system, as opposed to a 9.1,7.1, etc surround system. Is this true? And where do I find one? I have been looking at Denon, Onkyo and others but new ones have way more features then I need. Just need to hook up really nice speakers, maybe up to eight. No surround, no TV, no gaming system. All music will come off a computer solely designated for music storage (about 120 gigs worth and growing). So I need to be able to hook the computer up to the receiver and play the music. That's it. Help me please.
After reading a few more posts here, I add that I have an old Denon receiver, late 80's. It has a few issues, like maybe some beer got spilled on it. There seems to be and issue with the speaker A or B button. I think I could fix it. So should I fix it and it would be a good receiver for my needs? It was good back then. I don't have the Model number at hand as I am currently a few hundred miles away from home while I'm thinking about this.
What do you plan on doing with 4+ speakers? Different zones, or will they all be in the same room?
Its hard to recommend a 2 channel receiver if you need more channels. Recommending something depends on your budget and your access to products. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Fairbanks doesn't have very many hifi shops and brands to choose from.
Your computer's audio output probably won't sound very good for serious listening. It may be acceptable for background stuff though. Id' look into getting an external DAC to increase sound quality.
If you want multi room music, have you looked into things like the Squeezebox and Sonos systems? They may seem expensive, but some of them all amps and speakers in one package.
NAD, Marantz, Rotel, and Outlaw make stereo receivers too. I don't know your Denon to suggest anything about it.
If you're using your computer as a source, have you thought about integrated amps? Far less features than receivers. They don't have tuners built in, but you can use internet radio.
Two to four speakers will be in one room, living area. If the two Klipsch work well then two. If we wany more in the living area we would add a pair of Klipsch bookshelf speakers. Definately two in the master bedroom. And maybe two outside. As you can see we are still planning. Kind of an aquire and see how it sounds project.
Yes, Fairbanks is extremely limited in selection. No Best Buy or anything else. Emphasis here seems to be on car audio. Young guys that needs lots of power to bounce their cars down the road. So we plan on getting most or all of this from Amazon, Ebay, etc.
An external DAC. New term to me. I see it means digital to analog conversion. So the DAC increases the sound quality before it gets to the receiver?
My wife found the squeezbox last night after I posted. So we are looking at that. It seems like the way to go for us. Yes?
I preety much don't want to use the old Denon. I think I could fix it.....but maybe not. So anyway, after reading many reviews on various receivers, it seems to me that different brands have different "sound." Without a listening room here, we can't really know what sound we want. But we think it's bright, with a little warmth.
Perhaps I ramble too much. I guess we need to do more research on the sqeezbox and integrated amps to see where that puts us. We dropped $750 on the speaks, and probablty would like to do the rest for under another 1200-1500, not counting other speakers.
So again, thanks Stu. If you have any other thoughts for this, I greatly appreciate it. But maybe we are at a more research stage, ask again later.
OK. More research done. I think we are getting on track here. New question. If we get the Squeezbox touch, I am thinking then we only need an amplifier. Is this right? Otherwise, if I am wrong, it looks like the HK 3490 ($350) is the one for us. Looked at the NAD C725BEE ($800), but $450 is $450, so the HK. Any thought on this decision?
If I am seeing this right and we only need an amplifier, I looked at several, the HK 980/990, Marantz PM 8003 and NAD M2/M3. Any preference here? It looks like price is becoming an issue, but I don't want to go as low as the Marantz 5003(?) amp for power.
Also looked at the Marantz ZS5300 multi zone amp. Very, very appealing for what I want to do. Could I use this as my sole amp? Or is this only an add on?
Probably will be getting the new Squeezebox touch when it comes out. We are still discussing all of this, so, again, all thoughts, advice, comments are greatly appreciated. Really a lot.
If you get a Squeezebox, the only thing you'd need is a receiver/integrated amp and speakers. A power amp wouldn't work, because you still need volume control.
I'm not sure what adding more speakers in the living room will get you.
Look into the Sonos stuff as well. Its a bit more expensive than the Squeezebox stuff, but it reportedly works better. Less dropouts due to interference - microwaves and cordless phones reportedly can cause issues with the Squeezebox, as can sharing bandwidth with computers. The Sonos sets up its own wireless network.
The main reason why I suggest looking into Sonos is their built-in amplification in some of their stuff. You wouldn't need another receiver, just a set of speakers. It may be cheaper to buy an amplified Sonos than it would be to buy a receiver and Squeezebox. Sonos also has some stuff that has speakers built in too. You can add on zones as necessary without worrying about taking up more bandwidth from your existing wireless router.
There's other ways to get mulit-zone audio. I'm not knowledgable on that at all.
I'm not sure how critical you are of sound quality. For most people the amplified Sonos stuff sounds great. For a die hard audiophile, its quite acceptable for background music but not for critical listening. It won't sound as good as high end seperates, but that's not its true purpose.
A DAC will increase sound quality before the sound get to the receiver. If you're listening to compressed music (like mp3) then its not going to make much difference. If you're listening to CD quality music and sit down and listen (not listening while washing the dishes, reading the paper, etc) you should notice a good difference. That's also assuming the rest of the system is on par.
If you're going to sit down and listen to music with minimal distractions on a regular basis, then its worth it to spend some money on a good system for that room. If not, you shouldn't drive yourself too crazy with what to buy. I don't mean that in a demeaning way at all; everyone has their priorities.
If you want a good system for the living room, my advice would be to put the majority of your money there. Get 2 very good speakers, a very good receiver/integrated amp, a Squeezebox or non-powered Sonos, and a DAC. While you want reliable stuff for the backyard and bedroom, it doesn't have to be the best sounding stuff, as its really just background music. I'm not saying the cheapest crap you can find, but I wouldn't be searching for the ultimate in sound quality.
To get multi room audio, the wireless stuff like Squeezebox and Sonos makes it far easier IMO. No running wires everywhere, cutting walls to run them, and so on. Using a powered Sonos with built in speakers or the Squeezebox boom in the bedroom makes far more sense to me. Even if the price is a little higher for the components, you don't have to pay someone to run wires and patch up walls, or spend that time doing it yourself if you're capable.
The Sonos system can be controlled by an iPhone or iPod Touch instead of the regularly sold controller. I think the Squeezebox stuff can too, but I'm not sure. If you don't have an iPhone/iPod Touch, the cheapest iPod Touch may be cheaper than the Sonos controller and you can use it for other things too.
OK. So the speakers are here and I am starting to see the full scope of my situation. So right now we are waiting for the HK3490 receiver, so we are using and old technics amp (su-z960) that was laying around. playing music off a itouch to see what happens. using headpone jack through a monster cable that becomes an rca to input to the amp. tried led zeppelin, yo yo ma, wide variety of music. i keep thinking the sound can be fuller. not sure if this is the right verbage. oh yeah, the speaks are klipsch synergy f2's.
so i am thinking this is a process, to discover what can happen. haven't hooked a cd player up yet. this is my next step. since you (stu) have already been down this road, i am interested, again, in your thoughts. of course i will be reading many more posts here, but i turn to this thread first.