what would you do

[spinner54]

I have a pair of Aerius I I aquired back in December. I am very happy with them. I have upgrade the caps found some great spikes and we (wife) are really enjoying the speakers for both Music and HT.

There are 3 new options I have been looking at.

1. I have an Arcam 300 AVR on hold - becasue it is the old model I have what I believe is a good price for the unit. I am interested in this because I belive that for music the preamp section will be much more "musical" then my Denon 3805. I am using a pair of Quad II amps for the panely and an old Bryston 4BP for the woofers and only using the Denon for centre and surround duty. Any comments. If I wait another couple of months I will be able to double the amount of money I am spending.

2. I have the opportunity to purchase a Cinema I used to replace my center speaker. This will cost roughly the same as the upgrade to the arcam (without me selling the Denon and Bryston) and will be good with whatever I purchase in the future.

3. Do nothing for now and wait until I have more cash for seperates.

I realize that runnning HT and Music in the same system is a compromise but I have not choice.

My goal is th make the system much more musical. Music is 70% of my use.

Any comments would be appreciate. Tomorrow I am going to see if the dealer will allow me to try the arcam at home.

Thanks in advance,

Cheers.

:cheers:
http://www.martinloganowners.com/~tdacquis/forum/showthread.php?t=3460

http://www.martinloganowners.com/~tdacquis/forum/showthread.php?t=3460

 

[Brad225]

I took a similar approach of first sharing HT and 2 channel equipment. I have a Cinema with SL3s its wonderful.

I now have separate 2 channel system but share the speakers and
front L & R for woofers in the SL3s (for 2 channel) with the HT. I made a switch box to pick between the signal from the preamp or the HT processor to go to the power amp.

I did have to make some jumpers with banana plugs for speaker wire to change from the 2 channel amps for listening only for the panels, to the amp that is connected to the woofers and is then jumped to the panels when HT is in use. It is a lot easier to make the connection than to describe it.

I would buy the Cinema now buy better equipment at a slower pace and end up with a system you won't feel the need to upgrade again to quickly.

Just my .02 I'm sure there will be other suggestions.

 

[Jeff Zaret]

spinner54,

I think you may have answered you own question by stating your preference for music. I would work towards that goal first and everything else will fall in to place. Like Brad225, I too set out to build a good 2-ch system. What I did was to create a great 2-ch system and one which will incorporate itself very nicely in to a HT theater system. Mine is a bit unconventional in approach but archived what I was looking for without too much compromise.

Good Luck

Jeff

 

[MiTT]

spinner54,

I think you may have answered you own question by stating your preference for music. I would work towards that goal first and everything else will fall in to place. Like Brad225, I too set out to build a good 2-ch system. What I did was to create a great 2-ch system and one which will incorporate itself very nicely in to a HT theater system. Mine is a bit unconventional in approach but archived what I was looking for without too much compromise.

Good Luck

Jeff

I agree with Jeff. Since music is your primary interest, optimize around that first. If it sounds good with music I can almost GARE-UN-TEE it will sound good with movies. I'd save some more money, buy a good tube pre-amp with pass through for HT and keep the Denon as your HT base. Eventually I'd add a good 2 channel amp, and viola - a great system that serves both purposes and allows flexibility and upgrades in the future. I saw a very nice Audible Illusions pre-amp on the Gon yesterday for something like $500.00! There was also an EXTREEMLY nice Sonic Frontiers Line 2 for $1200.00. Both would get you very close to sonic nirvana.

 

[spinner54]

I definently am giving thought to the pre amp route. I know a "true" audiophile would not understand the one requirment i must have is a remote. (yes I am lazy). I really need to look into the pass through biz. I am going to pickup the Cinema as it is perfect for my room and begin my hunt for a pre and new amplification.

Thanks for the comments.

 

[DTB300]

I definently am giving thought to the pre amp route. I know a "true" audiophile would not understand the one requirment i must have is a remote. (yes I am lazy).

I can relate 100%. Not only is my Pre Amp remote controlled, so is my Bass Management system for both volume, filters, EQ, etc.. Now that I have the remotes, I could never live without them.

Dan

 

[spinner54]

Excuse my ignorance, how does a ht pass through work. Can I still use my exisitng amplification along with the denon and what ever i pickup for as a stereo pre?

 

[twich54]

Excuse my ignorance, how does a ht pass through work. Can I still use my exisitng amplification along with the denon and what ever i pickup for as a stereo pre?

Yes, By switching your stereo pre-amp to 'HT processsor' it becomes passive and allows your HT receiver to 'take over' all the preamp duties and thus contols the volume attenuation for your two channel amp and your right / left main speakers along with the rest of your speakers in your HT set-up. Most of todays pre-amps offer this, along with the remote advatanges Dan spoke of.