AVR300, excellent amp, very clean sound. Very musical with excellent surround sound. Needs good ancillaries. Get a decent DVD player - Arcam's are excellent. Cable up properly with a neutral sounding cable like those from Chord Co. If it's stretching the budget, then put the better cable at the front and the worse cable at the back with the best cable on the centre speaker; stick with the same make of cable all the way around, just as you'll do with your speakers.
Thanks Frank. My speakers are psb all round, though mixed a bit. Stratus Silver in front. I use optical right now, and need new speaker wire as well. I know a good cd player beats a dvd but I cant afford either right now,maybe in a few months. Any 2nd choices for dvd in the 'pedestrian' range/ Thanks
The Coax digital usually gives better results to the optical connection. I recommend Chord Co's Prodac Pro which is a fabulous cable for sensible money.
On the subject of entry level DVD players, I'm no authority. The Denon 1910 is very impressive via its DVI output, but its analogue output (SVHS or component) isn't so hot. The Pioneers are also pretty good. The entry level CD players that I rate would come from NAD, the C542 being particularly good but even the 521 is good. Incidentally, if you want just one player the Arcam DVD players are pretty good with music too. A DV78 is in the same ballpark as the NAD C542. Of course when I say all this I'm talking about using the Analogue outs from the DVD player into the CD input for CD sources. The interconnect I would use for this would be the Acoustic Precision EIKOS interconnect which is fabulous value for money here in the UK at £89. Other options would be Chord's Silver Siren or Chameleon Silver Plus, but my favourite with Arcam in particular is the AP EIKOS interconnect. It just works with Arcam kit really well.
Thank-you Frank. My pioneer is 578A here in canada, rather cheap, but dislikes some of my music dvd. The AP cables I will look for here in the colonies Have you seen/heard psb over there? Any thoughts?
Well the dealer here will let me have the demo avr300 for the weekend for a go. Need speaker wire though for a compare. He sells Chord, but 5$/ft, doh! From what I've seen that is in the ballpark, but MON that be a lot. Speaker wire prices anyone?
Heh, the Chord cable he's suggested is the Carnival, which I would use for rears. Try to get him to lend you a run of Chord Odyssey for the centre just to show you what can really be done. Then try to square up the £18/m cost...!
