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Alan Browne
August 20th 03, 11:52 PM
If this is the wrong ng, apologies and request pointer to the right one...

My Harmon/Kardon amp is now 20 years old. Time to move on. The world
has changed.

I want a new amp. Actually I want the "home entertainment" thing in
here too (is that blasphemy here?).

I am looking at inputs/outputs for:
-turntable
-two cassette tapes
-two VHS VCR's
-one DVD
-one television

-I only have my faithful Mission 707's (still pumping), but they will
likely be replaced.
-I will do the "home theatre" thing, which means at least 4/5 main
loudspeakers and a subwoofer.

The amp will include (I assume) the AM/FM tuner, although I don't listen
to radio at home very much.

My DVD player has analog, "5.1-channel", Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital
and dts.

What brands/models of "receiver" will fill my needs at a modest cost.
"BIG SOUND" is not as important as quality sound. If I put a limit of
US$300 on this amp... where does that get me? ...$500?

--what "good" brands? Particular models.

--what brands to run from?

Cheers,
Alan.

tcassette
August 21st 03, 01:36 AM
If you need a built-in turntable input, you have already narrowed the field
considerably. Denon receivers are a good place to start.
"Alan Browne" > wrote in message
...
> If this is the wrong ng, apologies and request pointer to the right one...
>
> My Harmon/Kardon amp is now 20 years old. Time to move on. The world
> has changed.
>
> I want a new amp. Actually I want the "home entertainment" thing in
> here too (is that blasphemy here?).
>
> I am looking at inputs/outputs for:
> -turntable
> -two cassette tapes
> -two VHS VCR's
> -one DVD
> -one television
>
> -I only have my faithful Mission 707's (still pumping), but they will
> likely be replaced.
> -I will do the "home theatre" thing, which means at least 4/5 main
> loudspeakers and a subwoofer.
>
> The amp will include (I assume) the AM/FM tuner, although I don't listen
> to radio at home very much.
>
> My DVD player has analog, "5.1-channel", Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital
> and dts.
>
> What brands/models of "receiver" will fill my needs at a modest cost.
> "BIG SOUND" is not as important as quality sound. If I put a limit of
> US$300 on this amp... where does that get me? ...$500?
>
> --what "good" brands? Particular models.
>
> --what brands to run from?
>
> Cheers,
> Alan.

Joseph Oberlander
August 21st 03, 05:55 PM
Alan Browne wrote:
> If this is the wrong ng, apologies and request pointer to the right one...
>
> My Harmon/Kardon amp is now 20 years old. Time to move on. The world
> has changed.
>
> I want a new amp. Actually I want the "home entertainment" thing in
> here too (is that blasphemy here?).
>
> I am looking at inputs/outputs for:
> -turntable
> -two cassette tapes
> -two VHS VCR's
> -one DVD
> -one television

Q: will your current amplifier handle all of this? I'm talking iunput
switching only. If so, use this as a phono/tape preamp. Take the
jumper blocks out or wires inside out of the case(properly done, mind
you - don't hurt yourself or the amp) and feed them to a bigger A/V
amplifier. I don't remember if your model has pre-outs, but it would
also make a great tuner compared to most of the newer units, believe
it or not.

The new unit would be something like a Denon 3803 or Nad or Rotel.

The Denon line is a real price shocker. Bad remote and
tuner section, but superb power handling and A/V processing.
If you use your old amplifier as a preamp/switchbox, you get
rid of the negatives and pare it down to one or two input
selections and no futzing with presets and such.

Good, solid A/V features and plenty of power for typical speakers
without breaking your budget. Tuner, pre-ins, and whatnot are
moot here - the old unit handles all of that.

> -I only have my faithful Mission 707's (still pumping), but they will
> likely be replaced.
> -I will do the "home theatre" thing, which means at least 4/5 main
> loudspeakers and a subwoofer.

HSU, Velodyne, and Martin Logan make nice under $1000 subs. The
noteable addition is the ML - which came out this month. Servo
controlled 250watt sub for under $1000. Nice.

Cheaping out on a subwoofer is a generally a bad idea as you can
get car-stereo boominess really easily and hate it greatly by
going for something really inexpensive.

As for speakers, we need a realistic budget before we can recommend
something. Mind you, 5 speakers will run $750+ for anything that is
halfway decent as roughly $150 a speaker is about as low as you can
spend and get good quality.

Alan Browne
August 22nd 03, 05:00 AM
Joseph Oberlander wrote:
> Alan Browne wrote:
>
>> If this is the wrong ng, apologies and request pointer to the right
>> one...
>>
>> My Harmon/Kardon amp is now 20 years old. Time to move on. The world
>> has changed.
>>
>> I want a new amp. Actually I want the "home entertainment" thing in
>> here too (is that blasphemy here?).
>>
>> I am looking at inputs/outputs for:
>> -turntable
>> -two cassette tapes
>> -two VHS VCR's
>> -one DVD
>> -one television
>
>
> Q: will your current amplifier handle all of this? I'm talking iunput
> switching only. If so, use this as a phono/tape preamp. Take the
> jumper blocks out or wires inside out of the case(properly done, mind
> you - don't hurt yourself or the amp) and feed them to a bigger A/V
> amplifier. I don't remember if your model has pre-outs, but it would
> also make a great tuner compared to most of the newer units, believe
> it or not.

I want a new amp. Mine does not have enough inputs for audio. does not
control video. does not use the best sound from the DVD. As I said
.... my H/K amp is over 20 years old... I occasionally, just after power
on hear scratching noise... I suspect the caps are at the end of their
lives...

>
> The new unit would be something like a Denon 3803 or Nad or Rotel.

I have a Denon CD player that I am very happy with for the sound, but
the door mechanism is occasionally balky. (bad closure switch, I
beleive). NAD I know well too.

>
> The Denon line is a real price shocker. Bad remote and
> tuner section, but superb power handling and A/V processing.
> If you use your old amplifier as a preamp/switchbox, you get
> rid of the negatives and pare it down to one or two input
> selections and no futzing with presets and such.
>
> Good, solid A/V features and plenty of power for typical speakers
> without breaking your budget. Tuner, pre-ins, and whatnot are
> moot here - the old unit handles all of that.
>
>> -I only have my faithful Mission 707's (still pumping), but they will
>> likely be replaced.
>> -I will do the "home theatre" thing, which means at least 4/5 main
>> loudspeakers and a subwoofer.
>
>
> HSU, Velodyne, and Martin Logan make nice under $1000 subs. The
> noteable addition is the ML - which came out this month. Servo
> controlled 250watt sub for under $1000. Nice.

Educate me please: what does servo controlled mean? A circuit local to
the s.w. to control the waveform?

>
> Cheaping out on a subwoofer is a generally a bad idea as you can
> get car-stereo boominess really easily and hate it greatly by
> going for something really inexpensive.

Another option here is to replicate what a friend built for himself.
Amazing deep lows without any disturbing distortions to the sound.

>
> As for speakers, we need a realistic budget before we can recommend
> something. Mind you, 5 speakers will run $750+ for anything that is
> halfway decent as roughly $150 a speaker is about as low as you can
> spend and get good quality.

I'm just worring about the amp for now. But your suggestions on speaker
brands/models would be welcome. I am tempted to go back to Mission ...
I like the "dry" sound of my 707's....

Thanks for your replies.

Cheers,
Alan.

Joseph Oberlander
August 22nd 03, 04:39 PM
Alan Browne wrote:

>> As for speakers, we need a realistic budget before we can recommend
>> something. Mind you, 5 speakers will run $750+ for anything that is
>> halfway decent as roughly $150 a speaker is about as low as you can
>> spend and get good quality.
>
> I'm just worring about the amp for now. But your suggestions on speaker
> brands/models would be welcome. I am tempted to go back to Mission ...
> I like the "dry" sound of my 707's....

We need a speaker budget.

Mr 645
August 22nd 03, 04:44 PM
When doing my search a couple of years ago I found that there were great buys
on used B&K home theater pre-amps. I also came across Parasound amplifiers
which seem to be a high end design assembling in Asia. But you get a lot of
clean power for little money. Also, people are telling me that todays $300 DVD
players will deliver awesome CD sound as well as DVD performance. Speakers?
Mission is still good, we just added a pair of bookshelfs to the studio. They
sounds great, amazing low end response for such a small box in a large room.
I would also consider used speakers as long as they are in great shape. I see
Polk audio and Acoustic Research that seem to have somewhat poor resale value
so they make great used buys. Paradigm is another good low priced speaker.

Good luck.

Jon
http://www.jonlayephotography.com

Joseph Oberlander
August 22nd 03, 05:02 PM
Steven Sullivan wrote:
> Joseph Oberlander > wrote:
>
>>HSU, Velodyne, and Martin Logan make nice under $1000 subs. The
>>noteable addition is the ML - which came out this month. Servo
>>controlled 250watt sub for under $1000. Nice.
>
>
>
> The september issue of Sound & Vision has a very nice analytical
> round-up of cheap-ish subwoofers currently on the market.

Q: does the new ML sub appear in it? It came out a few weeks ago
so it may not be tested by them yet.

Nousaine
August 22nd 03, 05:03 PM
Alan Browne wrote:

...large snips....

>I want a new amp. Mine does not have enough inputs for audio. does not
>control video. does not use the best sound from the DVD.

This is a major concern in modern times. So is rack space for all your source
inputs. I recently counted all my present source components for which I still
have programs and continue to use.

laser disc (2)
D-VHS (replaces old VHS player)
Beta
AM/FM radio
Computer w/sound card
DAT
Cd/DVD/DVD-A/SACD
Satellite receiver (no XM yet)
Cassette

when combined with my pre-amp/processor and a projector I just don't have rack
space for all of them at the same time.


As I said
>... my H/K amp is over 20 years old... I occasionally, just after power
>on hear scratching noise... I suspect the caps are at the end of their
>lives...

Isn't the longevity and reliability of modern audio components ridiculously
competent. What other device used daily will last 20 years and still be
perfectly usable after 2 decades?

Bravo consumer audio.

Steven Sullivan
August 23rd 03, 08:48 PM
Joseph Oberlander > wrote:
> Steven Sullivan wrote:
> > Joseph Oberlander > wrote:
> >
> >>HSU, Velodyne, and Martin Logan make nice under $1000 subs. The
> >>noteable addition is the ML - which came out this month. Servo
> >>controlled 250watt sub for under $1000. Nice.
> >
> >
> >
> > The september issue of Sound & Vision has a very nice analytical
> > round-up of cheap-ish subwoofers currently on the market.

> Q: does the new ML sub appear in it? It came out a few weeks ago
> so it may not be tested by them yet.

here';s the article (by Tom Nousaine, btw)

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=478&page_number=1

No ML subs.

The reviewed subs are all in the $399-$1690 price range:

Canton AS 20 SC

Atlantic Technology
T70.1 PBM

PSB SubSonic 5i

Velodyne CHT-15

M&K V-76 JBL S120P II

Cambridge SoundWorks
Newton P500

Pinnacle Baby Boomer

B&W ASW 675

Bag End Infrasub-12

--
-S.

Mike Littlefield
August 25th 03, 04:41 PM
Paradigm Reference Servo 115 = great sub!

"Steven Sullivan" > wrote in message
t...
> Joseph Oberlander > wrote:
> > Steven Sullivan wrote:
> > > Joseph Oberlander > wrote:
> > >
> > >>HSU, Velodyne, and Martin Logan make nice under $1000
subs. The
> > >>noteable addition is the ML - which came out this month.
Servo
> > >>controlled 250watt sub for under $1000. Nice.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > The september issue of Sound & Vision has a very nice
analytical
> > > round-up of cheap-ish subwoofers currently on the market.
>
> > Q: does the new ML sub appear in it? It came out a few
weeks ago
> > so it may not be tested by them yet.
>
> here';s the article (by Tom Nousaine, btw)
>
>
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?section_id=3&artic
le_id=478&page_number=1
>
> No ML subs.
>
> The reviewed subs are all in the $399-$1690 price range:
>
> Canton AS 20 SC
>
> Atlantic Technology
> T70.1 PBM
>
> PSB SubSonic 5i
>
> Velodyne CHT-15
>
> M&K V-76 JBL S120P II
>
> Cambridge SoundWorks
> Newton P500
>
> Pinnacle Baby Boomer
>
> B&W ASW 675
>
> Bag End Infrasub-12
>
> --
> -S.
>

Nousaine
August 26th 03, 06:18 AM
"Mike Littlefield" wrote:

Paradigm Reference Servo 115 = great sub!

I think you mean the Servo-15. And yes it is a great product. It outperforms
all the units tested here but is considerably more expensive that all but the
Bag End.


>
>"Steven Sullivan" > wrote in message
t...
>> Joseph Oberlander > wrote:
>> > Steven Sullivan wrote:
>> > > Joseph Oberlander > wrote:
>> > >
>> > >>HSU, Velodyne, and Martin Logan make nice under $1000
>subs. The
>> > >>noteable addition is the ML - which came out this month.
>Servo
>> > >>controlled 250watt sub for under $1000. Nice.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > The september issue of Sound & Vision has a very nice
>analytical
>> > > round-up of cheap-ish subwoofers currently on the market.
>>
>> > Q: does the new ML sub appear in it? It came out a few
>weeks ago
>> > so it may not be tested by them yet.
>>
>> here';s the article (by Tom Nousaine, btw)
>>
>>
>http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/article.asp?section_id=3&artic
>le_id=478&page_number=1
>>
>> No ML subs.
>>
>> The reviewed subs are all in the $399-$1690 price range:
>>
>> Canton AS 20 SC
>>
>> Atlantic Technology
>> T70.1 PBM
>>
>> PSB SubSonic 5i
>>
>> Velodyne CHT-15
>>
>> M&K V-76 JBL S120P II
>>
>> Cambridge SoundWorks
>> Newton P500
>>
>> Pinnacle Baby Boomer
>>
>> B&W ASW 675
>>
>> Bag End Infrasub-12
>>
>> --
>> -S.

Kalman Rubinson
August 26th 03, 06:32 AM
On 25 Aug 2003 15:41:35 GMT, "Mike Littlefield" > wrote:

>Paradigm Reference Servo 115 = great sub!

Wow! I only have the Servo 15. Yours must be huge!

Kal

Mike Littlefield
August 27th 03, 06:07 AM
Hehehe {:-))) It does sound huge sometimes.

"Kalman Rubinson" > wrote in message
news:aiC2b.262440$Ho3.34867@sccrnsc03...
> On 25 Aug 2003 15:41:35 GMT, "Mike Littlefield"
> wrote:
>
> >Paradigm Reference Servo 115 = great sub!
>
> Wow! I only have the Servo 15. Yours must be huge!
>
> Kal
>