Are AV amps undervalued??

[RochaCullen]

Hi,

I bought a second hand AV amp a couple of years ago and I got it for a total steal. It is a Denon AV11-SR. The amp is fantastic and the sound and power it has are unbelieveable for what I paid. The thing that astounds me is that when it was released its retail price tag was aproximately £2000. I got it for about 15% of that original price tag. Now I understand it doesnt have a HDMI input, but it has every other input imaginable and the quality is still there in terms of amplification. It even has an onboard 24 bit DAC that sounds pretty good.

The second hand market is awash with such deals. Are we living in an age where quality second hand AV is being overlooked and undervalued simply because the rate at which new models are produced is far higher than we see in standard 2 channel.

I say this because I'd quite easily make my next purchase a top end AV instead of a stereo amp at the price I can get the AV. Its a no brainer really. Then just employ it for stereo listening.

Am I missing something? Or am I just one of the few that has not gone upgrade nuts?

[istari_knight]

You have simply discovered they are "good enough" for your purposes [as they are mine] but as recent threads both on here & over on the wam show, most people are either prejudiced against them or are already too far up the high end 2 channel food chain to be satisfied by such things.

Enjoy :thumbsup:

[struth]

used to have a rather good kenwood one. 5.1. it sounded great and its only down side was probably it was a tad sterile. still it would not stop me having another if needs must

[Macca]

I reckon for what they sell for they are good value used as 2 channel power amps. Especially if you can get one that lets you bridge the unused surround channels into 2 channel. The question is, are they as good in terms of quality to a dedicated 2 channel amp? I suspect the amswer in some cases will be yes, depending on how good the a/v amp is and how poor the 2 channel comparitor amp is.

So if you want a lot of power on a budget it is not a bad idea, if you want the best and have the money to pay for it, then steer clear.

[Firebottle]

I think they are but it depends how much you can get them for ;)

The one I have just acquired, see http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?36239-Anyone-used-VideoLogic-Sirocco-setup, is a typical gainclone chip amp which seems well designed. The heatsinks may be a little small if it was being caned a lot but it sounds good.

I will probably modify it so that the L&R outputs are full range and the sub filtering is adjustable, rather than just the level.
I don't know how much this amp/set up cost new.

:cool: Alan

[ReggieB]

Are we living in an age where quality second hand AV is being overlooked and undervalued simply because the rate at which new models are produced is far higher than we see in standard 2 channel.

Definitely. The price of second hand DVD players and AV amps is very low. Some great bargains out there. For around £30 each, you can buy some excellent kit on ebay.