Old*"Hi End" Vs. New "Low End"

[The Grand Wazoo]

Well, that's my biguest doubth,

Yeah, I think you need to spend a little time with a high quality stereo amp.

[Barry]

I don't really understand why AV amps need to have any more than two channels. I find sounds coming from behind me distracting, whether that's at the cinema, or at home with the TV. I just don't want it.

Give me a 2.0 system using a good stereo amplifier and decent speakers of a decent size. Who has room for any more?

[Audio Al]

Can you please extend?? Caps replaced are parts of the amp, is that it?

If you have electronics repair and service shops in your country its best to ring them up give them the make and model number , Ask for a full service and test

Older equipment will need thing like capacitors changing , sometimes resistors and other items , also they would look for any dry solder joints , clean any volume bass treble balance rotary switches

Thorough clean inside , Bit like taking you car in for a full service

[Audio Al]

I don't really understand why AV amps need to have any more than two channels. I find sounds coming from behind me distracting, whether that's at the cinema, or at home with the TV. I just don't want it.

Give me a 2.0 system using a good stereo amplifier and decent speakers of a decent size. Who has room for any more?

I had the same opinion as you Barry UNTIL I went into a HIFI / AV shop many years ago and was given a demo of AV

The salesman went through some dialog and the one thing he said that made most sense was " If an actor is talking to you where does the sound come from ? It would come from where he is standing , hence the center speaker also if someone shouts from the far right or from over the actors left shoulder again the sound would come from that direction

I then watched part of the film Top Gun , the part on the flight deck when the jets were taking off and banking hard right , The sound went from all left speakers through the center then to the right rear only , all VERY realistic , I can see the AV advantages with films but not with HIFI audio ,
Just my opinion other will be different

[synsei]

It's a matter of priorities really. In my opinion AV surround and 2ch stereo systems should be completely separate entities for optimal results. Using an AV amp to perform both duties is always going to compromise accurate music reproduction. As your priorities seem to be geared, in the main, towards music, then unless you have plenty of spare cash to throw at separate AV and 2ch setups I would advise throwing most of the cash at the stereo system and perhaps buying one of those all-in-one surround sound Blu-ray systems that cost a few hundred Euros...

[Macca]

Give me a 2.0 system using a good stereo amplifier and decent speakers of a decent size. Who has room for any more?

Me. I have a 2 channel system with decent sized speakers and an entirely seperate 4.1 channel AV set up. I agree you can get by wathcing films in 2 channel and with a lot of material it doesn't matter. As Al says, with action films it does add an extra dimension - who would want to watch the gunfight in 'Heat' in 2 channel?

[Dartas]

If you have electronics repair and service shops in your country its best to ring them up give them the make and model number , Ask for a full service and test

Older equipment will need thing like capacitors changing , sometimes resistors and other items , also they would look for any dry solder joints , clean any volume bass treble balance rotary switches

Thorough clean inside , Bit like taking you car in for a full service

Lol.. this is very interesting. Didn't even knew we could do check ups to an old amp
will investigate more about this, though i doubth i can find any place who can do it here..

[Dartas]

Yeah, I think you need to spend a little time with a high quality stereo amp.

Yes, you are probably right, but than again, i think i would have to sell my car to have something like that

Have been checking some old stuff (like arcam a85) on ebay, but not sure if it would worth the money they ask for them. Most part of them i never heard, and that's what makes it so dificult

[Dartas]

Have you considered a Yamaha DSP-E800 ? If you can live with just having vanilla Dolby Digital 5.1 it will give you the best of both worlds & can be picked up for lunch money.

Never heard about this one, but looks interesting. Do you think it would really beat my PM6004 in 2ch performance, or you suggest it just as an upgrade?
I'm not actully so much in to the hd formats. A simple 5.1 dolby digital would be good for me if in addition i can get a good 2ch performance

[John]

Good quality of stereo need not cost a lot of money (plenty of old and new world choices) if you want to add surround you can always add the Yamaha as has already been suggested this would give you the best out of both worlds.