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As a "family Xmas present", the living room 2003 Sony Trinitron 32" SDTV (weighing in at 200lbs) was replaced by a 43" 4K LG 43UM7300 (weighing in at 20lbs). It's an entry-level TV, nothing spectacular about it but it well-rated for gaming (so my 14-year-old son is happy), it works very well in a well-lit room (so my wife is happy) and it has very good wide-angle viewing (a must in our living room--but what it makes it great for that purpose, an IPS panel, is what makes it mediocre for a dedicated cinema room like my basement). That much was planned. As was the Harmony 665 universal remote for my wife (who, until now, refused to turn on the two-channel rig in the living room to listen to the music channels via our cable provider because "I don't want to deal with all the remotes and the switching things"). My intent was to force the use of the two-channel rig for all TV watching going forward, so the universal remote was a must.
For two days, everything was plugged in via a Frankenstein-like mixture of a 2019 TV, a 2019 4K Apple TV (another living room Xmas present), a 2009 Samsung Blu-ray player (to be replaced by a 4K player in a while), a Cisco Explorer PVR, (all via HDMI), a Toshiba HD DVD A3 (via component)--all to the TV, with an optical digital output to my venerable 2003 Integra DTR 6.4 (no HDMI) AVR acting as a pre-amp for an Emotiva A-100 single analogue input integrated two-channel amp (as the amp section died in the DTR 6.4 back in 2017). As I said, a mess--but one the Harmony remote could navigate.
However, the DTR 6.4 digital inputs (tried them all) could not properly coordinate with the TV's optical output (tried every setting). Kept having audio dropouts every few minutes. My wife said she didn't care (they lasted a second at a time) and...she really, really didn't care. (See preferring the Sony TV speakers to the PSB Imagine Bs for music noted above--also her "can't we just use the TV speakers" plea). I, of course, could not put up with all that nonsense.
Thankfully, in Canada, we have Boxing Day (now really Boxing Week)--a roughly analogous markdown event to Black Friday in the US. Did a quick search, found a 45% off sale on Denon receivers at a local chain (Quebec-only version of a Best Buy, but 90% focused on A/V gear). While I was tempted to go with something more upscale, unplanned spending usually persuades me to get what I "need" (well...insofar as I "need" to avoid TV speaker sound ). Grabbed an AVR-S650H. My living room is never going to be more than two-channel (might some day try to sneak in a centre channel speaker and, possibly, a sub), so no need for anything beyond 5.1 capability. This fits what we "need". Even has Audyssey MultiEQ (not top of the line, but good enough for any eventual sub addition). Now, rather than 38 different cables, everything is hooked up via HDMI. No more audio dropouts. Has a bunch of features I'll never use (what AVR doesn't?) but a few I might explore (Internet radio built-in, for example). Haven't run Audyssey yet, but eager to try. I've had Denon receivers before (stereo back in the 90s, and my first AVR in 2001--it's still running in my nephew's apartment), so I'm not worried about reliability issues.
Was a bit unusual for me to get something this quick (I usually research A/V purchases for months, not hours), but it is nice to see the living room join the 21st century (even if it's two decades late). Will post back when I've discovered more about the limits and capabilities of this entry-level AVR.
For two days, everything was plugged in via a Frankenstein-like mixture of a 2019 TV, a 2019 4K Apple TV (another living room Xmas present), a 2009 Samsung Blu-ray player (to be replaced by a 4K player in a while), a Cisco Explorer PVR, (all via HDMI), a Toshiba HD DVD A3 (via component)--all to the TV, with an optical digital output to my venerable 2003 Integra DTR 6.4 (no HDMI) AVR acting as a pre-amp for an Emotiva A-100 single analogue input integrated two-channel amp (as the amp section died in the DTR 6.4 back in 2017). As I said, a mess--but one the Harmony remote could navigate.
However, the DTR 6.4 digital inputs (tried them all) could not properly coordinate with the TV's optical output (tried every setting). Kept having audio dropouts every few minutes. My wife said she didn't care (they lasted a second at a time) and...she really, really didn't care. (See preferring the Sony TV speakers to the PSB Imagine Bs for music noted above--also her "can't we just use the TV speakers" plea). I, of course, could not put up with all that nonsense.
Thankfully, in Canada, we have Boxing Day (now really Boxing Week)--a roughly analogous markdown event to Black Friday in the US. Did a quick search, found a 45% off sale on Denon receivers at a local chain (Quebec-only version of a Best Buy, but 90% focused on A/V gear). While I was tempted to go with something more upscale, unplanned spending usually persuades me to get what I "need" (well...insofar as I "need" to avoid TV speaker sound ). Grabbed an AVR-S650H. My living room is never going to be more than two-channel (might some day try to sneak in a centre channel speaker and, possibly, a sub), so no need for anything beyond 5.1 capability. This fits what we "need". Even has Audyssey MultiEQ (not top of the line, but good enough for any eventual sub addition). Now, rather than 38 different cables, everything is hooked up via HDMI. No more audio dropouts. Has a bunch of features I'll never use (what AVR doesn't?) but a few I might explore (Internet radio built-in, for example). Haven't run Audyssey yet, but eager to try. I've had Denon receivers before (stereo back in the 90s, and my first AVR in 2001--it's still running in my nephew's apartment), so I'm not worried about reliability issues.Was a bit unusual for me to get something this quick (I usually research A/V purchases for months, not hours), but it is nice to see the living room join the 21st century (even if it's two decades late). Will post back when I've discovered more about the limits and capabilities of this entry-level AVR.
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