Recommendations on what to drive my B&Ws with

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  • santicua
    Junior Member
    • Jul 2008
    • 7

    Recommendations on what to drive my B&Ws with

    First time poster and currently waiting for my new condo to be completed and in the process of setting up my HT. Already bought the tv, speakers, and sub but now having a hard time deciding on what to power it with. The setup will be mostly used for HT but I also want to enjoy some stereo listening for time to time. The room is relatively small is approximately 13ft long, 9 ft wide, and 9 ft high. Going for a 7.1 setup and this is what Ive accumilated so far:

    pair of 805S for fronts
    HTM4 for the center
    pair of CWM 600's (in walls) for surround
    pair of CCM-80 (in ceilings) for the rears

    Velodyne DD10 for sub
    Panny 58PZ750 for the TV

    Initally I was thinking of just getting a Denon 4308 or a Onkyo 905 receiver but is it worth spending twice the price to get separates? Say maybe a Rotel 1080 with a 1075 or 1077 paired with a Integra pre/pro? Only reason why Im looking to the integra is becuase it has the lastest technology (HDMI 1.3, Video Upscaling etc) like the AV receivers do. Or do I not all that new technology and go with another pre/pro?

    I know its all subjective, but will there be a significant difference to go separates? Enought to justify spending twice the amount? Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated. thanks!
  • hifiguymi
    Super Senior Member
    • Mar 2007
    • 1532

    #2
    Separates are typically worth it. I don't have any experience with Onkyo or Integra so I can't really comment on their performance. I'm very familiar with Denon and Rotel (I sell both) and the AVR-4308CI would work very well with that system. It's a wonderful sounding receiver and has just about every feature under the sun.

    That said, a Rotel RSP-1069 (I know you asked about the Integra, but I don't have any experience with it) with an RB-1080/ RMB-1075 combo sounds much better. The dynamics are much better (especially micro dynamics), the bass is more defined, the high frequencies are more detailed (but not brighter), and there is a greater sense of ease about the system. You feel like you can listen at a higher volume without fatigue.

    As for the RMB-1077 instead, that would come down to personal taste. It's a fantastic amp but it does sound different than the A/B amps in Rotel's line. You would have to listen to them and decide.

    You should at least listen to the RSP-1069 as well so you get exposed to as many different preamps as possible. It sounds very good. It's not perfect, but nothing is.

    Eric

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    • Glenee
      Senior Member
      • Aug 2006
      • 253

      #3
      Try looking at a Emotiva XPA-5. You can find them at emotiva.com . I have one that was just going to be used in a intrem. But it is so good that it is staying. You could still get the Onkyo, Denon, or Integra and use the pre-outs to the amp. I personally did it with a Yamaha.

      Comment

      • Hberg
        Member
        • Apr 2008
        • 95

        #4
        You may want to look at the new Marantz AV-8003 as a Pre/Pro. It has a lot of the latest technology. It is not cheap ($2,599.99), but any other new Pre/Pro with the latest technology will cost significantly more.
        "If 'A' equals success, then the formula is 'A = _ X + Y + Z.' 'X' is work. 'Y' is play. 'Z' is keeping your mouth shut." -- Albert Einstein

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        • santicua
          Junior Member
          • Jul 2008
          • 7

          #5
          Originally posted by hifiguymi

          That said, a Rotel RSP-1069 (I know you asked about the Integra, but I don't have any experience with it) with an RB-1080/ RMB-1075 combo sounds much better. The dynamics are much better (especially micro dynamics), the bass is more defined, the high frequencies are more detailed (but not brighter), and there is a greater sense of ease about the system. You feel like you can listen at a higher volume without fatigue.
          Yeah, that was the setup i initially was thinking of but the 1069 lacks 1080p upscaling and HDMI 1.3 compared to the receivers. Is this something most people can live without. Seems like the ideal setup would be to use spearates even if you dont get HDMI 1.3 and 1080p upscaling. Can you do without those?

          Comment

          • hifiguymi
            Super Senior Member
            • Mar 2007
            • 1532

            #6
            Originally posted by santicua
            Yeah, that was the setup i initially was thinking of but the 1069 lacks 1080p upscaling and HDMI 1.3 compared to the receivers. Is this something most people can live without. Seems like the ideal setup would be to use spearates even if you dont get HDMI 1.3 and 1080p upscaling. Can you do without those?
            It depends on the rest of your system. In my experience most TV's do a better job of scaling than the majority of receivers (or preamps). That isn't always the case but it happens more often than not. With that said, what kind of TV do you have? FYI, the RSP-1069 does scale to 1080P but it's not very good at it. It also won't pass a 1080/24p signal if the scaler is turned on.

            As for HDMI 1.3, that depends on your BD player (and your TV to some degree). The main things HDMI 1.3a adds is the ability to bitstream the advanced audio codecs, deep color transmission, x.v.Color, auto lip-sync, and higher bandwidth. If you have a BD player that can decode all of the advanced audio codecs internally then HDMI 1.1 is all that is needed. The only thing that would apply to BD then would be auto lip-sync. In order for auto lip-sync to work all things in the chain have to be HDMI 1.3. If your TV isn't HDMI 1.3, that won't work. The other things are not needed for BD. Since movies are all encoded right now at 8 bit, deep color and x.v.Color isn't needed. The previous HDMI spec has more than enough bandwidth for BD so the increase doesn't matter either.

            Here is a link to a good article that goes in depth in HDMI 1.3a.



            Eric

            Comment

            • santicua
              Junior Member
              • Jul 2008
              • 7

              #7
              Originally posted by hifiguymi
              It depends on the rest of your system. In my experience most TV's do a better job of scaling than the majority of receivers (or preamps). That isn't always the case but it happens more often than not. With that said, what kind of TV do you have? FYI, the RSP-1069 does scale to 1080P but it's not very good at it. It also won't pass a 1080/24p signal if the scaler is turned on.
              Eric,

              Thanks again for all the great information! My TV is a Panasonic TH-58PZ700. Not sure what too sure of how good its scaling capapilities are.

              BD player is another thing I have to look into....any recommendations?

              Comment

              • WI Rotel
                Senior Member
                • Jul 2006
                • 657

                #8
                A Jaguar XF :B :driving:

                Comment

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