Receiver buying on a budget.

[Pops110]

Hi all, after some advice buying a receiver to set up a home theatre.

 

The room is not ideal but it's where we spend most of our time watching tv, movies etc

 

I have some pretty nice sounding Revel in wall speakers and a Focal sub setup already. They are hooked up to a Cambridge 340a and cd, tuner. Sounds pretty good for movies but would like to get a centre and some rears to make that bit better.

We have just bought a new UHD telly which I really like, not the best in the world but I'm happy with how it performs. This is all housed in a custom built false wall set up.

 

So so my question is do I need a 4K receiver to make the most of the telly or can I get away with something a little older that doesn't have all the bells and whistles?

 

Source is mainly Fetch tv box with a Blu ray player every now and then. Mainly buy movies on the Fetch or Netflix. I will get the new Fetch box if it would make a difference?

 

There is a Sony da 5300es available locally for $250. Older unit but was supposedly pretty good. 

Also been looking at an Integra dtr 40.2b for around the $500 mark. 

That would be my limit to spend. 

 

Is is there any thing else I should be keeping an eye out for?

 

I can source another Revel in wall that matches the others that I was hoping to use for a centre.

 

Sorry for all the questions, but the other worry is the rears would be virtually overhead from where we sit. Would this be a problem?

 

Cheers Dave.

[betty boop]

you don't HAVE to use a 4k receiver…. all uhd players for instance come with dual hdmi out so can pass audio to legacy receiver and 4k video direct to telly. though chances are with a smaller telly the benefits of 4k are going to be pretty minimal so not sure if worth bothering about. you really need to be sitting 1-1.5x screen to fully resolve 4k. keeping in mind its beyond imax… so unless setting up for beyond imax its not a huge consideration.

 

with receivers I see a lot of cambridge stuff and a cambridge receiver could fit in well….just keep in mind integrating 2ch and av gear is not the easiest if plan to keep the cambridge 2ch integrated as well as I don't think that model is likely to have a ht bypass … unless plan was to replace it with the avr ?

 

a centre speaker considering the close proximity of the L&R in wall speakers might not bring a lot of benefit….

 

that said yes most definitely be well worth adding surrounds even if only adding a couple. if planning in wall/in ceiling theres plenty of options there …. 

[Pops110]

Hi Al thanks for the reply mate.

 

I sort of thought that would be the case with the 4K . I think that I will try to find a receiver a few years old with decent specs that I can pick up fairly cheap.

 

There is also an Onkyo tx nr727 for $400 available locally. Would this or any of the others I mentioned be good buying?

 

The fronts are pretty close together but would I not benefit a bit with vocals etc by having a centre channel. I find that sometimes the vocals are a little soft and to get them where I want them it's too loud. Is there an option to have 4.1 that compensates for no centre?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Cheers Dave.

 

[betty boop]

dave the onkyo would id say be a step back from your cambridge 2ch gear.

 

if wanting something of reasonable quality and to take over from your cambridge 2ch amp, then something like the cambridge 551RV2 would be a good thing,

http://www.blackwoodsound.com.au/azur-551r-v2-av-receiver.html

 

you can run a "phantom centre" i.e. you tell an av receiver you have no centre….but yes you are right in essence taking a multichannel track with a centre channel then processing it to pump it through L&R front 2 channels to then have to recombine to form a phantom centre without having one can be a bit of a daft way of going about things and can end up compromising the centre channel delivery. better to actually have a centre channel if can fit one in.

 

by all means add in a centre if can and then can indeed run a discrete centre channel mix as most movies etc come with.

[powerav]

 

I have these 2 for sale as i am moving house and want to just have one family system, the Cambridge sounds superb but doesn't enough bells and whistles for family use and the Denon has all the bells and whistles but no pre outs for my amp.

Some awesome deals on refurb Integra's from Ambertech,

[michaelw]

In your current setup you do not need a hard centre.

 

Placement in that wall between the main speakers means the sound from the centre will reach your ears first unless you apply major electronic finessing.

 

Adding one will only reduce fidelity.