NEED HELP! Do I salvage or is time for something new? (1 Viewer)

Hello,

I'm not a major television viewer. I'm more DVD's and Netflix with the occasional television show (Lost, True Blood) to keep me going. I use the following items for Home Audio:

Velodyne CT-80 Sub
Cambridge Soundworks M60 Bookshelf Speakers
Marantz Receiver

I have a small apartment but I get the sense that this stuff is getting a bit outmoded. Any advice to optimize what I have, or on what I should trade it in for?

 

[Ed Moxley]

You didn't say what model Marantz you have. If you're happy with the sound of everything, I'd keep it. If you have an HD tv, you might add a blu ray player to the works, and upgrade your Netflix membership to blu ray.

I'm guessing the receiver is an older one? If so, does it have 5.1/7.1 multi-channel analog inputs? If so, get a blu ray player that decodes internally, and sends the audio out over 5.1/7.1 multi-channel analog outputs. They cost a little more (maybe $100 more) than those with just HDMI output, but cheaper than another receiver. If you want blu ray, and your receiver doesn't have the analog inputs I mentioned, you might want to get a new HDMI receiver. In that case, I'd look at the Onkyo TX-SR507 and above. If you have a particular brand you'd rather have, make sure it's an HDMI v.1.3a repeater receiver, that decodes HD audio. Then you can use any blu ray player you're comfortable with.

 

[Jason Charlton]

Hi Andrew - welcome to the forum!

We could use a little more information from you...

- What size/make/model display do you have? Are you happy with it?
- What model number receiver do you have? Does it support HDMI and/or the lossless Blu-Ray audio formats?
- Is Blu-Ray something you'd consider switching to in the future?
- Are you into gaming systems (PS3, XBox, Wii)?
- Are you currently running a 2.1 speaker setup (front bookshelves + subwoofer) or do you have a center and/or surrounds? If so, what make/model speakers?
- What source do you have for TV - cable, satellite - and is it HD or not?

In general, older gear will work fine for older media formats - it's trying to integrate the NEWER stuff (like Blu-Ray, HD) with older gear that gets tricky.