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Set up questions from a new guy......

post #1 of 5
1/6/08 at 11:35pm
Thread Starter 
Just wanted to say hello! I thought I knew about HT until I got into a lengthy discussion with a friend of mine. He had told me I should get separate amps and a pre amp. I never really thought about it before, (and I have been a car audio guy for years). With car audio I have always gone with separate amps...I would have never tried to run the whole system off of the head unit.
I just got my first home theater amp.. it’s a Rotel RMB-1075 and I love it I’m going from a Harman Kardon AVR-525 to the Rotel (I m currently using the AVR-525 for a pre amp and processor for now). The new Rotel amp makes a big difference! The separation and sound quality is incredible. Didn’t know that going from a integrated to a dedicated amp would sound so different.
Moving forward I'm going to sell the Harman Kardon and get a pre amp. I was thinking of going with a used RSP-1098 but being new to the whole “separate thing” was wondering if I should go with that for a pre? If not…let me know what you think would be best….all ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.
Currently I am running:
Harman/Kardon AVR-525
RMB-1075
Athena S2/P2 for fronts( the P2 are a power 8 as well)
OLDER DCM for the center (want to upgrade not sure?)
Athena S2 for sides
Athena S1 for rears.
Klipsch KSW-12 (want to upgrade not sure?)
I’m going to add the RB-1070 for the rears.
Any input would be great!
Thanks –
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post #2 of 5
1/7/08 at 3:48am

Re: Set up questions from a new guy......

Frank:

The "Basics" area is really more of a "beginners" section than anything else. If you're shopping for separates, you've left the kiddie pool. You'll probably get more replies if you ask the mods to move your post to the Receivers/Separates/Amps - Home Theater Forum and change the title to something more specific like "Have power amp - looking for first pre/pro"

Good luck,

Joe
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post #3 of 5
1/7/08 at 5:48am
Thread Starter 

Re: Set up questions from a new guy......

I wasnt so much shopping. But looking for input on what to look for and looking for all a round advise on my set up.
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post #4 of 5
1/10/08 at 10:17pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Set up questions from a new guy......

Some one has to have some kinda of input?
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post #5 of 5
1/11/08 at 2:50am

Re: Set up questions from a new guy......

Frank,

Welcome to the forum.

I normally hesitate to comment about products on the US market, which is just a bit too far away from where I live.

But the problem with your question is this.
Yes, separates are an excellent solution in a home theater. If you surf this forum, you will certainly find some excellent discussions promoting the idea. I myself have always been an advocate.

Unfortunately we are confronted recently with some very new concepts. The most important of this is HDMI, an interface that wasn't present on receivers, decoders and pre-amps until rather recently. Another development is the use of brand new audio-codecs on HD-media, especially the lossless ones (lossless compression like in zip-files). Preferably these tracks are decoded in the HD-player, but some still aren't and so have to be processed by the receiver/decoder if you want to enjoy their full potential.

Now the problem: newer receivers (including power-amps) are currently hitting the market. They support HDMI and the newest codecs. They can also be used as decoder-only (in which case you wouldn't use the end-amp section).
But there hardly are any pure decoders with this functionality, and those that were announced are significantly more expensive than most of the receivers.

So, if you go separate: excellent, but you may still have to buy a receiver with integrated power amps, even if you wouldn't use those. Also, decoders and pre-amps sporting HDMI and support for the new audio codecs aren't even there yet (AFAIK), or if they are 4 - 5 times more expensive.


Cees
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