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brickman45

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doug
hello to all here,..i am new here and am happy that there seems to be so much good info and advice available here.... there are many questions i have to ask,..but i will try my best not to overload the area's of interest with to many... first off,..i am in the process of putting together a decent audio/video entertainment room for myself and grandkids. i have a modest understanding of sound and electronics,..so i am not completely inept or void of grasping the finer details... having said that,..i ask for all the help and advice that any of you have to offer without reservation... my desire is to build a simple, but very effective listening environment, quite capable of good clean powerful sound to accompany our listening and viewing pleasure via blue ray or whatever... i thought i would get a simple entry level polk speaker set(moniter 70's for front, 60's for rear's,.and a very good sub like svs or hsu), along with either a 46"led lcd 12hz monitor, or a plasma. get a blue ray player and a decent receiver to fill this system out. i am a little overwhelmed at all the receiver choices,(i will upgrade my speakers next year to aperion,axiom,.or equivalent), for now, i think the entry level polks will do.... so,..my room dimensions are....15'x15'x20' cathedral ceiling,...opening up to a larger living area,.. i like power,...so i want a strong low end, clean,.. and responsive plus tight....(maybe a power amp?)..i was thinking about the denon 1911, 1912, onkyo 609, HK 2600,(altho, i would love to get a marantz),..anyway,..i have about 500 at the most for now for a receiver,.. eventually i will probably use 2 subs,...so.....considering what i have detailed,..what changes or advise would you guys recommend, and btw,..i love to rock out, so music is a serious issue with me,....ty,..doug. let me define better my qwesions.... 1- what receiver will work best with these polks and a blueray/bigscreen?.... 2-what should i get,..a plasma or led/lcd?..... 3what blueray player is best?... and also,..my PC has the HT OMEGA 7.1 strker sound card,..and i want to stream pandora thru this system...
 

gene c

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1) Get the 5005 from ac4l.com. It's new, has 7.1 channel pre-outs, a 3 year warranty and is $449 shipped http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/MARSR5005A/MARANTZ-SR5005-100w-X-7ch-3-D-Home-Theater-Surround-Receiver/1.html 2) Not a display expert but for most people the LED-LCD is probably best. But Plasma's (the right one anyway) certainly has it's followers. 3) How much money 'ya got :) ? OPPO is excellent for all formats ($499-$999) and Panasonic seems to be the favored consumer brand. I have Pioneer Elites but bought them used. New ones are way over-priced IMO. 4) Check the 5005's specs to make sure it does streaming. I don't know much about streaming PC's to receivers
 

brickman45

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ty for your response... i agree, the marantz seems good....i will need preout's tho... i will look into the oppo,..it seems like everywhere on these forums i look, the oppo is a favorite. my pc soundcard is a ht omega striker 7.1 with optical and a digital coax output,....as far as money is concerned,...i can put maybe 2500-3k$ into this system when its all said and done for now. later i will upgrade the speakers, add some discrete power amps,..and component eq probably, cuz i really like to drive my speakers well... thats bout it, should be a decent entry level system to start, then i will just keep adding and changing till i get that jaw dropping soundstage and experience i want...plus a badass sub also, cuz i love the low's,..lol
 

gene c

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Maybe take a look at the Emotive pre-pro and their multi-ch amps. It's not 3D compatible tough, if that's important. http://emotiva.com/umc1.shtm http://emotiva.com/umc1.shtm Or a good used Integra 8.9 or 9.9 pre-pro.
 

JohnRice

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The Marantz 5005 is an excellent choice. It has full pre outs, so it can grow with your system and sounds great. It does not do streaming, but there are plenty of inexpensive peripherals which offer far more in that department (AppleTV, Roku, etc. etc) and to me are a much better choice, especially when you consider the price of the 5005. Plasma is excellent in a controlled light environment. If you don't have that, you'll probablyorefer LCD.
 

fyngyrz

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One difference between the built-in networking on some receivers / pre-pros and the AppleTV or Roku is that often, you can operate the network features on the receivers / pre-pros without turning on your monitor or projector using the built-in front panel display on the unit. A friend's Onkyo works this way, as does my Marantz. Both the Apple TV and the Roku absolutely require that the monitor be on simply in order to choose the operation / channel you want; the Apple TV goes a step further and will actually stop streaming Internet Radio after a few minutes if you turn the HDMI monitor off. The Roku XDS, which I also own, at least doesn't do that -- can't speak for the later version with the reduced output capabilities, someone else might comment on that. I was specifically looking for a streaming solution in the receiver / pre-pro because my Apple TV was eating projector hours for really no good reason. Very happy now that I don't have to have video on just to listen to audio. Just something to be aware of when you're making your initial choices.
 

JohnRice

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Hmm. I operate my AppleTVs all the time using an iPad or iPod Touch as a remote and they run perfectly without a monitor on. Maybe using those as a remote is the exception. Just wanted to mention that limitation doesn't seem to be an absolute.
 

fyngyrz

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My apple TV -- which I should mention is a v2, the small black box with white led, Ethernet, HDMI and power -- will stop sending audio from the Internet Radio app within about 10 minutes if the HDMI connection is not maintained once the radio station is selected. OTOH, if you leave the monitor on, it'll play continuously. This behavior is definite and repeatable, and occurred both with my previous receiver (a Sony) and my current one (Marantz AV7005.) I'd be very interested to know if your experience differs -- that would indicate a problem with my specific Apple TV. My Roku, an XDS with the component, composite, digital audio, analog audio and USB connections doesn't do this - you pick a radio station, it keeps playing unless the network connection is actually lost. That unit is connected to a Toshiba HD tube TV that has a DVI input (and to which the Apple TV could not talk to at all -- no HDCP, perhaps, not sure. An older HD TV, at any rate.) I have not tried selecting internet radio stations on the AppleTV (or otherwise controlling it) with the iPad or iPod, although I do regularly operate my AV7005 from my iPad. May I ask what application you are using for the IOS devices to manage the AppleTV? Thanks! --Ben
 

JohnRice

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Ben, there should be a simple solution to your dilemma. Use the optical output instead of hdmi for music only listening. Use the iPad or iPod to operate the AppleTV. I connect both hdmi and optical to the receiver with different presets, aka, surround for the hdmi input and stereo (or whatever you prefer) for optical. Then I select the optical input for music and automatically get the mode I want for what is playing. Optical is not managed, so it has no idea what is connected. You just can't play a managed source (mainly, containing video) to the optical output without a monitor on. This should not be the case with any radio. FWIW, I never listen to internet radio at home and I'll have to check what the iPad lets me do with it. I mostly listen to music on my server, podcasts and NetFlix. I use Apple's Remote app, which lets you either control iTunes remotely and send music to any (or all) AppleTVs in your network, or lets you directly control one AppleTV. The system does NOT allow you to stream video to multiple destinations, though. Just music. I'll give internet radio with no video a try when I get home and see what happens. I'm 90% sure the Remote app lets you play internet radio. Are you referring to the regular internet radio available free through iTunes or something else?
 

fyngyrz

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I don't have a dilemma, because I have a pre-pro that does internet radio and manages it thru the pre-pro front panel without requiring either a monitor or an iPad. Also, all my optical audio inputs are in use, so the Apple TV has to come in via HDMI, period. I was just pointing out an annoying AppleTV behavior that seemed relevant to the OP. But thanks. :)
 

JohnRice

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...and this is exactly what it comes down to. Having "Streaming" is quite vague as a feature. I see a lot of people just say "I want a receiver with streaming" and don't think beyond that, but in my case the AppleTV does exactly what I want and I don't think any receiver or pre has those same things. So, the ATV works for me perfectly.
 

fyngyrz

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Yep. Our blessing (and our curse) is the variety and distribution of features across the AV landscape. I would characterize myself as someone who generally has a good handle on most of the relevant issues here, and it still took me many months to decide exactly what I wanted to do, and why, and how the compromises and benefits would accrue as a result. Even so, there were a few surprises -- things that just weren't documented anywhere. For instance, it turned out my pre-pro supported a very old standard for controlling amps -- D-Bus -- and so I gained auto on/off for the older monoblocks I had decided upon. A search of the PDF version of the (very!) hefty document for the AV7005 doesn't come up with dbus, d-bus or "d bus", so I don't feel too bad about missing it. Yet the enjoyment I get from watching the amps switch off when I put the pre-pro into standby is ridiculously off-scale. I bet there will be many other things like that too, despite my serious attempt to really understand my options beforehand. And then there's the "consumables" end. Looking for 1RockFM, it's there on the Apple TV and the Roku XDS, but not the AV7005. So not all "Internet Radio" is created equal anyway, lol. Well, you know, there are only a few things in the world I find as enjoyable, or more so, than exploring music, both new to me and out of my collection, with a brand new system through the "lens" it provides. That's what inspired me to find this site -- I was specifically looking for a site that was aimed at HT / music / and systems. It's great to interact with the other crazies. I mean, erm... users. Yeah, that's it. And it's all tempered by a gut-level certainty that an upgraded version of my unit will be released Any Day Now, simply because I finally bit the bullet. :)
 

fyngyrz

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...and... with 1rockfm on my mind, I worked through the radiomarantz.com feature for adding your own internet radio stations, and successfully added 1rockfm after a little digging to find the stream URL. So now my AV7005 does directly provide that station. Wasn't very difficult, either. Really having fun now...
 

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