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Thinking of moving from AVR to pre/pro and amp

Disclaimer: I don't know what I don't know. I do not have any major complaints with my current system which I will detail later, but I do know it doesn't sound as close to "live" performances as I'd like. Having read many threads, I believe that moving to separates will help in this area, but I may not have the best reading comprehension. I need your expertise.

My system is used 90/10 TV or DVD/Music, so that's another issue. However, when we play music we tend to really play music. We had the Wadia ipod transport running 12 hours/day over the time between Christmas and New Years, so there are long stretches of listening opportunties. I ran a great number of CDs through my Oppo 95 during this stretch too. Last year I only ran CDs as I didn't have the Wadia (I use Apple Lossless files in the ipod).

There is no option to have a separate music only room or second system no matter how much I'd like to. I have spousal asthetic and ease of use issues to contend with so therefore, whatever I buy must be black and work with my Harmony 1000 touch screen remote.

My upgrade budget is miniscule, <$2k. Used equipment is fine. No HDMI switching is fine as I already am dealing with that now.

My current system is a Rotel RSX 1056 receiver, Oppo 95 running analog 5.1 to the Rotel for audio and video via HDMI to the Sony Bravia XBR IV LCD TV. DirecTV DVR runs digital audio to the Rotel and video via HDMI to the Sony. Oppo 95 plays the CDs through the 5.1 analog cables, though in stereo mode. I use a Wadia transport to run analog into the CD input of the Rotel.

Speakers are B&W LCR6 S2's up front and B&W in ceiling surrounds out back. Two Velodyne SPL10 subs handle the lower frequencies (iirc, I cross over at 100 hz).

I currently can locally get a consignment sale 1-owner Arcam AVP700/P1000 setup for what seems to be a reasonable price ($1350 firm), or I could get a new Emotiva setup with their pre/pro and the 200wpc 5-channel amp for my <$2k budget (albeit not the newest pre/pro with balanced outputs as it isn't out yet and it would stretch the budget too far anyway).

The Arcam P1000 has an advantage in that I can use the extra 2 channels for my patio speakers and sell my ancient SAE 50wpc amp as there seems to be a demand for these on ebay (or there used to be). Not a deal maker, but a plus. Emotiva stuff comes with a warranty and a 30 day trial period, which could be a huge plus. Buying black end plates for the Emotiva is a minus, but not a deal breaker.

I like the warm sound of the B&W/Rotel combo, but it lacks *something* that I can not put words to. I'm hoping moving to more power and a better processor will open this up a bit. For instance, on my current system solo piano music sounds nice, but I just do not *feel* it like I do when someone plays a nice piano live. Same with vocals, they are just not there for me through this system. Norah Jones 'come away with me' is a bit thinner sounding than I'd like is an example that comes to mind.

Damn the new performing arts center and its excellent acoustics! I used to be more ok with the sound that I have. However, after a season seeing a bunch of live shows including performers like Botti and also The Tenors, I find it wanting (sub-note/humble brag: if you saw the Tenors lead with your heart PBS special over the holidays, you saw my wife and I in the crowd shots more than once). I also listen to Rush, Steely Dan, and even (please don't laugh) Jim Brickman. Eclectic tastes.

My room probably does not help at all with 12' ceilings, big open spaces, tile floors with one 12x12 area rug and leather furniture. Additional room treatments outside of possibly an area rug under the dining room table at the far end of the room are unlikely. See wife comment above.

Is it worth dropping money on either the Arcam or Emotiva setup?

Speaker changes are unlikely unless they would match the width of the LCR 6's for the front L&R. Center channel space is limited by the HDTV stand.

The Emotiva would allow me to run HDMI and clean up my cable runs a bit, though I do like the processing the OPPO does (over my last Blu Ray player).

Maybe I should just pay for better seats at the performing arts center?

Thanks for reading all this and I appreciate your help.
admranger
admranger OP
144 posts
 
I fixed the crossover issue, now setting it at 60 db (on the receiver, dvd player, and on the back of the subs themselves). Is 60hz too low? I can easily set it to 80hz.

I also worked a bit on speaker placement. This has helped a bit. I need to do more listening.

Getting the speakers off the subs will take some time as I need to find stands that will work. Maybe I'll just build them out of some sign board I have (leftover from a garage cabinet build this past summer), fill them with sand, and cover them with some dense fabric or acoustic foam and fabric. Goodness knows I could use some softer materials in the listening area.

I thought the room size would cause a few jaw drops. It's an odd layout, but we like the openess of the house. I give credit to Rotel and B&W (and velodyne) as my system doesn't suck in this sizeable space. However, like many of us, I'm looking for more.

When you say "get the speakers to ear level", I'm a bit confused. The LCRs have a driver on each side of the center mounted tweeter (one above the tweeter, one below it for the L&R F channels, one on either side for the C channel as that speaker has to lay on the long side on the shelf directly under the HDTV). The tweeters are currently almost exactly at my ear level when I'm listening. Where should they be? Maybe the description in my previous post was confusing.
internetmin
258 posts
 
The height of the speaker's tweeter should be (generally speaking) at the level of your ear when you are seated. So it sounds like you nailed it. There some exceptions to this rule with tower speakers, however, where some have the tweeter higher than the listening position, but they have tuned the system to take this into consideration (Wilson jumps to mind as an example).

Try putting a string at your listening position and then measure that distance to your center channel (or one of the other speakers) and then take that string and measure each speaker. Basically, the string should touch in the exact same place on each speaker (front, center of baffle). If it doesn't then your speaker distances are off and that too will cause imaging issues.

A simple practice to get that accurate is to put a piece of tape on the carpet in right in front of your center channel (assuming center channel is directly in front of listening position). Then you measure from that piece of tape both left and right an equal distance to make sure that your L and R speakers are at the appropriate angle from your chair.

Then, take a laser level or laser meter and put it on top of the speaker and then toe in the speaker until it hits a specific spot on your listening chair. often you will find one speaker is not in alignment with another, another speaker is pointing UP more than the other, or any other oddity that only a laser can show. It will take you 15-30 minutes to do all that, but it will nail imaging and soundstage, etc. If your speakers are not in perfect alignment, the illusion of the stereo image will degrade.

Some will argue (and it's personal preference) that toe in should not be so harsh. If that's your preference then put a white board on a stand about 5-8 feet behind your listening position and then put a cross-hair target on it that you will try and use to level and aim both speakers. Remember, speaker leveling you should use a bubble level meter first. Otherwise, you cannot ensure which speaker is level and which one is not.

You might want to purchase GET BETTER SOUND by Jim Smith. it has lots of tips and tricks in there on how to properly setup and align your speakers. http://www.getbettersound.com

There are also lots of free sites and articles online on hometheater.com or soundandvision.com, etc. Wilson audio also has their method for setting up their Wilson speakers which also works well for any other model
admranger OP
144 posts
 
Internetmin: Thanks for the tips. It appears I have a weekend project to complete!

I have the Smith book in my "wish list" on Amazon (there's a DVD option too...I might buy that instead as I'm a visual learner).

I did some more listening last night and I believe that some of my "complaints" are due to the specific discs I'm listening to.

For instance, on the basis of some feedback on 'best blu-ray concert dvds, I bought Botti, Adele, and Rush (snakes and arrows) concert blu-rays. It helps I'm a fan of all three, but I'm a huge Rush fan. Turns out, I like the Rush DVD the least of all three. The sound is harsh and disjointed on my system. Depressed, I put in Botti. Awesome sound. Hmmm, that's interesting...Ok, Adele hit the player last night. Again, awesome sound. All 3 have DTS 5.1 decoding. Playing Rush on Dolby stereo helped quite a bit, but it wasn't nearly as good as the Botti or Adele discs. I then remembered that I had Henley's the end of the innocence DTS5.1 audio disc that I rarely play. I put it in and hated it (explains why I rarely play it). Put in Henley's CD and all was well with the world again.

Can the sound engineers really mess things up that much? All decoding was done on the Oppo 95 and fed analog into the multi input (DVDs) or CD analog inputs.
internetmin
258 posts
 
Nice to meet a fellow-Rush fan! I strongly suggest you try and pickup the Rush BluRay. I think that will give you a good reference disk to test out your system with. As with anything, source makes all the difference.

If you really want to test your system then you need both a good two-channel disk and a good multi-channel. If you can get a hold of Star Wars Episode III play the introductory scene. Lots of aggressive use and panning of surrounds and detailed ambiance. At the end of all the Star Wars Blurays is a DTS demo. Each disk has a different demo but it's nice to hear your system kick it up a notch. You cannot access that DTS demo directly on any disc. You must watch the end of the credits and then it kicks in.
admranger OP
144 posts
 
Which Rush Blu-Ray? I have Snakes and Arrows and it sounded quite iffy on my system. Adele and Botti's were 100x better.
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