2. home-theater
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How do I easily add surround to my 2 channel setup

Well first things first. My current system is:
iMac Lossless iTunes Music Collection >> Lossless to Airport Express >> toslink >> X-DACv3 >> Old Junky Integra reciever >> Totem Acoustic Sttaf's

I have been waiting to aquire a Jolida 302b to put in place of the old Integra to give tubes a try ...I am not dead set on this though ...i picked it based on review and price point (can't audition it here in Indianapolis).

My dilema is that we have decided to buy a condo and it allready has 2 in-wall and 2 in-ceiling wired speaker cavities in the main room, and 2 additional installed in-walls in the bedroom (all wiried to one jack behind drywall). I don't care a great deal about having a super surround system, but since there are there ...why not use the speakers. I watch a few movies and a lot of sports, but mainly listen to music. (maybe 25%/75% movies+sports to music). I would probably just do a 5.0 surround setup and use the totems for my L/R and ceilings as surrounds and maybe the 2 in-walls as center? (they are about 4 feet apart ...so

I am thinking of getting something like a Marantz SR5600. It is 90 Watts (my totems have a sensitivity of 88) and it has Pre-outs for each channel ...this way mayby I could just get a dedicated AMP? for the Left/Right. I dont want to spend a ton of money here (less than 1G) and I could sacrafice the x-Dac if the reciever had toslink and a decent Dac (maybe use that money for a dedicated amp for the front channels?). Also if there is an integrated surround that performs well in stereo I am open to suggestions.

Budget ~$1000 if I keep my Xdac ...~$2000 if I sell the x-dac and use the receivers.

I listend to Jazz, Americana and watch sports and movies.
shawnparslow
c123666
871 posts
 
The method I propose assume you have a quality stereo preamp you wish to have remain in service for stereo listening. If a receiver with a high quality preamp section, in analogue mode (NO digital conversion for analogue sources!), is available than that is a simpler solution.

I had good luck with an Arcam AVR200. It has a pretty good preamp analogue stereo section. Now, this preamp is not as good as a quality tubed stereo preamp and I have yet to hear a solid state receiver that does. Some come close and the convenience may be an acceptable trade off for many.

The other method to eliminate the RCA switchbox is to acquire a high quality preamp that has a home theatre pass through. Or, if you are only interested in two channel performance (even with Dolby Digital sources) then you can simply run the stereo preamp outs from the TAPE OUT to an Auxiliary line level input of your preamp and simply treat the receiver/dolby digital sources as another component.

I have the extra speakers for multi channel reproduction but prefer to simply use the Lowthers (so far).
shawnparslow OP
23 posts
 
Sounds like my plan to skimp on the surround receiver (pre) and just add and Amp for the front speakers is not going to be a great idea then ...I am getting the feeling that doing so is is not going to help my stereo setup.

Perhaps an All-In-One receiver is the best choice or just go back to my plan to get the Jolida and maybe a cheaper Denon for surround. I have a hard time parting with the x-dac and moving to a Sony ES or something similar ...I feel like I will be sacraficing my Stereo system.

Perhaps I can keep my XDac and get the Jolida 302b I wanted to, and then i can connect the xdac into one input on the jolida and then connect the L/R pre-outs on a surround unit to another channel on the Jolida.

I was also looking at other units but I have been hoping to audition them in Chicago next time I am there. I heard the x-150 and liked it with the totems so that is another option. Does it make sense to keep going with my stereo rig and then just throw a surround receiver behind it like i say above ...this would seem to keep the cheaper surround component I plan on out of my music chain.
shawnparslow OP
23 posts
 
Also .........

I guess that is my ? for those of you who have all-in-one (receiver/surround/dac) suggestions. Am i going to get an all-in-one surround that will get a sound close to the X-Dac/X-150 integrated combo that I have heard.

If so, then that is the way I want to go (not sure if the Sony ES or NAD are at this level).

If not then I want to know if I can just complete my 2-channel rig and throw a surorund receiver with pre-out behind what will be my decent 2-channel interated.
shawnparslow OP
23 posts
 
I see for ~$399 retail I can grab a Marantz sr4600 surround receiver which has Pre's out for every channel.

Since I should be able to find it for less, this is probably the cheapest solution, I'll just forward the L/R to a better stereo integrated that I can use for music ...perhaps the musical fidelity x-150 to save space.
elevick
2,638 posts
 
I'm not impressed with the Marantz chips. You can hear a difference between them and denon.....
Also, you mentioned "wireless". Is your music compressed? If so, no matter how good of a system you get, it won't match the quality of redbook cd's and a decent cd player! It can't with compression involved.
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