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Best Audio quality in Home Theatre Reciever? DVD ?

I am attempting to assemble a home theatre system--I am using mostly older Castle Inversions for front and rear (also have Castle Centers (really loved them upon release) but am clueless about the rest of the system. I am not happy with anything I have listened to from Onkyo, Pioneer, Denon--granted, I would not purchase any of their products for audio in general, however this has been pushed in my direction--most of the Digital stuff is hollow, or really grating---

I love the warmth of sound I get from my Marantz 2325, Inversions, Cal Audio CL 15 and Oracle turntable--Can I get great sound from any equipment on the market, new or used that you can knowingly recommend and tie this into my Pioneer Elite Plasma (sitting in it's box)--???
bluesnbike1954
rackon
301 posts
 
From your desription of the kind of sound you like, I can only echo the first response - if sound quality is your priority you need to look to Arcam (or B&K). The Castles would mate very well the Arcam.

These are truly high end pieces, built like tanks, last forever and sound great on both music and movies. You won't feel you're giving up anything when listening in music mode. They do all the HT stuff really well too of course (superbly well in fact), but they sound much closer to high end audio separates than they do AV resceivers.

I've owned a Cal player and I've owned Arcam - check out a used AVR300 or AVR350. They are in another universe soundwise from the Denons et al (and I've owned Denon too).
bluesnbike1954 OP
31 posts
 
I was looking at an Arcam 350 but told that it is too old to work well with a Blu Ray DVD player----I don't have Blu Ray currently, but told that this is the way one has to go in the future?

Your thoughts, suggestions, ideas?
loomisjohnson
1,958 posts
 
apparently the avr350 doesn't support hdmi audio, although it has hdmi video switching. this wouldn't be a deal-killer for me--i'm a 2ch music-first guy and generally apathetic about the endless, mind-boggling array of movie sound enhancements--i don't need neo-dolby 26v.3 jumbo-size or whatever to watch "seinfeld". ultimately, it comes down to how you're actually going to use it (no point in getting a ferrari if the only place you drive is downtown tokyo). if, as you state, your main focus is music, and you don't even have blue ray, buy the arcam (or alternatively, save the $$ and get an earlier, non-hdmi version).
rackon
301 posts
 
knowing your sound preferences, you don't really need HDMI audio on your receiver - run the HDMI video direct from the Blu-Ray player to your Pioneer anyhoot, even though there are video HDMI inputs on the 350. You'll even get better sound for 2 channel that way.

You will love BDs on your new Pio. LOVE them. Knowing your sound preferences, you won't miss audio through HDMI for movies. Trust me on this. We old 2 channel audio folks speak a different language from the HT folks. They have different priorities than you.

You could even be happy with the Arcam AVR300.
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