2. home-theater
  3. 192580-16750

is there an (AV receiver) type device that doesn't have amplifier/preamplifiers?

Hi, first post in 20 years.

 

I have an old, fairly low end AV receiver in my system(marantz NR1403) but I have an outboard integrated stereo amplifier(plinius 9200) which I obviously prefer to handle all the sound amplification. main source is my cable box with HDMI outputs, and my main content is movies.

however I only use two speakers and don’t want or need more, so I have no requirement for surround sound, subs, etc.

therefore the AV receiver still needs to be in the chain to handle the audio decoding and DA functions. as there are no separate video or audio outputs on the back of a tv cable box to be able to go straight to my amp, and projector.

 

however as I’m presently coming from the L & R preamp outs on the back of the receiver to the processor/power amp inputs of my integrated amplifier, I’m still forced to go through the preamp of the low end receiver instead of the full capacity of my plinius amp.

 

is anyone aware of a newer more specific unit that allows you to take the signal from a hdmi video/audio source (my cable box) transmit it to my JVC projector and my integrated amplifier without having all the extras of an av receiver that i dont require, like multi channel surround sound and speaker outputs. etc.? also I assume a unit from the past 5 years would have better DA converters than one from 20 years ago?

mainlymusicman
reubent
7,035 posts
 

@mainlymusicman  - Awesome! Glad it worked out and you have a simplified system. If you want to try another digital source, of course you can stream from your phone or computer via Bluetooth. However, Bluetooth is not a lossless format and you will have somewhat diminished sound quality. Might be good enough for you. You could also stream via a dedicated streamer such as a WIIM Mini, or another higher-end WIIM streaming device. I use a WIIM Mini and stream Spotify. Spotify is also not lossless, but it sounds good enough for me. I also just bought an inexpensive $105 SMSL PL100 CD Player/Transport that I'm going to run through my DAC as a test. If it's as good as my expensive dedicated CD player, I'm going to sell the CD Player.

mainlymusicman OP
16 posts
 

thanks I’ll check out the WIIM unit. right now the only way to stream from my phone to the DAC is over bluetooth,.

 

looks like with the WIIM your phone is just your controller and the audio is actually on the WIIM unit  itself and can be wired to the dac?

 

I see the optical output on the back is labelled SPDIF. i assume optical and SPDIF are interchangeable here?

reubent
7,035 posts
 

The WIIM streamers, or any other streamer, resides on your home network, either wireless/wifi or wired. You can control the streaming app from your phone or a computer. In the streaming app, such as Spotify, you select where the music is going to play. You would choose the WIIM streamer, select the song/track/album and hit play. The music files are played by the streamer and it is output to whatever you have the streamer connected to. In this case, you would have the WIIM connected to your DAC, and the music will play on the speakers connected to your integrated amp.

If you get a streamer and want to use your DAC, you'll just need to insure you have an available input on your DAC and you have a corresponding output type on your streamer. You are using an optical connection from your cable box to your DAC now, correct? You'll need another optical input on your DAC if you need to use an optical output from the WIIM Mini. The WIIM Pro has a coax output as well as optical, so you could use a digital coax cable instead of optical. Will work exactly like to optical connection.

mainlymusicman OP
16 posts
 

yep thanks. thanks. i picked one up. the pro plus. it has RCA line outs as well.

 

i have two optical inputs on the Cambridge DAC. 

 

although i seem to be having an issue with many tracks being almost devoid of bass when playing music. i tried gong directly out of the WIMs RCA line outs to my integrated amp, this didn't solve it.

 

i may have an amp or speaker issue. or it may just be the different sources 

 

have to look into it tomorrow.

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