Newb needs advice

[frankd]

I have a very nice classical CD collection, but a terrible audio setup. Currently running a Sony STR-K740P AVR with 5.1 speakers. The speakers are horrible, I guess they're what came with the receiver. Sony SS-MSP2, SS-CNP2 and subwoofer.

I recently added to my CD collection, but my CD/DVD player is so old that it can not playback some of the CD's correctly.

So it's time to upgrade.

I plan on upgrading one component at a time, over a period of about a year. Since at the moment I need to play some of my newer CD's through the PS3 and that annoys me, the first piece I am likely to buy is a CD/DVD player.

Seems like the Oppo BDP-93 or BDP-95 is the obvious choice. Then what? DO I buy a AVR like the Denon 4311? Or do I buy a separate amp, pre-amp, ect...? What about speakers?

Also, I'm really not sure if I should get the BDP-93 or the BDP-95? The 95 makes sense for my current receiver, but I'm not sure if it will make sense as I buy additional components.

To give some parameters, the room is small, about 15 feet long by 20 feet wide. Later the system might be in a room that is 15 feet by 40 feet. Ceiling is about 9 feet high. The main function of the system will be to play CD's, with the occasional DVD. My budget is up to 7K USD. I can go over, but would prefer to be much under that!

I've been trying to educate myself so I would also appreciate any recommendations to article or guides that could help bring the newb up to speed.

[Programmer32]

Hi Frankd,

Just wanted to throw in my two cents that the Oppo BDP-93 and Oppo BDP-95 are both excellent choices in my opinion.

I prefer the 93 for roughly half the price since it gives you the option of using the 7.1 analog connections. I have watched Blu-rays at a few friends houses who own it and I thoroughly enjoyed what I saw and heard. They have no complaints either.

As far as other components, I own a Pioneer Elite VSX-41 that i have been very happy with as well as Definitive Technology speakers. I find them to be a great HT as well as music set-up.

It seems like with your budget and love for Classical you may want to explore the larger soundfield speakers like the mid-level Martin Logans or Dali.

Check out the web sites of high end stores like HIDEF Lifestyle in Harrisburg, PA and Audi Advisor in Grand Rapids MI. You may find some recommended set-ups and advice that suit you.

Hope this helps!

[Hookedonc4]

Check out James loudspeakers. I just installed inwalls with the powerpipe sub and the M1000 sub amp they are awesome. I also use definitive in another room and they are good too.

[bikemig]

You can buy a heck of a nice audio system for $7k and you can get what I think is a great sounding system for a lot less.

Since you are primarily looking for a system to play music, why do you need an oppo at all? I'd rip my music in a lossless format and stick with computer playback. Once you use itunes as a front end for your CD collection, I doubt you'll ever want to use the CD player (other than to play DVDs in your home theater system).

My home theater, which is in my sig line, is optimized for music and I listen mainly to classical as well. I'd go with towers and make sure you have an AV receiver that drives them well. I'd audition as many floorstanding speakers as possible. I really, really like my PSB image-T6 speakers which I bought around a year ago but there were others I auditioned extensively that I liked as well (Paradigm and NHT).

I have a mac mini connected to my TV via hdmi and to my AV receiver via toslink. That way the AV receiver's dac, and not the computer's, handles the work of translating the bits and pieces on the computer to analog. A mac makes this pretty simple but there are plenty of different ways to get good sound from a computer playback system, though.

A computer based playback system will also prove helpful if you decide you want to play music in more than one room (which from your post seems to be a real possibility) since you can stream music wirelessly around the house. I'm a huge fan of the squeezebox touch but sonos makes good stuff as well.

[fuzz092888]

I would say that you need a new receiver first and foremost. I wouldn't spend a ton of money for the receiver, but the Denon 4311 or maybe a Marantz 6006 would be an excellent choice. If networking isn't a huge deal and you're going to mostly just be listening to CD's or music I'd lean towards the Marantz.

After the receiver I'd look at speakers next. They are the most important aspect of any system. If you have a classical CD collection I can't not recommend the Philharmonic line of speakers. They will keep you well under budget (for 2 channel) and if you get the Philharmonic 3's I doubt you'll feel the need for a subwoofer, at least with music. They are simply amazing speakers and I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better pair, especially for well recorded classical music anywhere near what they cost.

So now you have (theoretically) a receiver and an AVR totaling around $4500. The real price may be a little more or a little less depending on how you decided to get your cabinets finished and which receiver you went with. The oppo is a subjective choice, you may notice a difference between the DAC's in there and the receiver DAC's, but you may not either. The oppo is an amazing machine, no doubt, but how much is it worth to you? If you're dead set on an oppo I'd probably go with the 93 and save some money and use any extra money you have left over to put towards speakers. You still could get some bookshelves for surrounds and possibly a center channel.

If it were me I'd get the oppo 93, Marantz 6006, Philharmonic 3's, and be looking at a center channel and bookshelves from Salk Sound. My guess is that you could get the first three things on the list, plus a center and still be at least a grand south of 7K.

Just my 2 cents

[sholling]

It looks like you have about 2700cuft to fill with the potential to double that in the future and a decent budget so my advice is to start with deciding on the speakers and subwoofer(s). Once you've made the choice of speakers you'll have a better understanding of their requirements and can choose a receiver based on those requirements.

The small room is easy and as long as you're sitting within 12' or so of the speakers then 2-3 really good bookshelves and a sub are really all that you need. It's when you move into that larger space that you'll need the extra output potential of towers. One approach would be to start with bookshelves that you like and then move them to surround speaker duty when you move to a larger room and replace them up front with well matched towers. Of course the other approach would be to just start with towers. I'd use $1200-2500 as a good budget number. Speaker selection is one of the few subjective choices and you'll have to choose speakers that you like. I'd put a lot of time into researching this area and into researching placement.

Some bookshelves that I'd consider are Ascend Acoustic's Sierra-1 or Sierra-1 NrT. You might also consider their towers but I haven't heard the latest version of the tower only older prototypes.

For the smaller room I'd also look at Salk's Song Towers but they'd be lost in the larger space.

Again the small room is no challenge for a capable $600-800 subwoofer but the larger room would tempt me to double that. Taking the incremental approach described above you could start with a single SVS PB/PC12-NSD or Hsu Research VTF-2 or VTF-3 and add a second if you move to a larger space - if needed. Subwoofers are far less subjective but quality and the ability to move enough air for the room are important. I would contact both of the above and have them size solutions for both rooms.

For your CDs the simple choice is just get a Blu-Ray player and use that. The Oppo BDP-93 is a really nice player (I have one) but I doubt that you'll hear any difference using a Blu-Ray player costing half as much. Just stay with major brands and plan to network it so that it can get regular updates. In my opinion the best solution is to rip your CDs to a lossless (full CD quality) format and store them on a networked storage device and play them directly from the receiver or a network media player. Just be sure to make backups because ripping a second time due to a disk failure sucks. It's so nice to be able to select an album with the same ease that you change channels on the cable box. Then you can store your CDs away for safe keeping.

Using the above speakers as examples the Sierra-1 don't require a lot of power but can use it if you have it on tap and they're 8ohm speakers so most good solid 100w or better receivers will drive them pretty well. On the other hand the Ascend and Salk towers while not super power hungry should be powered by a pretty robust receiver because of their 4ohm impedance. The Denon AVR-4311 has been on sale a lot lately for $1200-1300 and would be a great choice for either even though I'm not sure it's rated for 4ohms. On the other hand you could get by with an AVR-3312 (~$750 for last year's model) with the Sierra-1 bookshelves. Just food for thought before choosing a receiver.

For homework I suggest reading the Tips & Tricks section of the main Audioholics site for information on speaker placement, subwoofer placement and speaker and subwoofer calibration. There is some really good information there.