Audio Setup--Old AVR dump or keep?

[tenmad899]

Hi everyone,

I am planning to move to a new house and would like to upgrade some of my AV devices. Basically I am very interested in buying a OPPO BDP-95 and a power amp for my Dynaudio Audience speakers. But in the meantime I am also in a dilemma of making decisions to keep old stuff or not. I have two connnection options in drawing, but since I cannot post images I will try to describe in detail.
Existing equipment:
Panasonic RP91 CD/DVD player(192k/24bit), Marantz SR7000 AVR, Dynaudio Audience 40, 50, c120 and Velodyne sub
Wish list:
Oppo BDP 95, Emotiva amp (have not decided which one)
Option 1
Oppo as the CD/DVD/BD source, connects to a power amp (Emotiva UPA500, 120W @4ohm x5 ch), then connect to my 5.1.
Option 2
Oppo as the BD/DVD source, Pana as the CD source, use Marantz as AV receiver, pre-out to Emotiva XPA200(240W @4ohm x2 ch) to drive front right and left channel, Marantz to drive RR/RL/C.

Can you guys tell me ,
1. Is 120W @4ohm per channel enough to drive Dyna's?
2. Is the audio playback quality of OPPO good enough I can dump my old Panasonic RP91 (192K/24bit)?
Any feedback is highly appreciated!

-Bryan

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

If you planning to get a BD player, my first recommendation to you is to upgrade the receiver. Since your old (very good model, should still be worth something on 2nd hand market) is missing bunch of features required to play BD properly - most BD players missing HD component out - only hdmi. HD audio is only possible thru hdmi etc.. room correction etc..

AMP might or might not be need.
Your speakers are harder to drive, but it depends on size of your new room and how loud you drive them.
If you hear no distortion on high volumes - adding amp wont makes it sound better, just give you more volume range

You'd get better results for your money for these upgrades:
higher powered avr like mid-range onkyo like this one:
Onkyo TX-NR809 7.2-Channel Network A/V Receiver | Accessories4less
Or
DENON AVR-3312CI 7.2 Integrated Network A/V Surround Receiver w/AirPlay | Accessories4less

$120-150 Panasonic BD player

and depends on your "Velodyne sub" model, you might need to upgrade it as well (or get identical second)

After you made all the changes - you can go ahead and add a external amp like XPA-3

 

[tenmad899]

I know my stuff are old, but they are still working. Hence I have need help to make judgement.
Since I plan to use OPPO as my DAC, why do I still need the newest AVR?
Is HD audio you mentioned driven by Intel?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I know my stuff are old, but they are still working. Hence I have need help to make judgement.
Since I plan to use OPPO as my DAC, why do I still need the newest AVR?
Is HD audio you mentioned driven by Intel?

Q) Does your existing TV have hdmi port?

Yes, you COULD use BD95's component out to connect your tv and 7.1 analog out port to connect to your existing receiver.

I'm not saying it's a bad way to go, but imo paying $1000 for this is way too much just to keep old receiver.

Equipment in Links I proved will give much more modern features which are actually useful, like all channel separate bass management, one of industry best room auto config and passing-thru bitsteam data to receiver is the way to go imo.

I wasn't talking about Intel's HD Audio spec, but modern HD Audio codecs which used on BluRay Disks - aka Dolby Digital TrueHD, DTS HD and DTS Master Audio etc ...

 

[j_garcia]

Only thing I'd dump is the Panasonic player since you are considering an Oppo at the level of the 95. There would be no reason for a second player unless it is a different region or region free.

The SR7000 may be long in the tooth but it is a VERY good receiver with an excellent amp section and I believe it has multichannel analog inputs for something like the BDP95 (I have an 83SE for sale). A UPA level amp won't be much of an improvement, so you'd need to step up to the XPA level to get noticeably more power. Unless it was dead, I wouldn't replace it.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Only thing I'd dump is the Panasonic player since you are considering an Oppo at the level of the 95. There would be no reason for a second player unless it is a different region or region free.

Just be be clear I wasn't suggesting a 2nd player, but replacing future oppo purchase with pana bd player. Yes, OPPO is marginally better, but is this small difference worth drastic jump in price?

The SR7000 may be long in the tooth but it is a VERY good receiver with an excellent amp section and I believe it has multichannel analog inputs for something like the BDP95 (I have an 83SE for sale).

All true, but you know quite well that analog "hole" is getting closed much faster that anyone of us would like. It is possible in few years some BD movie will refuse to play unless it's path is 100% digital. I say investing a grand into new BD player just to support analog ports is a bit silly...

Now, if OP would get much cheaper OPPO BD with same features...

 

[tenmad899]

Q) Does your existing TV have hdmi port?

Yes, you COULD use BD95's component out to connect your tv and 7.1 analog out port to connect to your existing receiver.

I'm not saying it's a bad way to go, but imo paying $1000 for this is way too much just to keep old receiver.

Equipment in Links I proved will give much more modern features which are actually useful, like all channel separate bass management, one of industry best room auto config and passing-thru bitsteam data to receiver is the way to go imo.

I wasn't talking about Intel's HD Audio spec, but modern HD Audio codecs which used on BluRay Disks - aka Dolby Digital TrueHD, DTS HD and DTS Master Audio etc ...

A. Yes, my TV has 3 HDMI inputs.
Exactly! Thats why I feel the old AVR is redundant. Why dont I just buy a power amp (XPA or UPA) to drive my Dyna's?
Paying $1000 is for its new features that my currect arsonal is lack of, e.g. Blue Ray playback, DLNA, and HD Audio codec as you mentioned.

 

[tenmad899]

Only thing I'd dump is the Panasonic player since you are considering an Oppo at the level of the 95. There would be no reason for a second player unless it is a different region or region free.

The SR7000 may be long in the tooth but it is a VERY good receiver with an excellent amp section and I believe it has multichannel analog inputs for something like the BDP95 (I have an 83SE for sale). A UPA level amp won't be much of an improvement, so you'd need to step up to the XPA level to get noticeably more power. Unless it was dead, I wouldn't replace it.

Hi j_garcia,
My Pana has 192K/24bit sampling. Just not sure if Oppo does equal or better job in audio quality of CD playback.
I totally agree! SR7000 is so reliable. And yes it has 6ch direct input. But why wouldnt you bypass SR7000 and connect Oppo to a multi channel power amp? Given UPA500 is not powerful enough, maybe go for XPA500?

 

[tenmad899]

Just be be clear I wasn't suggesting a 2nd player, but replacing future oppo purchase with pana bd player. Yes, OPPO is marginally better, but is this small difference worth drastic jump in price?

:

Oppo should be capable of more than just BD player. I know it can store movies in internal HDD, it has SACD/DVD-Audio playback capability(though I only have one title so far...), it has e-SATA to play movies in external HDD, etc...

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Oppo should be capable of more than just BD player. I know it can store movies in internal HDD, it has SACD/DVD-Audio playback capability(though I only have one title so far...), it has e-SATA to play movies in external HDD, etc...

it doesn't have internal HDD, only 2gb of storage for BD live content (fancy menus, bd games etc..) yes, it can play media from usb/esata port, but you wont be using this much as you'd be using more media playback from network share, which oppo and many cheaper players do.

Any BD player will play DVD-Audio and Sacd is unfortunately is a dead format, I have one disk, and I will never buy any more.

BD95 is top of the line (paying more will probably will get one anything, but fancier name like Lexicon ( - google the link OPPO and Lexicon) or nicer case

BD95 is extremely well done and polished product. OPPO continues to provide major updates for older models, but again my point is simple: (Especially since your tv have hdmi port)

Same or less money for one BD95 will bring your equipment into 21st century.
aka: New AVR and BD Player and most likely still left overs enough to get a dedicated media client will do much better job of playing media than oppo ever will. In fact you could consider dropping dedicated bd player all-together and getting a dedicated media player with bd drive like Popcorn Hour - Networked Media Jukebox


Do some reading yourself and make up you mind should you invest heavily to hold on to older technology:
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&ie=UTF-8#hl=en&tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&q=closing analog hole&oq=&gs_l=&pbx=1&fp=5e8c8770aa1df990&bpcl=38897761&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&biw=1680&bih=925

 

[tenmad899]

Let me re-phrase:
Oppo BDP is not a must, lets say any BDP to replace Oppo's role to be DAC, why do I need to replace my AVR? All I need is aa amp to drive speakers, which can be achieved either using my old AVR or simply buy a new power amp.