Need help finding the right receiver

[apachl]

Let me preface this by saying I don't know much about setting up a good sound system. This is extra embarrassing because I studied music in college (cut me some slack, I studied percussion, we don't use electronics very often).

So here is my dilemma. I inherited a sound system from my grandfather (he is still alive, but he gave it to me). I am posting from work so I don't have a lot of the specs on it, but I know it is fairly old but still works great. My dad told me at the time they got it that it was supposedly the best you could get, but I digress. Everything works great; the turntable, the stereo, even the tape player (even though it very rarely gets used). Even the speakers still sound great, even though they are big and kind of bulky. But, my wife and I are wanting to upgrade some components but keep things like the record player. To do this I know I will need a new receiver, as that is probably in the worst shape of anything here, and we would like to have a remote for the whole set up. But, the record player is old enough to where it needs to plug directly into the receiver. To top that off, you actually need to connect the ground wire apart from the rest of the plug ins.

Is this something you can even find anymore? Or will I just have to suck it up and get a more modern turntable along with the other components? Again, I don't deal with this much, so I don't know what I am doing. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Bryceo]

Well first of all weldom to the fourm..

Let's see if we can answer you're questions.

I believe most new avr/recovers don't even have a turntable input on them.
Unless it's a high end 2 channel amplifier in witch case im confused if you've go you're self a really old 2 channel or a 5.1


Sent from my iPhone 5

 

[rojo]

apachl, what is your budget? Are there other, more modern features you'd like, like AirPlay, USB, internet radio, DLNA local network streaming from your pc, or similar? I'm sure we can help you get this figured out.

Sent from my LG-VS980 using Tapatalk

 

[markw]

Depending on your expectations the Sherwood-RVX-4109 can do whatever your old receiver probably did. It's may not be "the best that money can buy" in terms of ultimate performance but it's certainly more than up to the task of providing good music in the average home, and it has a built-in phono preamp and has remote control to boot.

Now, when you say "upgrade", what exactly do you have in mind? Getting everything in one box may not only be problematic, but most likely quite expensive.

 

[apachl]

As for a budget, we don't really have a number in mind right now, but we don't want to spend a lot of money. We actually aren't looking to do a whole lot, what we really want is just some new speakers (nothing mind blowing, just something decent), and some new components so we can have the remote. We would also like to run our tv through the system. We can do that with what we have now, but we need to run a lot of wires across the living room to do this, so I don't know if there is a wireless way to do that? But yeah, that is pretty much all we are really looking for right now. Either way, we definitely aren't looking for "the best money can buy" like markw said. I figured the biggest challenge would be to find a receiver that we can still plug my old turntable into. I am out of town for work for a few days, but when I get home I will try to remember to get a picture of what I have to work with so you guys can see what I am talking about.

 

[apachl]

Also, I should have clarified from the beginning, the audio plugs in just like normal, but it is the power source that is the issue. The turntable has a plastic plug in for power, almost like what you have when you change the bulb in your headlight or taillight of a car, and then it has a separate ground wire. That has been the big challenge.

 

[rojo]

Well, for a receiver with a phono input, the best combination of price and performance would be the Marantz SR6006, which is a couple of model years old (but the one I linked still has a manufacturer warranty). However, it also has a ton of features you probably won't use. I suggest getting a receiver without a phono input, but using an external phono pre-amp between your turntable and an aux input. Then you can get a much cheaper receiver, like the Denon AVR-X1000 for example.

Can you connect your components to your receiver, and connect your receiver to your television wirelessly? Well, there are no receivers of which I'm aware that have this feature, but it can be added for a price. Unknown whether such a wireless receiver and transmitter combo would be affected by HDMI copy protection, though. A wired connection would be more reliable I think.

New speakers? Nothing mind blowing? Mind blowing is what we do, though. We'll help you find you a good deal on mind blowing.

Yeah, get us pictures.

Edit: Just saw your "also" message. Umm, ok. Is there any sort of label on the turntable that indicates what sort of power it runs on (120V AC or 24V DC or similar)? It might be possible to wire a new plug on it or adapt it or something. Seems like an awful lot of trouble unless it truly is an amazing turntable, like a belt-driven historical classic of some sort. Did it come out of an old console stereo, one of those gigantic pieces of furniture with a turntable in the middle? Might be simpler just to find a new old one on Craigslist or somewhere. Where do you live?

Yeah, get us pictures.

 

[markw]

Also, I should have clarified from the beginning, the audio plugs in just like normal, but it is the power source that is the issue. The turntable has a plastic plug in for power, almost like what you have when you change the bulb in your headlight or taillight of a car, and then it has a separate ground wire. That has been the big challenge.

This sounds to me like it might be part of a propriatary system (where everythng is designed specifically to work with only one particular piece of gear) and will be a problem. You might be looking to replace the turntable as well.

Also, when you say you have sources al lover the place, what are these sources and where are they located in relation to where you waht the receiver?

And, I can't think of any way to wirelessly link the TV to the stereo.

 

[apachl]

Everything but the TV is in a cabinet that is kind of on the other side of the room from the TV. But there is a doorway between them, and there is no carpet to run the cables under, and not enough room the way the room is to set them up next to each other. The TV is on an entertainment center that I built, and could probably make room for the receiver, but not everything will fit there, especially the turntable which obviously needs a little more clearance above it.

Like I said, I wasn't sure if there was a way to do the wireless thing or not. I have never heard of it, but I thought since with guitars and such they can plug it in to something that then remotely sends the signal to the amp (like you see at a lot of concerts, or like the Red Hot Chili Peppers DIDN'T use at the Super Bowl), that they might have something like that for tv's and stereos. What I lack in knowledge about sound systems I do know quite a bit about wiring stuff together, as I worked for about a year customizing security cameras to run off of ATV batteries and recording onto DVR's with a memory card in them for wildlife research, so maybe something could fabricated?

 

[markw]

Your best bet is to face the fact that you're going to need to have a wire run from the equipment cabinet to the TV. If it's a new TV and you go for a full-blown AVR instead of thststereo uniut I mentioned, HDMI cables carries video and ausio so your can use the TV's internal speakers. Of course, this presuppposes that the TV is fairly new and has an HDMI input. Likewise, if you want the speakers to flank the TV, you'll need wires for them also. There are a very few wireless speakers but none of them would be considered an upgrade to what you have now.

 

[rojo]

If you need a long HDMI cable, Monoprice RedMere active cables are the way to go. You could run the wire along the baseboard, against the door frame around and over the doorway, all the way to the television with a long enough cable. Generous application of Wiremold or some form of cable management would make the run inconspicuous with a high wife-acceptance factor without requiring a wall fish. A single cable is all you would need to transmit both 1080p video and audio to your television, although audio probably shouldn't matter if you're going to be using speakers driven by your receiver anyway. The active HDMI cable + wire molding solution would be cheaper and much more reliable than the wireless transmitter I linked earlier, and would additionally allow you to run a subwoofer cable and speaker wire for left-center-right speakers for a proper home theater setup.