To start with . . .
I need a receiver or processor for my stuff. I use a PC right now for my music powered by an old NAD amp. I also have a bunch of Adcom amps like a 555II to a 4 channel Adcom to a 5 channel Adcom. What I need is something to manipulate all this or just forget about all this and just have one thing do it all. I could use anyone of these or just forget about them.
1. I would like HDMI switching.
2. I use my two front speakers and a subwoofer but would like to consider a couple of rear surrounds and a center speaker purely for video.
3. I would also like to have something like a iPod, iTouch, iPad or other touchscreen for my wife to use to play her music. If it is simple, she will use it, otherwise she will tell her friends what a complete pain in the arse the whole mess is.
4. Speakers are a couple (three but only use two) Sonar Faber Minuetto bookshelf and a Velodyne subwoofer DD12
I do have a simple BD player.
RaT,
To meet your stated requirements, should get a fairly recent model A-V receiver (AVR) with; multiple HDMI 1.3 (or above) inputs, at least 6 pre-amp outputs (L/R, C, Sub, SR/SL), and an audio connection compatible with your PC. These are not difficult requirements to find in AVRs these days.
- The multiple HDMI connections would meet your video switching requirement.
- The pre-amp outputs would allow you to leverage the ADCOM amps you already own.
- You only need one of the three amps you appear to own, keeping the best and selling the rest on eBay, CL, Audiogone, etc. could help defray some of the costs of the AVR.
1) Please provide more info on what you want the audio system to be able to do, this will help narrow the field of available AVRs. For example, will you or will you not; play Std DVDs, grow into 3-D video, listen to multi-channel music, have other audio zones, etc.
2) Please provide more info on your PC's audio output options (analog RCA, digital optical, etc.) to ensure the AVR can optimize the use of your PC music library.
3) Please specify a receiver budget to help the forum members make better reccomendations.
To start with, here are three example current model year receivers that are the lowest priced in their respective lines and meet your stated requirements:
Denon: AVR-2310, see
http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/5011.asp#
Yamaha: RX-V665, see
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/productdetail.html?CNTID=5028057&CTID=5000300
Onkyo: TX-SR707, see
http://www.us.onkyo.com/model.cfm?m=TX-SR707&class=Receiver&p=i
Concerning your wife's music, this may be best accomplished by getting an AVR that is bluetooth capable so she could play her iPod Touch music over the system with out fiddling with wires. I have not tried this myself, so I can not say if it is relatively easy for the user or not.
If not, you may want to look at music delivery systems, like Sonos, which have user friendly interfaces.
See:
http://www.sonos.com/experience/Default.aspx?rdr=true&LangType=1033
Concerning speakers, doing a bit of online research it looks like the Faber Minuettos are good, if a bit old (guessing mid-1990s), speakers that have a 6.5" woofer and a 1" tweeter and cost a pretty penny in their day.
- Can you use the third unused Minuetto for your center channel, i.e. will it fit under the display? That would be the least expensive way (aka free) to start, and it is voice matched to the L & R speakers--a very good thing, since finding a compatible center channel on a 10+ year-old speaker will be tough!
Down the road, you could move the Minuettos to surround channel duty and research/purchase a new front sound stage (L/C/R)--but that has time.
Cheers,
XEagleDriver
