Newbie Confused About Upgrading His System

M

mikenyc

Junior Audioholic
I want to upgrade to a SACD/DVD-A music listening. Eventually I want to upgrade it to Home Theater System but that's probably another issue.

Anyway, here is what I have now for my music listening and DVD viewing, such as it is....

REALISTIC STA-125 Digital Synthesized AM-FM Stereo Receiver

TEAC V-285VX audiocassette player

Magnavox CDB-630 Cd Player

two (2) BOSE Freestyle speakers that are (according to the info on the back of the speakers) "compatable with recievers or amplifiers with 10-100 W/channel and with recievers rated of 4-8 ohms"

Pioneer DVD player DV-C302D dvd player, that I only use as a DVD player

SONY 36 inch Trinitron Tv


What I would like to do is get into SACD-DVD-A listening, and if I can, keeping some of the elements above....IF IT IS POSSIBLE TO DO SO.

MY SPENDING LEVEL.......I am thinking of doing it on a spending level, starting with the good "old" PIONEER 563-A SACD-DVD-A CD player...again, just to start out with !

Thanks for ALL of your direction, comments and assistance !!!!

I hope to get to a level to reciprocate to other members of this forum !

Yours, Mike
 
Rip Van Woofer

Rip Van Woofer

Audioholic General
Unless you're out of inputs on your receiver, there's no reason you can't simply add the DVD-A player to your system as is.

After that, make upgrading your speakers the next step.
 
zipper

zipper

Full Audioholic
I don't know how old your Radio Shack receiver is but you may wish to thoroughly read it's manual to see if it is capable of accepting a SACD/DVD-A player(properly anyway). You may end up having to start with buying a new receiver that has the inputs for the 563A.
I agree with Rip. After that I would hunt for some new speakers.
 
mikenyc said:
REALISTIC STA-125 Digital Synthesized AM-FM Stereo Receiver
Mike, I believe that's a 2-channel (stereo) receiver so you'll be limiting yourself to 2-channel only on those formats until you upgrade your receiver.
 
M

mikenyc

Junior Audioholic
zipper said:
I don't know how old your Radio Shack receiver is but you may wish to thoroughly read it's manual to see if it is capable of accepting a SACD/DVD-A player(properly anyway). You may end up having to start with buying a new receiver that has the inputs for the 563A.
I agree with Rip. After that I would hunt for some new speakers.

zipper, Thanks, so much for your reply.

You stated that I should see if the receiver can be "capable of accepting a SACD/DVD-A player properly....how will I know, other than the amount of inputs ?

Thanks, again....Mike
 
M

mikenyc

Junior Audioholic
hawke said:
Mike, I believe that's a 2-channel (stereo) receiver so you'll be limiting yourself to 2-channel only on those formats until you upgrade your receiver.

Clint, thanks for your reply.

The receiver has inputs for "PHONO", "CD/AUX", and "TV/AUX", in addition to the "AM" and "FM".

The DVD player has DTS Dolby capability. Presently it's just hooked up to the Tv and no external speakers.

In terms of my desire to playback SACD/DVD-A cds, will I need an upgrade for the receiver...and would you have any recommendations as to specific models or just a general idea of what kind of receiver I should be looking for ?

Thanks so much,

Mike
 
Last edited:
M

mikenyc

Junior Audioholic
Rip Van Woofer said:
Unless you're out of inputs on your receiver, there's no reason you can't simply add the DVD-A player to your system as is.

After that, make upgrading your speakers the next step.

Rip, thank you for your reply.

With respect to my posts to zipper and Clint about the inputs available to me on the receiver and the CD player that I want to pick up, what kinds of criteria should I be aware of when looking for the speakers ?

Thanks again,

Mike
 
N

nm2285

Senior Audioholic
Mike-
I believe all you need to do is buy the Pioneer player and connect the Front L&R output to one of the inputs on your receiver. Go into the menu and turn off the other channels (center and surround) and set SACD playback to read only the 2-channel layer on the SACD disks (I'm assuming they all have 2 channel layers. Not talking bout the hybrids, just a 2 channel mix of the SACD coding? Someone correct me if needed).

DVD-As are not (usually) encoded in stereo so it will be an artificial mix running through your 2 channel receiver.
Speculation: If you use the stereo out on the player to connect to the receiver, you will get an artificial DVD-A mix. If you use the Front L & R outputs on the player to connect to the receiver, you may only hear what was meant to come from the front mains in the DVD-A coding. What is supposed to come from the center and surrounds will be lost. Turning off these channels in the menu may fix this, but I am not certain. (Again, if this is wrong, someone correct me).

A few pieces of advice:
1) If you do buy the player, only buy SACDs with a 2 channel layer until you are ready to upgrade your receiver. The DVD-As will be a waste. If you are serious about getting into these new formats, upgrade to a surround receiver with inputs that support them.
2) Use the Pioneer for all playback, it will probably be the best quality player you own (although I am not familiar with the DVD player, it should easily outperform the CD player).
3) Upgrade your speakers everntually to take full advantage.

Good Luck
 
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