Time to Upgrade AVR?

[dps247]

This is my first thread. Please be kind. I read the other threads first and tried to avoid asking the same questions, but everyone else seems to be ahead of me.

Just bought Samsung 720p Plasma (HP-T4264). Looking to upgrade the rest of my system. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If this is too wordy, tell me and I'll streamline my question.

I'm still using an old HK AVR 25II with:
Pair of JBL SAT1 satelite speakers
Pair of JBL Music1 (8 ohms 10-200W) woofers
Center Channel: Trivoli Design Monitor Series (TDCI) 8ohms 15-120W
Rears: Pair of JASCO (Model 411) 8ohms 100W

I am also powering a pair of Boston Acoustic CR65 bookshelf speakers in another room with the A/B switch and an in-wall volume control. I would like a 7.1 AVR with multi-room/multi-source to play something different in this other room.

I had been running my Panasonic DVR (DMR-EH50) with composite AV cables. Just bought component video and optical cables, but realized my HK AVR does not have any optical or composite options.

I have XM satellite radio so I thought it would be nice to have this connection also on a new AVR. Most seem to accomodate.

I hope to buy a Blu-Ray at some point. But for now I plan to use my Panasonic DVR to play videos. With that in mind, would it help to have an AVR that can upconvert component to HDMI? Can some AVR's also upconvert composite to HDMI? I also have a Panasonic Progressive-scan 5-changer DVD-F614 with no component or digital audio option. Or am I better off just connecting video directly to the plasma?

I have looked at the:

Onkyo TX-SR605

Yamaha RX-V663

HK AVR247

Pioneer VSX-1017TXVK

Any advice on what I should do? I don't want to spend a lot of money, but replacing my AVR seems like the next logical upgrade. These above seem to be pretty affordable. Should I be looking at something else? Or should I take my wife's advice and be happy with what I have.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Seth=L]

Out of that list, the Yamaha by a land slide. It has every advantage over the H/K and Onkyo units save a phono input. If you need to connect a record player you can get a separate and superior phono preamp. The Pioneer has an edge in power but offers NO HDMI processing of any kind, no scaler, no upconverter, no audio over HDMI. The Pioneer VSX-1018 will be a budget killer when it becomes available sometime this spring or summer and will offer the most current HDMI features. The newest budget killer is without a doubt the Yamaha RX-V663.

 

[dps247]

Thanks. What about the V661? It is cheaper. Last year's model? Should I consider it?

 

[Seth=L]

Thanks. What about the V661? It is cheaper. Last year's model? Should I consider it?

The RX-V661 has a smaller amplifier, less HDMI features (scaling, HDMI 1.3a). This means it can't decode the HD audio formats internally. It's possible that future Blu-ray players will not feature on-board HD audio decoding and will only do bitstream. This would make the RX-V661 obsolete and unable to utilize the HD audio from Blu-ray. Current players can decode the format and send it out over HDMI as LPCM to the RX-V661 for the digital to analog conversion. This would not result in any loss of SQ, but as mentioned before you could lose this ability with future Blu-ray players (assume current ones will break and will need to be replaced).

 

[dps247]

Will the 663 upscale my component video and optical audio connections from my DVD to HDMI? Does this just reduce the number of cords or does it improve quality?

 

[Seth=L]

Will the 663 upscale my component video and optical audio connections from my DVD to HDMI? Does this just reduce the number of cords or does it improve quality?

It will upconvert composite, s-video and component video to HDMI. I can also scale (change the resolution and brush it up a bit) from any input as long as it's output over HDMI in the end. No receiver that I am aware of can translate digital or analog inputs to HDMI. However you can chose to direct connect stereo audio to your TV (from one of the sources) if you need to use the TV speakers at times. Since toslink and other digital connections are primarily used for surround sound there wouldn't be much point in having the audio sent to the TV when you have a perfectly good sound system. If night listening is a concern the Yamaha RX-V663 offers midnight viewing modes that can compress the dynamics of a soundtrack. You can also use headphones to avoid disturbing others (better than TV speakers for SQ and disturbances).

 

[jcPanny]

HT Upgrade

Any of the receivers on your short list will be a video and feature upgrade, however, your existing speakers wont sound much better. Consider a speaker upgrade starting with the L/C/R channels for better audio performance. Add a good sub next.

How about 3 of the X-cs speakers for the front channels?
http://av123.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=210&category_id=52&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=37