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Re-Appreciating Good Audio

Recently I retired a lower-end AV receiver in favor of an older, but still wonderful, Luxman 505u integrated amplifier I had. The problem with the AV receiver: it's good enough for movie or TV audio and handles 5.1 surround-type sound, but for audio proper it's just plain terrible. 

By replacing it with the Luxman the entire sound system in the room improved by some orders of magnitude. Even if I lost the back channels and center channel -- I've never liked either all that much anyway -- the return to audiophile-grade 2.1 audio has been downright liberating. And I should mention that movies and TV actually sound much, much better on this 2.1 system than they ever did with the AV receiver. (It wasn't a bad product by any means, just a lower-end Marantz with distinctly mediocre audio-only performance.)

Just a reminder that, even if audiophilia can get kind of weird sometimes, there's an inner core of truth to it. Good gear, tuned for musical reproduction of audio, beats the jack-of-all-trades aspect of so many AV receivers with their plethora of gizmos and features. 

scottlfinsf
mark200mph
845 posts
 

The new avr processors are much better.many have pass through for stero.the best results are with a avr that can be used with separate amps.many are underpowered when you turn all 16 channels on < 100 wpc. I just upgraded to marantz av10 and put 350 watts per channel mac with peaks to 500 watts. I used the amp 10 in mono for the rest of the channels 16 total. Dirac live equalized it all out as all speakers are not the same brand. Another challenge is too many center channel speakers are too small and I had to go to larger.i decided not to go with higher end trinov did not offer much more than marantz. Read the reviews on this av 10 amp 10 combo.enjoy it all. The new dark side of the moon is fantastic on it 

ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
3,711 posts
 

It doesn't take much to get dino stomps, explosions, and car crashes to sound pretty good. That's about the only thing a receiver is good for.

scottlfinsf OP
11 posts
 

Thanks to everybody for all of these comments -- lots of good stuff to think about!

My L&R front speakers -- now the only speakers -- are Bowers & Wilkins 805s models on their recommended stands. I also have a B&W 600-series subwoofer. The integrated amplifier I'm now using is strictly 2-channel, a Luxman 505u that doesn't have home theater bypass. I use a Bryston BDA-3 for the digital sources such as CDs and Roon endpoint, with the pre-amp out on the Luxman to power the subwoofer.

Due to the location of my media room -- the second floor of the house where I also keep the LP record collection -- it's best to use that system for vinyl playback, via a VPI Scout II turntable with a Grado Sonata cartridge, playing through a Musical Fidelity Phono amp. (Otherwise I have to schlep records downstairs and up, and I'm no spring chicken.) It really didn't sound well trying to use the Marantz AV receiver for vinyl playback, but with the Luxman/B&W combo it's just great. The 'main' downstairs stereo is still the best overall system in the house, but the difference isn't as glaring as it was.

I think if it were a higher-end AV receiver the situation would have been better, but it's one of the most modest Marantz models. So by retiring it and going back to 2.1 channel via the Luxman I'm much happier with the room. It's just a regular stereo system now, not any kind of AV receiver. But the movies & TV -- what little use of those I make -- sound quite well to me. 

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