Home cinema receivers

[Papa Lazarou]

I've got a fairly decent Hi Fi at the moment with an old (bought for £39!) Yamaha Pro Logic processor I added as an afterthought more or less.

I was wondering if I replace and sell the seperate amp (Arcam Alpha 7, tuner and the Yamaha processor) with an all in one will the stereo part of it be crap? I must admit I could probably take a hit on the stereo quality as I don't listen to it as much as I used to but I do watch a lot of DVD's now...

It won't be a very expensive high end job. I was considering something like this http://www.richersounds.com/index.php?f=itemdetl.php&p=302169

Reckon it would do a passable job on stereo? It would certainly be a massive improvement in surround sound quality, at least if I got a sub and a better centre speaker, I think.

[AndyT]

The stereo will be better with the Arcam, and you will notice the difference with an AV amp. It just depends if you want to shake the foundations of the house or "listen" to the music. We got the Marantz SR7400, and use the hi-fi speakers of the surround rear channel, as the amp does multi-room. It's OK, but it won't shake the pictures off the wall like the Teac did :D
If you want to try it, I have a spare amp you can have for £50 plus P&P, it's still under 12 months old :Plug: http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/productdetails/index.asp?modelcode=SON-STRDE695S&clear=

[SteveCarter200]

Ive got the 4400, bought it last year. Damn good IMO and very happy with it.

Stereo is pretty good and the surround is great. It was worth it just for the improved bass response alone over the old yamaha receiver I had before.

Recommended.

[Papa Lazarou]

Cheers. Well I went into Richer Sounds (I needed a new VCR anyway as mine packed up) and was tempted into buying the Marantz :)

Just trying to wire it all up now. Phenomenal amount of cabling to do unfortunately...

[Dave_S]

Another Marantz vote here, I've got the SR6400 and I love it :smitten:

Sounds great with my Kef Q1s for Stereo or 5.1

Dave