What's my upgrade path?

Howlindawg

Wammer
Wammer
Mar 9, 2009
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Leixlip, Ireland
AKA
Martin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
My current AV system is getting on now, being maybe 10 to 15 years old.

Tech has moved on but I haven't stayed in touch so I need a crash course.

Current system is

Pioneer VSA E-07 surround processor and Amp.

Arcam DV-89 DVD player

Sony KV36FS70 CRT

Mission 783 / 78C / 78DS + Jamo Sub

Room is 15 x 15 x 9 ft

Primarily looking for a new screen at the moment.

For the size of room I'm thinking 42" would be fine, 46" max.

What's the current sweet spot in terms of bang for the buck and what tech / features should I be looking at?

 

luckysim0n

Wammer
Wammer Plus
Oct 23, 2013
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Liverpool
AKA
Simon
HiFi Trade?
  1. Yes
It will be easier to think of what you don't need your tv to do as you struggle to find ones that don't do 3d or are smart if you know what I mean

Also ultra hd is filtering in now so expect prices to start falling soon

I over my sony but at 2 years old there are better I was swayed by the 5 year guarantee after bad luck with a couple of samsungs

I can't recommend an oppo bluray player enough though

Qwerty power

 

vacdac

Wammer
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Jul 19, 2011
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Manchester
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Chris
HiFi Trade?
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Yup agree with Simon re gettin' an Oppo. :^ I wuz in a similar position to yourself until v recently, having made no huge changes to the AV side in some time, albeit I had made the switch to a full HD Sammy 40" LCD approx 8yrs ago. I've had a quick squiz re your Pioneer AV amp which seems to have a 5.1 set of analogue inputs, so an Oppo would bring you up to date in terms of more current HD audio codecs available from Blue Ray Disc. Other than that you could stick with your existing AV electronics & speakers which would seem a good match to your room size & similar to myself* has the advantage of discrete wall mounted rear speakers (*I have Mon. Audio RSFX, switchable bipole/dipole rears)

My Oppo BDP103D has brought my Audiolab 8000AV processor right up to date & I also use it as an 'Audio hub' to feed my second HD TV in my bedroom from my Technisat T2400 HDPVR & my brand new 42" LG 3D/Smart LED in the main system. TBH all the onboard 'Smart' stuff the Oppo will do will largely simply be duplicated on a 'Smart' TV. However the price difference between Smart & none smart sets is hardly great anymore & if you really want 3D many of the available sets seem to be 'Smart' by default. Smart interfaces on TV's are generally far less clunky now than on earlier models so prolly also worth avoiding sets that have been around for a while & are now heavily discounted & some of the bargain basement Toshibas that appear to be fully loaded at the lowest price points.

The Oppo is great for streaming video content from my Syno DS213 NAS & Bubble UPnP works a treat for 'pushing' video content etc to either my Oppo or my new LG 42"620V TV. Seems like I can finally draw breath after my little round of AV upgrades that has also included an Adam F7 active monitor for centre duties + a Topping TP60 class D amp to power the rears.

 

Chumpy

Wammer
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Dec 3, 2005
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Bristol UK
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Charlie
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I am sure that you will economically find out what is worthwhile for YOU.

a) Pic - still or moving - can be great at any res-colour-dimension.

b) Ditto sound, whether 1-70000 channels.

Do not necessarily believe that new bollox digital tech is best for your human needs-requirements.

"It IS the message NOT the medium, or over-large ..."

 

Howlindawg

Wammer
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Mar 9, 2009
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Leixlip, Ireland
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Martin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
So had a good look around at the avalable options and eventually settled on a Panasonic 47" ET60B that I got a really good deal on.

I'll take a look at the Oppo players next.

I like the look of their upsampling abilites for DVD and SD.

 

Howlindawg

Wammer
Wammer
Mar 9, 2009
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Leixlip, Ireland
AKA
Martin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I'd be very interested to hear from anyone using an Oppo player (especially a 105EU) as a decoder/pre feeding a 5.1 power amp.

Especially interested in the video upscaling abilities for SD and DVD plus the audio output as analogue 5.1 (as opposed to 7.1)

 

Chumpy

Wammer
Wammer
Dec 3, 2005
14,040
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Bristol UK
AKA
Charlie
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Probably ensure that you have front pic-sound covered L-R, and rear-sound maybe L-R or mono.

Good speakers front will do bass/adequate rears will give you SFX.

Nice moving-pic display is super also.

Or:

Side-degrade to 777738 channels of sound with floating 'bass'.

Never mind the programme, 'feel' the technology.

 

Howlindawg

Wammer
Wammer
Mar 9, 2009
4,058
146
108
Leixlip, Ireland
AKA
Martin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I've just had confirmation that my Oppo 105D will be available for collection on Saturday.

It'll function as a audio and video processor and I'll swich my Pioneer AV reciever purely into poweramp mode (5 x 130W).

That should see me right for another 15 years. ;-)

 

Huntergatherer

Wammer
Wammer
Oct 6, 2009
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Old Welwyn,
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Trefor
I use a 105 direct into my 5 channel Sherbourne power amp. Was able to sell my audiolab processor to finance it and use the digi remote on the oppo instead( I was already bypassing the processing on the Audiolab so really had become just a expensive volume control.).

Totally faultless and IMO the cost effective and audio quality way to go.

I'm using a projector though, which I would say is the best and biggest upgrade. Their picture quality has really come of age over the last couple of years and almost realistic money. Especially in the mad hi fi world we normally inhabit.

Ps thumbs up on the panny 60 incher as well....

 

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