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I have a two channel setup that I'm very happy with for all my hifi listening. CJ tube preamp and CJ tube power amp, nice full range speakers.But I would like to go at least 5.1 for my TV/DVD viewing. What my first thoughts are is to get a seperate system with tiny speakers to put around **Think Cheap**. My second is to get a pre pro and let it run through my 2 channel for the fronts and get another amp for my rears/center/and sub... but with this thought I would not mind if I could use a little sub for my audio listening.
My Q's for you.
If I come out of a pre pro to my tube preamp (for the fronts) is that a problem?
If I come out of my tube preamp to the pre pro (for the sub mainly) is that a problem?
Am I thinking this through totally wrong?
Follow Ups:
if you're from the 2 channel audiophile world, you will have to spend serious $$$ to get average sound.like others i have gone down this route, B&W 5.1 speaker setup, Sony ES reciever, etc etc. all that gear, all that cash (about $3.5k for speakers and reciever), all those wires. just wasn't worth it to me in terms of sound quality.
then i went for a very low end solution with one of those liftstyle surround systems for under $1.5k. that was even worse.
now i'm very happy with my A/V merge of systems. i've retained my 2 channel hifh system all tubes, i set my dvd player to downmix surround sound into 2 channel PCM and i route that to my 2 channel DAC. for tv sound, i simply use the stereo L/R analog outputs, and feed that directly into my preamp. voila, a successful merge between audio and video.
i'm absolutely amazed at the quality of sound engineering that goes into tv prductions in the last couple years. voices are dead center (like a center channel with out that silly speaker) and i get very good soundstage size, and depth. the only thing i miss are those spatial noises from the rears - which really doesn't bother me.
after spending nearly $4k on my surround sound setup, i was very dissapointed to hear the 'noises' coming out of my rear speakers. they were simply spatial cues which any pair of $100 radio shack speakers could have handled just fine. i remember when i was purchasing the B&W speaker set, i asked if i really needed to spend $650 for that matching set of speakers like the L/R fronts, and the dealer said 'you really want them to be the same'. heh, ya right! for surround sound SACD or DVD-A pherhaps, but for movies i'm not convinced.
i'm not sold on higher rez formats either, Redbook CDs sound just as good from what i've heard. my dac has no oversampling or digital filters.
Ranj For several years I ran a large set of electrostat's (xstatic)
and when I got into HT I added a processor and all the extra amplifiication $$$$ and then all kinds of various loudspeakers
and different amplification scenario's and eventually burned out on
trying to create a satisfying combination music/HT system and ended up buying a very nice but cheap (several year old)Yamaha HT receiver and 4 well used B&W 602 s2's and an el cheapo Sony active sub (less than $200 retail) all off Ebay and set up my HT in the family room and found my HT experience very fufilling and left the music system in the LR and while I've made a few changes in both systems over the years I'm extremely happy with both set up's, I came to the conclusion that when it comes to HT and music (at least for me) they're sufficiently different that unless you spend megabucks it ain't gonna happen at least not for my ears or tastes.
Fredj
We are both in the same boat. I have an Audio Research/CJMV60/Thiel combo for my two channel listening and am trying to find a cheap way to add channels. Here are the options I am considering.1. Yamaha junk from Best Buy, $500 for amp,speakers,sub (5.1.) My DVD player has seperate outputs so I can leave right and left channels on my main system. I would then plug the remaining channels to the yamaha gear.( Center,rears,and sub). Even junk sounds pretty good these days, and I'm sure its better then nothing.
2. I visited Myer Emco and they have some affordable B&W speakers that I can save for. A center, two rears and a integrated amp would set me back about 1K. ( Sub would be later)
3. Find some used Thiel 1.6's to match my front speakers.( Rear) And a center Thiel speaker. Purchase a used Adcom or Parasound 5.1 or 3 channel amp. This may be out of my budget, and I would rather use the money to upgrade my 2 channel gear. Home theatre sound is not as important to me as music.
Let me know what you come up with.
Lep
purchase inexpensive sourround system.
sounds like you have dvd player already.
sony strde595 $200.00
good sounding surround fronts boston cr8 350.00 cr7 280.00
rears cr6 240.00
spend money on center channel. 270.00 to 700.00 it is worth it.then you can purchase a great servo sub at a later date. the boston cr8/cr7 will provide enough bass for movies until you get sub. bostones can be had for much less off e bay. good luck!
I would come out of the tube pre-amp to the pre-pro. I do this because I still play a lot of vinyl and my pre-pro does not have a phono input (and even if it did it proabably wouldn't be as good as the one in my pre-amp). You have the keep the pre-amp volume at a constant and use the pre-pro volume to raise/lower the 5.1 channels.
This constant should be set at the same level as the DVD, broadcast, cable , tuner, etc. so that when you switch you won't damage anything (including your hearing).BUT. IMHO all five speakers have to be identical (or similarly voiced from the same manufacturer) or you will be constantly distracted by discontinuities in the channels, causing interuption of the "suspension of disbelief" so important in watching films.
Still thinking this thru, thanx for the patience...I would really like to try and use my 2 channel system for the fronts if I do this. Would it be better to hook up through the tape monitor to combine the preamps, that way I should not have the volume/volume problem.
I posted this before. My current system consist of a H/K AVR 510 receiver with preamp out for all channels. The mains are RCA 100 watt tube amps, the center is a Sherwood S1000II 36 watt tube amp,and the back channel amp is a Stromberg Carlson 14+14 watt.The Speakers are all Cerwin Vega. This system sounds awesome both for music and movies. The audio detail coming off the Sherwood renders voices very crisp and clean and it's more than enough for a regular living.
I'm seeing the trees for the forest in a moment now. What volume controls what...? I do have 2 main outs on my tube preamp. I'm thinking I should go cheap and try to share the sub if I want a little in my hifi...
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