So the Sony amp I've had for 12 years just ate sh1t and died and at exactly the same time my 6 stacker CD player imploded. I've been happy plugging the laptop into the amp for mp3 tunes, but now i need something more "proper" for in my house.

If your interested in this stuff, what's a good way to go from here on with a budget of $500 or what if no budget!?

I have a great set of aussie made front and surround speakers.
I have over 500gb of mp3, mostly from my cd collection.
I have some kind of 1tb wifi bull**** drive, routers and even actual rj45 connections next to the speakers.
I have an iPad, a stupid ps3, LCD tv and an obsolete laptop.

Where to from here for the 21 st century audiophile?

Thanks lizard, what I'm getting at is the method to play the tunes. Can I turn my tv into a juke box, then play though a decent amp, err easily? Control it with iPad kinda setup?

KiteDevil said...

Thanks lizard, what I'm getting at is the method to play the tunes. Can I turn my tv into a juke box, then play though a decent amp, err easily? Control it with iPad kinda setup?

sorry, haven't tried anything like that yet (i.e. controlling TV with iPad)... I just carry iPod around and plug it into whatever i need - car, home amp, etc... a bit old school but easy

i dont like using laptops through amps, as they skew the sound by their internal cheapy sound cards...

i think the easiest thing would be to connect your mp3 player (iPod or other) to amp via bluetooth... (not sure if new amps support this yet or whether you can get some kind of bluetooth adapter for it...

I would spend that money of a cheap amp and a basic xbox. The sound quality from an xbox is... ok... but really you'll be mostly playing mp3's and they are only ok anyway, even at highest or variable bitrate. The music players on the xbox are ordinary too, you have to make playlists on your pc. Come to think of it not sure why I'm recommending it (for sound) but Borderlands 2 is just out and COD Black Ops 2 won't be too far away - so get free games ability and TV/movie streaming thrown in for your budget, and you have the network connection right there so you can plug it straight in. I run HDMI in to TV and then optical out to amp. That way everything that the tv is displaying (antenna/xbox/usb etc) goes to amp, which autodetects surround mode, and I don't have to push any buttons.

I bought a cheapie amp from WOW (like JB) around $350, and it's as good or better than my previous Yamaha which cost double that - at the input quality(mp3) and volume that I use these days. Audiophiles will argue this down but really IMHO you have to be an audiophile, constantly playing great quality music at high volume thru great components to need a great amp.

AMP - a must to drive decent speakers...
Take AMP to a electronic fix-it place - $50-80 to let U know cost to fix (if possible). - I replaced an pre-amp and a condensor in my DENON a few years back - $170.00.
else
Perhaps - ex-rental or Cash Converters(know Ur Stuff) --
New stuff may be running on lower OHMs than your older speakers.. (My stuff is old but still GOLD ok)

However to tie it all together.... (for all those who do not want a dedicated pc etc)
www.roku.com/
or
www.cnet.com.au/d-link-boxee-box-339310824.htm

with the RJ45 - assume N/W'ed to I/net - U can tie into a lot of content -- get a proxy setup - and hey - Olympic coverage can be as good as FOXTEL (& Better) ...

Bugger that budget..
Hope something works out
AP

Denon is brilliant but the lower end of their gear is not as good as Yamaha low end. Spend $2000 on A Denon amp and you will have an awesome piece of gear, no question. Just depends on what you want to spend.

Grab a second hand traded in amp from a good hifi shop, Sonos is great at getting music around the house but is still not full hi-res yet so if you want better than mp3 get the amp fixed or buy a new one.

grumplestiltskin said...

KiteDevil said...

Thanks lizard, what I'm getting at is the method to play the tunes. Can I turn my tv into a juke box, then play though a decent amp, err easily? Control it with iPad kinda setup?

I almost choke on my breakfast as I say this, but the Apple TV is a great option if you have all your tunes in itunes.
$99, plug it into your amp and TV and you can stream direct from your pc, direct from your iphone/ipad or use your iphone/ipad to remote control your pc.

only problem is you have to buy into the whole apple family, probably not that different than having to buy into the sonos family.

Check out spotify for a sonos alternative.

Apple TV is a great way to get music around the house and you can get lossless Apple files playing which is pretty good. Apple is super easy to use and i have tried the digital out into some serious Dac's and even modest mp3's sounded great.

You don't need a internet connection unless you want to download movies and use some of the services. it does need your music to be in iTunes.

I bought a Pioneer VSX921 for about $650 on sale. It replaced a 12 yo Onkyo when a channel died. It's probably not as deep a sound as the Onkyo but its very punchy, plays mp3 very nicely and heaps of options.

TV, DVD, and media player with large hard drive full of music all via HDMI. Hooks up to iPad or phone via AirPlay or can hardware with supplied apple connector cable.

I recommend it for the money.

You can play all you music via the media player which is handy. Good app available to use iPad/iPod as remote control if you've also got your music on one of them.

Lots of sound options. Worth a look.

EB

Great to hear you're happy with your choice mate.