AVnut
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Joined: Jan 30 2013 - 8:20am
Repurpose aging equipment
JoeE SP9
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What you add depends on what your goals are. Do you want full surround? The latest video codec? Is music a priority? What size room and how is it furnished? How loud do you want to get? Is a remote important? What will you be using as your source(s)? What kind of TV and how large?

They are only some of the questions you should ask yourself. People trying to help will ask the same questions.

AVnut
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Thanks for the response Joe Sp9. You are correct I did not provide much to go on. So I will try to be more specific.

The room is 14 by 20 wood floor with area carpets. Large sofa, two upholstered chairs, and two end tables with lamps. I plan to set up on one of the narrow walls, the 14 foot one. If needed I can add something to the walls to improve the sound. I want to have a reasonable theater experience while having good audiophile sound. As far as priority its 40% audio and 60% video. Having a remote is important primarily for the video but I would like audio included.  Also make the best use of the current equipment.

I am planning a 60 inch or larger flat screen for video. I am not sure if this a possible configuration but my thought is to use the Magnepans for the 2 front channels. I would need to add a center speaker and 2 rear surround speakers. A 5 channel or is that a 5.1 surround setup. I probably will not be able to reuse the Adcom preamp, being that it is stereo or 2 channels. The Adcom 200 watt/channel amp works very well with the Magnepans. The Magnepan terminals have a provision to add a subwoofer. At this point I am not considering a subwoofer.

Is there a device or product that can take the audio portion from the TV and drive the Adcom amp plus other amps? I see a lot of 7.1 and 5.1 receivers as well as amps but that is not what I am looking for. The speaker choices need to consider that the Magnepans are on low sensitivity side, rated 86 dB spl 1 watt. The Adcom and Magnepan combination can over power the room easily for me. So I am not looking for rock concert level sound. My musical tastes vary from classical to the latest Lady Gaga. I do not plan to do any gaming on this system. Appropriate speaker  amp combinations for the remaining channels would be needed to balance out the sound.

Demondog
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get a 5.1 processor/pre-amp, and a second 2-channel amp plus rear speakers, if I were in your shoes. I suppose a 7.1 processor could be used as 5.1, but it already feels like overkill to me, because I'm not really up to date on AVS.

absolutepitch
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Demondog has a good approach. Consider if that is the right price and whether the system will work the way you want to operate it.

I took a slightly different approach. I specifically looked for a BluRay player that has a full set of analog outputs, in addition to the usual HDMI outputs. The HDMI feeds the video to the TV and the analog outputs feed two stereo amps, one of which drives the front channels (L and R), and the other drives the surround channels (LS and RS). I don't need a front center channel; the L and R is enough. The "0.1" channel for the subwoofer (has its own built-in amp) is fed separately from the BluRay player. This setup can work too. I just need more subwoofers to even out the low bass in the room.

The BluRay player I have are Panasonics and capable of outputting 7.1 channels. I'm thinking of getting an Oppo 105, which will play just about anything, and should be an improvement.

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