Ask S&V

Lisa,

I think that with the analog outs as you have it setup you are going to have a fantastic setup. ARCAM makes stellar sounding products. Better to have an older ARCAM than a newer, lower end receiver. Also, receiver technology changes so quickly you have to jump in at some point only to see the new models and features come out next year.

Some setup thoughts. Your setup as Scott said is going to be just fine. The only item to note is that the sub cannot be a further distance than the mains. The Oppo won't allow it and will not allow anything to be greater than the mains for distance.

In terms of EQ, yes, you are correct the newer stuff tends to have EQ; however having the speakers properly setup and the room properly treated is a much, much better direction than an untreated, improperly setup room wit EQ. I suggest spending the time to tweak and perfect the setup if you haven't already. Some reviewers don't like the EQ in their rooms. it's there as an aid not a magic bullet.

Finally you have really great equipment. Enjoy it thoroughly. Good sounding equipment isn't cheap but it will offer you years and years of enjoyment at a level other equipment can't touch. The Oppo BRP is just a fantastic piece of equipment. Unless you are using a video scaler lip sync shouldn't be an issue. So setup that Oppo with the AnLog outs and configure the speakers and forget about it and enjoy. And don't forget you still get the ARCAM advantage on all other analog and digital sources like streaming, CDs and broadcast video.

And when you are indeed ready to upgrade you will hopefully have had years of enjoyment. There's always a next thing but right now, you have a really good thing.

Lisa,

Check out this link to a blind test that was done at Dolby Labs to compare Dolby Digital to Dolby True HD. The bottom line is...you won't hear the difference. Enjoy your Arcam and forget about it. Though I've got to tell you, for $2700, they ought to send a tech over from England and fix it for free. Good luck.

Disco

http://www.hemagazine.com/node/Dolby_TrueHD_DTS-MA_versus_Uncompressed_PCM

Disco,

That's an interesting article. Nice setup they have too with the Revel Ultima speakers. That must sound spectacular. I must say that between Dolby Digitial (DVD) and uncompressed, I can always hear the difference. It's not just subtly noticeable, it's really just a much clearer, crisper, more open presentation of the movie or music. So perhaps there's some merit to the uncompressed claim, but I can tell the difference (or at least I'd like to think I can tell the difference!) between Dolby Digital and an uncompressed BluRay.

Dolby Digital audio and Uncompressed PCM audio are entirely different from each other. Regular Dolby Digital soundtracks are,by definition lossy,compressed audio tracks. Correct me if I am wrong.

I believe that the referenced study compared Dolby True HD & DTS HD-MA to uncompressed PCM audio,finding no audible difference. I haven't read the whole article yet but,I don't believe that they would say that regular lossy,compressed Dolby Digital sounds the same as uncompressed audio. It seems more likely to me that they are saying that there is no audible difference to the human ear between the new high resolution,uncompressed digital soundtracks and LOSLESS,uncompressed PCM audio.

That was my thinking too. The article does talk about uncompressed and not lossy but they do say about lossy Dolby digital at the end and that the difference wasn't major. I just don't find that same result in my setup. The HD and lossless codecs are much more open and dynamic.

I don't have an Arcam but I do have a similar situation--SACD/DVD-A player through analogue MCH input to my receiver (an Integra DTR 6.4). I added an Anti-mode 8033 EQ to tackle the subwoofer frequencies (the most important ones to EQ) to my set up for under 400$ and it has done a lot of good. It is VERY easy to set up (10 mins. from opening the box to fully functional), does a very good job with EQ'ing the sub and has extended the life of both my player and my receiver (I was considering moving to a new receiver and a player with HDMI output to get EQ for my sub, but the Anti-mode is a much less expensive option). It is not the best available option (SVS offers a sub-EQ that is more powerful, based on the Audyssey system) but it is still quite good, especially for its price and ease of use.

If I were in your situation, Lisa, I would keep the Arcam, use the Oppo's bass management and speaker delay functions and add an Anti-mode (which will improve sub performance from all sources, not just the Oppo).

Kal Rubinson, at Stereophile (a sister publication to this one) reviewed it favourably in his column Music in the Round (if you do a google search you'll find it easily enough).

Just my 2 cents.

I've wondered about this with my own AVR (a Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS)... but, since it has multi-channel inputs, can't you simply get a new pre-pro (one that has multi-channel analog outputs) and just wire them into your AVR?

It gets you all the newest stuff like HDMI 1.4a, several new processing modes, etc...

Then, later, when you have more scratch, just yank the AVR and replace it with your new amp(s).

Then, even later, when standards have changed enough yet again, all you have to do is replace your pre-pro.

Remember that with Dolby Digital and DTS audio the LFE channel is designed to play back 10 db higher then the other channels. However with analog, in order to prevent clipping the analog input, there is no 10 db gain. So unless your receiver allows you to adjust the LFE channel separately, it's impossible to compensate unless you raise the AVR's line level out or sub volume which not only effects the LFE channel, but the output on all the bass that's crossed to the sub. And that's not all. With analog, the sub level output to your AVR is dropped by an additional 5 db for each speaker set to small by your player to make room for the the extra bass and again reduce the risk of overloading the analog input. Also does your player, (which does the bass management with analog) have a crossover control or separate time delays for each speaker? Even the more expensive ones like most of the Oppo's do not. So unless you have some serious equipment and a lot of patience you will never get analog to digital to work like digital bass management should.
Keep in mind that the data compression schemes for lossy (standard) DTS and Dolby Digital are lower on Blu-Ray. DTS claims that it's core data rate on Blu-Ray is twice that of other DVD video surround formats. So if your frustrated and not happy with your players analog set up, forget about all those extra cables, plug in to your digital (optical or coax) input connection and let your AVR do the bass management. This way you can enjoy great audio quality with out worrying about it being compromised.

Ian

Lisa -
You made a great choice in purchasing the Arcam AVR350. At the time you purchased it, it was the best sounding receiver on the market in it's price range.
Right now through the end of the year Arcam is offering previous customers like you a $1000 discount for trading in your AVR350 on a brand new Arcam AVR400. The AVR400 has all the features you said you were interested in having in a new receiver.
If you need any additional information you can go to the US distributors website www.americanaudiovideo.com.
Best regards,
Jim

Would the arcam350 work just as well with oppo 93 as 95? Especially in view of the analog out differences.

Unless you are playing SACD's, I will never understand the advantages of using analog audio outputs for home theater applications, since it is so much easier using the AVR's more effective digital processing. Like I posted earlier, it's the bass management that's far more critical then receiving loss less audio formats, when it comes to over all sound quality.

No advantages: Just that my avr350 does not do audio hdmi. It does have LFE bass management tweaks in the set up. Do you think its a given that tweaking the avr to use analog is that complicated that I should forget about lossless and use other formats?

Iam so glad to see this article on the arcam AVR350. I own the lexicon MC4 and have been reluctant to give it up for the "look at what's hot new pre amps". I am going the OPPO 93 route with my system. I hope to use the MC4 a few more years. Thanks for all the comments.

Lisa, I was wondering if you did setup the system with the 95 and 350. Very interested in hearing a review from you. I am planning on updating myself, including an upgraded player for my CD/SACD/HDCD/BD collection. The BDP-95 seems the superior alternative compared to the Denon/Marantz and Cambridge Audio universal players. I would love a real life example in combination with the AVR350. @Scott, you agree?

I am leaning towards the Oppo. This is not only a result of the sonic part, but in my case also because the Oppo sports dual HDMI output. The Arcam sports a zone 2 out that can be assigned to the backchannels. This makes it easier for me to use one source for my HT setup in the main room plus a newly built addition to my house.

I have the 350 mated to my Oppo 93 for a few years now. I don't appear to have any subwoofer issues. Set all speakers to large and subwoofer on in Oppo. That's it.

Do you need a 95? Don't know. Reviews say the sound is not that noticeably different then 93. Plus the 95 has fans and I like to avoid that if I can.

Consider one can get a used avr350 and an Oppo 93 for just over 1k used, I challenge anyone to find a better deal for the sound.