So my brother’s wife recently passed away. While I was at his house a few weeks ago he was lamenting how he couldn't play blu-ray movies through his surround system any more. I wanted to find something to get him interested in and help lift his spirits so I decided to gift him the components necessary to put together an entry level surround system.
His existing system was in pretty rough shape. It consisted of a Sony Blu-ray player which didn’t actually work because one of his kids had broken the trim panel off the loading door and it constantly jammed when getting a disk in or out. And a Pioneer Dolby Pro Logic era receiver. The kind we used to use for VHS tape playback back in the day. No digital inputs at all. He also had a small Yamaha 5.1 speaker array that he bought from a big box store many years ago. I was kind of amazed with this when I first heard it when new. It had five identical tiny satellites that were not much bigger than my clenched fist and the sub was only a 5” cone. But the things sounded decent within their limits. Anyway, when I looked at it closely, I saw nothing was even hooked up. It had all been disconnected and left unused for years following a remodel.
After browsing the web for what was available, I decided on purchasing these components from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XYD1RZ3/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AT6B0DK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The Denon AVR was similar to the entry level receivers from Pioneer, Sony, Yamaha, etc. Prices were comparable as well with the Denon being the least expensive at $199 (it has since gone up in price). I liked that it had dedicated presets (a great convenience feature for him) and could play FLAC from a front panel USB port (not all that common for entry level AVRs. Not for FLAC anyway). I didn’t like the Mickey Mouse speaker connectors and the lack of any network connectivity.
The Sony Player can be network connected, wired or WIFI, came with a load of apps, and is also capable of playing FLAC through the front panel.
Total cost was under $300. I’m amazed you can get into a surround system for so little.
Last weekend I went to his place to do the setup. I assembled everything on the top of his entertainment center and fully tested it. I couldant get the manual speaker setup routine to work (it wouldn’t play the test tones, but it seemed to think it was) so I plugged in the mic and let it do an automatic setup… which it got through with no errors or issues.
I loaned him some blue rays I thought he’d like. Waters: The Wall. Gilmore in Pompeii. AP Eye in the Sky BR audio disc. I also copied a few selections from my NAS to a thumb drive to test with.
16/44.1 FLAC of Beatles: Abbey Road and Glen Frey Strange Weather (two titles I have used for many years to setup and evaluate bass response).
24/88.2 FLAC of Pink Floyds DSOTM to try Hi Res stereo FLAC.
24/96 5.1 FLAC of Eagles Hotel California to try Hi Res MCH FLAC.
I found out that while the Denon would play FLAC, it was limited to stereo FLAC. The Sony player however, was able to play any of the FLAC selections on the thumb drive including the MCH. I never got far enough to try and determine if it was down sampling anything however.
We spent a few hours watching videos and playing music and explaining to him how things worked. He loved it and I was impressed as well. I have been a separates guy since my teenage years. I was surprised at the amount of functionality and features you can get for so little money at the entry level. Even with those tiny speakers, the system seemed to fill the room with sound adequately.
Apparently it was to be short lived. Late that night I received a text saying that the left front and the sub stopped working while playing some of the Parsons album. A couple of days later I got there to find the Sub totally unresponsive. It turned on, but made no sound. Its rear panel was also unusually hot. After that many years it must have given up the ghost.
I also checked all connections and did a factory reset on the AVR. I switched inputs and speaker cables to narrow things down, but nothing could revive the front left channel.
He says he was playing music and then heard a loud “crackle” and when it was done the sub and front left were dead. Do you think the sub could have had a meltdown and taken a front channel with it? And why only the left channel?
Regardless, back into the box and back to Amazon it went for replacement. I ordered him a 10” Polk sub to replace the dead one. Within 1 day Amazon had shipped a replacement for the Denon. Ya gotta love that. It will be here in time to re-install everything this weekend.
The saga continues….
His existing system was in pretty rough shape. It consisted of a Sony Blu-ray player which didn’t actually work because one of his kids had broken the trim panel off the loading door and it constantly jammed when getting a disk in or out. And a Pioneer Dolby Pro Logic era receiver. The kind we used to use for VHS tape playback back in the day. No digital inputs at all. He also had a small Yamaha 5.1 speaker array that he bought from a big box store many years ago. I was kind of amazed with this when I first heard it when new. It had five identical tiny satellites that were not much bigger than my clenched fist and the sub was only a 5” cone. But the things sounded decent within their limits. Anyway, when I looked at it closely, I saw nothing was even hooked up. It had all been disconnected and left unused for years following a remodel.
After browsing the web for what was available, I decided on purchasing these components from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XYD1RZ3/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AT6B0DK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The Denon AVR was similar to the entry level receivers from Pioneer, Sony, Yamaha, etc. Prices were comparable as well with the Denon being the least expensive at $199 (it has since gone up in price). I liked that it had dedicated presets (a great convenience feature for him) and could play FLAC from a front panel USB port (not all that common for entry level AVRs. Not for FLAC anyway). I didn’t like the Mickey Mouse speaker connectors and the lack of any network connectivity.
The Sony Player can be network connected, wired or WIFI, came with a load of apps, and is also capable of playing FLAC through the front panel.
Total cost was under $300. I’m amazed you can get into a surround system for so little.
Last weekend I went to his place to do the setup. I assembled everything on the top of his entertainment center and fully tested it. I couldant get the manual speaker setup routine to work (it wouldn’t play the test tones, but it seemed to think it was) so I plugged in the mic and let it do an automatic setup… which it got through with no errors or issues.
I loaned him some blue rays I thought he’d like. Waters: The Wall. Gilmore in Pompeii. AP Eye in the Sky BR audio disc. I also copied a few selections from my NAS to a thumb drive to test with.
16/44.1 FLAC of Beatles: Abbey Road and Glen Frey Strange Weather (two titles I have used for many years to setup and evaluate bass response).
24/88.2 FLAC of Pink Floyds DSOTM to try Hi Res stereo FLAC.
24/96 5.1 FLAC of Eagles Hotel California to try Hi Res MCH FLAC.
I found out that while the Denon would play FLAC, it was limited to stereo FLAC. The Sony player however, was able to play any of the FLAC selections on the thumb drive including the MCH. I never got far enough to try and determine if it was down sampling anything however.
We spent a few hours watching videos and playing music and explaining to him how things worked. He loved it and I was impressed as well. I have been a separates guy since my teenage years. I was surprised at the amount of functionality and features you can get for so little money at the entry level. Even with those tiny speakers, the system seemed to fill the room with sound adequately.
Apparently it was to be short lived. Late that night I received a text saying that the left front and the sub stopped working while playing some of the Parsons album. A couple of days later I got there to find the Sub totally unresponsive. It turned on, but made no sound. Its rear panel was also unusually hot. After that many years it must have given up the ghost.
I also checked all connections and did a factory reset on the AVR. I switched inputs and speaker cables to narrow things down, but nothing could revive the front left channel.
He says he was playing music and then heard a loud “crackle” and when it was done the sub and front left were dead. Do you think the sub could have had a meltdown and taken a front channel with it? And why only the left channel?
Regardless, back into the box and back to Amazon it went for replacement. I ordered him a 10” Polk sub to replace the dead one. Within 1 day Amazon had shipped a replacement for the Denon. Ya gotta love that. It will be here in time to re-install everything this weekend.
The saga continues….
