Big hello from Croatia

[ConfusedCroat]

Well, I guess it started when I got a hand me down dual turntable from my older sister, vinyl in the 2010s was a very fun (and VERY AFFORDABLE - keyword WAS) hobby. Life happened, and no longer a teenager, but bored and browsing the Croatian version of Craigslist I saw an incredible price for a Pioneer PL400 and now I’m back in the game.

I’m getting ready to start a whole system here. And I am 99% sure I want the heart of that system to be a big beautiful quad (restored if I have to).

Music is the priority here (which is why I’m even going through the work of a quad setup), but streaming movies is a very close second priority. And I know it will require a lot of learning and probably a lot of asking you guys questions, (and the money… there’s always the money in this hobby), but I want to turn a quad receiver into something that could drive 5.1 lossless audio to my speakers. I’d be embarrassed to admit how much reading I’ve done in the past month trying to figure out how to make a quad receiver do that, and I just can’t understand the signal path there. But anyway, if there’s a place that can help, it’s you guys. Fingers crossed I can eventually become a part of this cool community. Take care.

 

[LB-V]

Welcome!

There is a lot of good info about systems vintage, streaming, 5.1, Atmos...you name it, it's on these pages. So much great stuff.

There will be many opinions out there on a good path forward for your journey. All of them good. You'll have to pick the one that is right for you based on what parts of all this is what you really enjoy. And even that can change over time. Of course ultimately, it's the music, but there's so much and so many ways to get there.

My thoughts, based on where I'm at with my journey....as a starting basis, with the desire to have 5.1, streaming and movies....I would go with more modern gear. I have a lot of vintage equipment that I have used....most of it having been "restored" in some fashion or another. A few pieces still work great and are all original. But, regardless of how restored a piece is, it's still 40 to 50 years old. Seems like there's always something needing a little fix. It never seems to end, generally speaking. Unless you are a DIY'er, I hesitate to recommend vintage quad as a solid starting point to meet your direction.

I would suggest an older (3 - 4 years) pre / pro like an Anthem. A decent amp (might consider the next generation Amp Master from Involve Audio, see @chucky3042 or @Overture for info), an Apple TV and possibly the Surround Master from Involve Audio. I prefer having separates rather than a receiver. That or a similar type set-up will give you 5.1, streaming both movies and music. No headache of vintage gear.

I cannot think of a means to get a quad receiver or pre-amp / quad amp to provide a basis for a 5.1 system without doing some klunky things.

One thing...you can use a Surround Master to get you a really great 5.1 output from any analog or optical digital source. You can feed that to a quad receiver for the fronts and rears. Then feed the center to another amp or receiver. And feed the .1 to a powered subwoofer or feed it to a passive subwoofer using the same amp used for the center. But you start getting limited without a modern AVR or pre / pro to receive and convert the streaming that you want to do.

Well, that's my opinion. Others will likely chime in!

Keep us posted on your journey!