New Audio System for Home Office(2 Channel only)

[reidc]

I've been playing files in my upstairs office from my downstairs den PC for last year and a half through some crappy old Creative speakers that hummed more than anything else. Sure I could have just sought out a nice pair of speakers to play back on upstairs, but no... Sure- I could have bought a new receiver and streamed through my network, but no...

Did some research on 2 Channel stuff and took a ride to Safe and Sound HQ in Chicopee Ma a couple of weeks ago. Walked out with a Yamaha A-S801 Amp, a Yamaha CD-S303 CD Player, and something completely new to me... a Network Streamer - Denon DNP-800NE. I had my mind set on a Marantz PM8006 Amp and an ND8006 Streamer/CD Player combo, but my wallet said otherwise. I've always been a Yamaha guy and still have my A700 Amp from 1984, an RX-V870 and RX-V1000 receivers and an RX-A1030 in current use downstairs.

I love the sound, looks and feel of the both the Amp and CD Player. Was the player worth the $80 more than the outgoing CD-S300? The Amp- I got a sweet deal on a return that looked spotless and completely new. For just over $700- I could not argue. The Network Streamer is the new toy for me to explore!!!!

I wanted something that looked like a component and stackable. Since it was something new to my brain- I was not ready to sink a bunch of cash on, and I could have picked up a Marantz 6007 Streamer as well for a couple hundred more. For $600 the Denon would do all I wanted, which was to stream music from my downstairs PC served by OShare to my Asus XT8 Router. I can also playback many Internet Radio Stations that are out there which is a new experience for me. I am amazed at just how good WFMT(The Chicago Classical Station) sound being streamed at 256K AAC. The lack of airwave noise or poor antenna noise is startling.
Controlling what is played is/can be an exercise in futility, as I have almost 900 directories on one drive, and scrolling through them one at a time using the remote is nuts, and there is no partial search feature. Denon and Marantz want you to use the mobile App HEOS, and it does help speed things up. I will need to categorize and sort my drive to make it easier to navigate using the remote. I have not attempted to stream using a paid service as of yet, and still looking/exploring options.

Chris

 

[LuvMyQuad]

I apparently took the cheap way out. For $40 I picked up a used Insignia 5.1 AVR off the Bay. I got a Firestick 4K for less than $30 during the 2020 black Friday sale and loaded Kodi on it. I bought a new set of Pioneer SP-BS22 for under $80 at the same time. So for $150, I can access all of the files on my NAS, audio and video. I don't play physical disks anymore, just the rips. Streaming services can also be added to the Firestick. I just have Sirius Radio on there now. I can also do all this in 5.1 if I want to, but stereo is fine for the bedroom.

 

[kfbkfb]

Dynaquad adapters

Was there ever a Dynaquad/EV/Hafler decoder that was line level and not a passive speaker matrix? I have one DynaQuad record, this drawing came with it, I've read a recent test confirmed that it sounded much better with the passive hook-up than plain stereo, but not discrete at all of course...

www.quadraphonicquad.com

1 more speaker and you have cheap surround sound, it even works well on the older stereo (not DS encoded) TV show soundtracks (I used my existing amp and speakers to set up my bedroom DynaQuad system).


Kirk Bayne