Value thread? Please chime in

[gags11]

I have been thinking about this for a very long time, as I bet a few of you might as well. Decided to post.

Talking about DACs, this topic has been beaten to death. Amplifiers and speakers are somewhat clear as well, at least to the astute community of this forum. The Home Theater processors / receivers are and have been the most vague,

To start, no offense to Amir, are the SINADs published on HT equipment relevant? Amir states Pure audio measurement of pre-amps. Who watches any kind of movie in a dedicated HT with pure audio? I, for one, do not listen to music or to any content that requires pure audio in my dedicated HT.

So as a frustrated ASR member, I would like to ask and know, can we be clear and honest about all these HT equipment? Again, I don’t think publishing stereo, pure audio, SINADs of processors/ receivers helps anyone in the HT community.

I had been thinking of updating my processor, but these have been the counter points I have been dealing with. So can we come up with a bang-for-the-buck thread for HT processors?

PS: I don’t intend to offend anyone. I’m just a curious ASR member, and actually a scientist. So please do not take my skepticism as an offense.

 

[gags11]

To give a reference background, I have a Yamaha CX-A5100 processor at the heart of my 7.2.2 system. This processor has not glitched a single time in the last 8 years. It has a SINAD of 90db and a so so auto room correction. However, with my ASR knowledge and skills, thanks to all of you, the EQ can and is brought to almost perfection.

 

[Curvature]

The only reason to replace an existing unit would be:

1. You often hit performance limits during playback (like clipping).
2. You want to explore new functions or features.
3. It glitches.
4. It doesn't support the formats you want.
5. The user interface sucks.
6. It's less customizable or flexible than you'd like.
7. It doesn't fit the decor.
8. Why not? As long as you can afford it and it doesn't mess anything up.

Measurements tell you about (1). They give the basics of how the unit behaves and what you can expect from it, which will also inform how to interlink it optimally with the rest of your system.