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Old 12-01-2015, 17:12
ray_01
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I have had a Panasonic SCPT 850eb Home Cinema system for about 7 years.
I have been very pleased with it but know a separates system is better.
My question is would it be possible to leave my existing speakers in place (concealed cables etc) and buy an amplifier to connect my Samsung UE55F6400 TV and Sony Bluray Player to the speakers?
They are 2x 125w Front , 1 x Centre speaker 250w , 2 x 125w Rear and 1 x Subwoofer 250w which came with the Panasonic system.
If so could you recommend a suitable amplifier?
Many thanks.
Ray.
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Old 12-01-2015, 18:39
Deacon1972
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The cables should be OK to use again, I personally wouldn't use the speakers as they are only 3ohms and the sub is passive not active so wouldnt connect via low level to an av receiver anyway, they are designed to be used as part of the system, this is one of the limiting factors of all in ones.
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Old 12-01-2015, 20:06
ray_01
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Many thanks Deacon1972.
Could you recommend speakers and amplifier?
The current front and rear speakers are about 20ins long and are wall mounted.
Ray.
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Old 12-01-2015, 20:22
Deacon1972
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Many thanks Deacon1972.
Could you recommend speakers and amplifier?
The current front and rear speakers are about 20ins long and are wall mounted.
Ray.
What is your budget?
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Old 12-01-2015, 20:31
chrisjr
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For a halfway decent budget system you could do worse than this

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...0/yama-yht1810

Moving up the range a bit

http://www.richersounds.com/package/...eals/pah011898

and with better speakers (well I would say that they are the one's I've got )

http://www.richersounds.com/package/...eals/pah011823
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Old 13-01-2015, 09:30
ray_01
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What is your budget?
The Yamaha unit YHT 1810 suggested by chrisjr seems just right.
I forgot to mention that I also have a Sky Box and a Now TV Box, I take it that they won't be a problem?
Thanks all.
Ray.
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Old 13-01-2015, 10:18
chrisjr
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The Yamaha unit YHT 1810 suggested by chrisjr seems just right.
I forgot to mention that I also have a Sky Box and a Now TV Box, I take it that they won't be a problem?
Thanks all.
Ray.
Provided the Sky box has HDMI it shouldn't be a problem. You just hook up the Sky box, Now TV box and Blu-Ray to the amp's HDMI inputs then run another HDMI lead from the amp output to the TV.

One thing I haven't been able to find out is if the TV has ARC (Audio Return Channel) on any of it's HDMI inputs. If it does (will usually only be one) then use that for the amp connection and the audio from the TV's tuner will be fed back down the lead to the amp should you want to watch Freeview. Otherwise it would mean running a separate optical cable between TV and amp if you wanted sound from the TV's tuner as well.
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Old 13-01-2015, 10:49
alan29
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go into Richer sounds and have a chat. They are running some terrific offers at the moment, and staff often give extra discounts over the counter.
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Old 13-01-2015, 12:49
ray_01
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Provided the Sky box has HDMI it shouldn't be a problem. You just hook up the Sky box, Now TV box and Blu-Ray to the amp's HDMI inputs then run another HDMI lead from the amp output to the TV.

One thing I haven't been able to find out is if the TV has ARC (Audio Return Channel) on any of it's HDMI inputs. If it does (will usually only be one) then use that for the amp connection and the audio from the TV's tuner will be fed back down the lead to the amp should you want to watch Freeview. Otherwise it would mean running a separate optical cable between TV and amp if you wanted sound from the TV's tuner as well.
The TV does have one ARC input.
Thanks for your help.
Ray.
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Old 20-01-2015, 11:40
ray_01
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Provided the Sky box has HDMI it shouldn't be a problem. You just hook up the Sky box, Now TV box and Blu-Ray to the amp's HDMI inputs then run another HDMI lead from the amp output to the TV.

One thing I haven't been able to find out is if the TV has ARC (Audio Return Channel) on any of it's HDMI inputs. If it does (will usually only be one) then use that for the amp connection and the audio from the TV's tuner will be fed back down the lead to the amp should you want to watch Freeview. Otherwise it would mean running a separate optical cable between TV and amp if you wanted sound from the TV's tuner as well.
Many thanks chrisjr
I collected the Yamaha system on Sunday,very impressed.
The only problem is the Owners Manual CD-ROM doesn't seem to open properly , all I can see are little squares with Yamaha and Adobe Reader logos but when I click on them nothing happens.
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Old 20-01-2015, 12:54
Deacon1972
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Many thanks chrisjr
I collected the Yamaha system on Sunday,very impressed.
The only problem is the Owners Manual CD-ROM doesn't seem to open properly , all I can see are little squares with Yamaha and Adobe Reader logos but when I click on them nothing happens.
Can't find an owners manual in PDF for the package model number, only a connection guide.

Could be Yamaha have made the package up with the RX-V377 or similar plus speakers, have left the link for that model receiver, see if it looks familiar, you should see similarities if not the correct manual, either way it should help.

http://download.yamaha.com/api/asset...asset_id=61629
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Old 20-01-2015, 14:03
ray_01
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Can't find an owners manual in PDF for the package model number, only a connection guide.

Could be Yamaha have made the package up with the RX-V377 or similar plus speakers, have left the link for that model receiver, see if it looks familiar, you should see similarities if not the correct manual, either way it should help.

http://download.yamaha.com/api/asset...asset_id=61629
Thanks Deacon1972,
Just the job.
Ray.
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Old 20-01-2015, 15:13
chrisjr
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Thanks Deacon1972,
Just the job.
Ray.
That is the wrong manual. The receiver in that package is a HTR-2067. Manual on the Yamaha website

http://europe.yamaha.com/en/products..._g/?mode=model

Click Support tab and there are a number of downloads the manual is this one

http://download.yamaha.com/api/asset...asset_id=61762

There is also a connection guide, guide to the speaker package and a quick start guide available.
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Old 20-01-2015, 15:35
Deacon1972
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That is the wrong manual. The receiver in that package is a HTR-2067. Manual on the Yamaha website

http://europe.yamaha.com/en/products..._g/?mode=model

Click Support tab and there are a number of downloads the manual is this one

http://download.yamaha.com/api/asset...asset_id=61762

There is also a connection guide, guide to the speaker package and a quick start guide available.
You are right, I looked at the 2067 as their high end amp, the RXV2067, should have taken more notice of the lettering.

A quick glance at both the 377/2067 there doesn't seem to be any major differences, they look identical, best to have the correct manual though, but I bet the manual for the 377 isn't a much different to that of the 2067.

Apologies to Ray for the cock-up.
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Old 20-01-2015, 15:41
chrisjr
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There are a number of differences between the 377 and 2067.

See these images of the back panels for example

http://data.yamaha.jp/sdb/product/im...7AB3_12075.jpg

http://data.yamaha.jp/sdb/product/im...79BF_12075.jpg

For one thing the 2067 has both active and passive sub connections and the 377 has more AV sockets to play with.
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Old 20-01-2015, 18:25
Deacon1972
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There are a number of differences between the 377 and 2067.

See these images of the back panels for example

http://data.yamaha.jp/sdb/product/im...7AB3_12075.jpg

http://data.yamaha.jp/sdb/product/im...79BF_12075.jpg

For one thing the 2067 has both active and passive sub connections and the 377 has more AV sockets to play with.
A few differences, nothing major, the 2067 looks as if Yamaha have designed it to be sold within a package including its speaker system with passive sub or separately, the 377 being more of a stand alone purchase - Operation should be nigh on the same.

I've had a couple of Yamaha's in the past, DSPA590 and DSPA595 iirc. I sold the 595 to a friend many moons ago, I think it was one of Yamaha's first mid range receivers that had onboard DD decoding, it is still going strong today.
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Old 21-01-2015, 12:51
ray_01
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You are right, I looked at the 2067 as their high end amp, the RXV2067, should have taken more notice of the lettering.

A quick glance at both the 377/2067 there doesn't seem to be any major differences, they look identical, best to have the correct manual though, but I bet the manual for the 377 isn't a much different to that of the 2067.

Apologies to Ray for the cock-up.
No apologies needed,
Thanks very much to both of you for all your help!
Don't suppose you could arrange a whip round for the paper?
Ray.
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Old 21-01-2015, 14:52
ray_01
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Me again.
I can't receive any radio stations on the system,
Receiving radio has always been a problem here, is there a inconspicuous aerial you could recommend?
I have tried the wire supplied but no luck.
Ray.
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Old 21-01-2015, 15:57
chrisjr
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If you are in a dodgy area then the only real option is an external aerial. You can get all sorts of indoor aerials but to be honest the best results I've ever had have been with a simple wire T aerial such as this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electrovisio.../dp/B000L1MIWQ

If you mount it correctly then it can work surprisingly well. The thing not to do is try and coil it up and hide it under the furniture. It needs to be stretched out to the full extent and either slung horizontally or vertically which may not be the most aesthetically pleasing way to use it but unfortunately RF tends not to respect such things

Something that I have seen work is to wrap the bit of wire aerial round the TV aerial lead. the TV lead then acts as the aerial rather than it picking up signal from the TV aerial itself. Do it in a fairly loose spiral rather than a tight coil and it might work. No guarantees though.
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Old 21-01-2015, 16:45
ray_01
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I will try wrapping the wire around the aerial lead.
If that doesn't work I'll try the T aerial.
Thanks again.
Ray.
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Old 23-01-2015, 10:16
ray_01
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Forgive my ignorance.
Do I need a Digital Coax lead to play cd's on my Sony Bluray player ( BDPS 4200) through my Yamaha system?
I thought the HDMI lead from the player would be ok but I am getting no sound.
Perhaps the Sony is not meant for cd's , any help would be appreciated.
Ray.

Last edited by ray_01 : 23-01-2015 at 10:24. Reason: Left out model number
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Old 23-01-2015, 10:40
chrisjr
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Forgive my ignorance.
Do I need a Digital Coax lead to play cd's on my Sony Bluray player ( BDPS 4200) through my Yamaha system?
I thought the HDMI lead from the player would be ok but I am getting no sound.
Perhaps the Sony is not meant for cd's , any help would be appreciated.
Ray.
There is no reason why the Sony should not play CDs perfectly OK. And no reason at all why it cannot output stereo over HDMI just as well as it would Dolby Digital or DTS surround from a movie disk.

Is it a bog standard commercial music CD or a data CD with a load of music files on it? There should be no problem at all playing a commercial music CD but it may depend on the format of the files on a data CD whether they play or not.

Check the Audio Settings in the player and the amp. The player should be on Auto as should the amp. Though I think the player only has an option to switch to PCM stereo which is what a CD is anyway. The amp should decode PCM stereo as it is a pretty much bog standard format but if it is fixed to Dolby Digital for example it might be trying to interpret it as a surround sound signal and getting it's electronic knickers in a twist trying to make sense of it.
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Old 23-01-2015, 10:48
ray_01
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Thanks again chrisjr,
I briefly tried it this morning on bog standard cd's but didn't check any settings.
I was probably in a rush.
I will check when I get home tonight.
Ray.
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Old 23-01-2015, 11:04
chrisjr
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Mind you it might not be such a silly idea having the Blu-Ray plumbed in via an optical lead as well. I used to do that on my system so that the movie playing functions appeared on the BD/DVD button on the remote and music playing functions on the CD button. This allowed me to set different default configurations for the two functions.

So movie playback got the full monty surround treatment while CDs got the Direct Stereo only mode which turns off anything not needed to listen to music with (which includes the display on the front of the receiver!).

Mind you my biggest pain in the wotsits was HDMI control. Not sure if it is my Sony player or not but it was a royal pain. You put a disk in and the player says "ohhh look a disk you must want the telly on then". So it sends an HDMI control to turn the telly on. But it's a music CD, nothing to see on the TV so I turn the TV off. That in turn decides that I don't need the player either and sends a control back to the player turning it off.

No prizes for guessing what happened when I turn the player back on! Only cure is to turn HDMI control off and take control of the machinery myself rather than let it think it knows better and cock it up every time.

No though I play music on one of these

http://www.cocktailaudio.co.uk/overview.shtml

and don't have to worry about the machines taking over
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Old 23-01-2015, 12:32
ray_01
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Fortunately I do have a dedicated sound system in another room but was trying out the the CD through my Yamaha to see how it compared, I probably won't use it, but I was just being inquisitve. I also have Spotify on my tv so will try that later.
Many thanks.
Ray.
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