Seeing as we are getting closer and closer to christmas, I think now is an appropriate time to get a list of "what I want" together

I will have about £350 to spend on a decent surround sound amplifier... which will also have to take the place of my very loyal technics amplifier for cd's and computer audio which has lasted 8 years without any problems!

I have been thinking about the Sony DB940, but its probably just slightly out of my budget

Anybody got any recommendations?

Regards
Patrick

Hi. I would look for the previous model sony 930 at a
discount price.... Bought mine from rischer sounds last spring for 400 pounds

Its great

I think I might just do that, Richer sounds have one for sale, for only £299 and its silver!!!

BTW, What speakers do you have running it.

My plan is to use my current Bose's as the fronts, by (from Richer Sounds, some Mourdant Short's as the rear / effects) and by an additional center + sub - hows that sounds?

Regards
Patrick

your speaker plan sounds fine. I use Mission 738 and 750 for front centre. + Yamamha woofer(1)
The Sony 930 is an excellent amp

By the way I never use the video paths of the amp only the sound paths. I use direct scart for dvd, video and satellite. Im lucky having 3 scarts on my panny 36" widescreen!!

Taken years to get to this configuration.

Just slightly off the topic, I also have 3 scarts on my TV (sony KV32FX60) but only one is RGB. Which is a shame, althought I don't need it for the video, I have a Digital Cable box, a DVD player and a playstation, so I need 3 RGB inputs, pants! I take it your panny is the same, I have yet to find ANY TV with more than one RGB scart.

I've seen some Phillips TVs with 2 RGB sockets.

Re: You RGB dillema. If possible why don't you daisychain your DVD and digibox through one another to the single RGB scart socket? I have an ONdig and SkyDig box connected this was and it works brilliantly.

James. on my panny two of the three scarts are RGB
The book dosnt say so but sky digital is on the main
scart and my dvd with rgb settings not s-video is on the other. WarfendALE 760 DVD. Cant fault the picture quality.
Back to AV amps....are there many of you that like me dont use the video paths only the audio???????

Malcolm.

£350? the best new kid on the block is the Yamaha DSP5. If you search through What Hifi or Home Cinema Choice mags you'll find it cheaper.

Best thing for you to do is get down to your local dealer and arrange a test of the ones you want to hear, some dealers will let you test the amps out in your own home for a deposit, which is highly recommended!

Not long back i had my heart set on the Sony 930 that was untill i checked out the Yamaha DSP A5 - mindblowing!
I seriously advise you to look at this before parting with your cash it could save you some(street price £350, online £250+), it won the product of the year award in this years What Hi*Fi magazine, the only downside is everything i own is Sony 'cept for this...but it's performance makes up for that!

Got me interested now!! Do you have a decent online website that sells them for approx £250?

Cheers
Regards
Patrick

http://www.richer.co.uk - £263.95(out of stock)

http://www.hotkit.co.uk/store/acatal...eivers_37.html - £264.95

And i'm sure i heard http://www.superfi.co.uk were selling 'em for £245 (could be wrong), there site is pretty crap, i'd use the phone number to find out, they may even have a store near you(?) so check and get the tel..number.

Good Luck

I would avoid Superfi. They have a very bad reputation as I've experienced and so have a lot of people who've posted the fact in the past on the What Hifi chat room.

If you like the 940 have a look around for the 830 - basically the same as the 930 minus the 2- way remote (which is not that good) and a few other non-essentials

I had exactly the same problem as you, 3 RGB sources and only one RGB SCART on my TV. Solution....SCART Switch box, £15 from B-Tech. Problem solved.

When will TV manufactures wake up and get with the digital times..The days of people just owning one VCR and a STB are long gone.
My PC motherboard has 8 PCI slots...nuff said!!

I never use the Video through-puts on my Pioneer VSA-E06,I prefer it to come straight from the source-far better.