kirin Posted April 7, 2007 Posted April 7, 2007 I have a Sony DAV-S880 home theatre system, however, the dvd player is going cranky and I'm thinking of replacing it with an al cheapo enzer which I have lying around at home. I'd like to keep my speakers (4 standing, 1 center and 1 subwoofer) in the interim, because they're still alive and the wires have been concealed in the wall. Am I right to assume that I'll juz need to add an a/v receiver to bridge the missing link between the enzer dvd player and the sony speakers? The speakers currently come with proprietary connectors, which I suppose I can cut off and leave as bare leads to connect to the a/v receiver. I'd like to know if my assumption of buying the a/v receiver is right in completing the picture and extending the utility of my speakers. Of course, I'd appreciate if you guys could suggest some equipment for me to look at. Budget currently is around $5-600, dug out my old what hi-fi 2004 awards, and they recommended that denon avr-1905... are they still selling this model? I don't mind 2nd hand, cos I presume electronics without moving parts don't spoil that easily... Thanks in advance.
dbchoong Posted April 7, 2007 Posted April 7, 2007 Hi Welcome to XP! Not familiar with the DAV-S880 but here's what I think. 1. You can add a AVR (Marantz, Denon, Yamaha) - choice is yours. 2. You can most likely re-use all your speakers. For the proprietary speaker connector, simply cut it off and use bare leads. You'll need to find out the polarity (+/-) of the leads, though. 3. The Sony subwoofer is most likely passive and powered by the DAV-S880 amp. AVRs normally do not have an amp for the sub - instead they have a sub(LFE) output. So, either you buy a new active sub or get a seperate amp to power the sub or find an AVR with an amp output for the sub. 4. 2nd hand is a good option to get best value for money. But you might not come across what you want at the right time. A bit of luck required. :)
SiriuslyCold Posted April 7, 2007 Posted April 7, 2007 is the receiver portion of the Sony still working?
petetherock Posted April 7, 2007 Posted April 7, 2007 Welcome bro, I believe it was a mid to mid-high Sony Digital S amp series. Just check the resistance of your speakers - some of these are 4ohm types, so make sure your new purchase can power it. For 5-600$ there are many amps, not just only what is in What Lo Fi See recent threads which talk about Marantz, Onkyo, Denon models. A newer models may have auto-eq and HDMI if thats important to you. Lastly the speaker cables of these HITBs are pretty weedy, so they may need upgrading later. Good luck bro.
kirin Posted April 7, 2007 Author Posted April 7, 2007 thanks for the quick replies, response better than I'd expected. :) 3. The Sony subwoofer is most likely passive and powered by the DAV-S880 amp. AVRs normally do not have an amp for the sub - instead they have a sub(LFE) output. So, either you buy a new active sub or get a seperate amp to power the sub or find an AVR with an amp output for the sub. all the speakers are passive, which means my sub's gotta go, cos I don't fancy getting another amp... hmm, any recommendations? is the receiver portion of the Sony still working? Only the dvd player is dead, the rest is good... I could link the el cheapo enza to the sony unit, but it'll be a hassle everytime I wanna watch anything... Just check the resistance of your speakers - some of these are 4ohm types, so make sure your new purchase can power it. For 5-600$ there are many amps, not just only what is in What Lo Fi See recent threads which talk about Marantz, Onkyo, Denon models. A newer models may have auto-eq and HDMI if thats important to you. Lastly the speaker cables of these HITBs are pretty weedy, so they may need upgrading later. Speakers are all 3ohms impedence. I'm more used to seeing 4ohms though. I wonder if most a/v receivers are able to drive 3ohms speakers? So which reference materials are better that "What Lo-fi?" :P Still using CRT, not into HDMI, blu-ray, and those funky stuff yet, haha... And I agree that the wires are pathetic, but as long as 80% of the signal gets through, I'm pretty alright with it for now. Keep the suggestions rolling! ;D
petetherock Posted April 7, 2007 Posted April 7, 2007 Speakers are mostly 6-8 ohms. Does your amp have a digital input? Use a budget av amp to drive 4ohm speakers can lead to destruction of your speakers (hey maybe then you can get rid of the Sonys...) Also with the original Sony wiring, that is a rate-limiting factor in the possible sound improvement, and so don't spend too much on speakers / amps fo now. A good reference? Use the search engine on this website, your questions on "$xxx on a new amp / speaker / dvd" are common questions, so have a look and bros in the local scene can help you. You should consider reading many mags, I read What Lo Fi too, (sometimes just for amusement) then others free on line: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/main.html http://www.homecinemachoice.com/ http://www.hometheatermag.com/archivescat.shtml http://www.guidetohometheater.com/ http://search.ecoustics.com/Editorial/Reviews/Surround-Receiver-or-Home-Receiver-or-AV-Receiver/ just to name a few, then find less than 3 to choose and audition from thats the key - Audition, sometimes the more opinions you canvass, the more confused you can get, cos everyone has their own taste, eg I prefer Marantz, another brother may like the digital Panasonic amp sound, no one is wrong, its your $$ and ears. Good luck thanks for the quick replies, response better than I'd expected. :) Speakers are all 3ohms impedence. I'm more used to seeing 4ohms though. I wonder if most a/v receivers are able to drive 3ohms speakers? So which reference materials are better that "What Lo-fi?" :P Still using CRT, not into HDMI, blu-ray, and those funky stuff yet, haha... And I agree that the wires are pathetic, but as long as 80% of the signal gets through, I'm pretty alright with it for now. Keep the suggestions rolling! ;D
SiriuslyCold Posted April 7, 2007 Posted April 7, 2007 Only the dvd player is dead, the rest is good... I could link the el cheapo enza to the sony unit, but it'll be a hassle everytime I wanna watch anything... how so? if the Sony has a digital input, it wont be much different from hooking up your enzer to any other AV receiver - other than having to select another input on the display have you tried repairing the Sony - oftentimes its just the tray/lens and not that expensive to repair. of course if you really want a AV receiver, then all this is moot
kirin Posted April 8, 2007 Author Posted April 8, 2007 how so? if the Sony has a digital input, it wont be much different from hooking up your enzer to any other AV receiver - other than having to select another input on the display have you tried repairing the Sony - oftentimes its just the tray/lens and not that expensive to repair. of course if you really want a AV receiver, then all this is moot I ended up linking my enzer to my sony via optical link. Essentially no different from treating the sony as an a/v receiver like you've pointed out. I guess these all-in-one systems have speakers with weird impedances, so driving them with something else may be difficult. The sony was bought from harvey norman, and I was wise to get the extended warranty as it started having problems after the 3-year original warranty ended. However, I've sent it back more than 5 times for similar faults (unable to read media), so much so that I've pretty much given up on the player. Seems like the system can tahan a while more though... so now I have one less excuse to splurge, haha... ;D
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