New Ascend member (purchasing towers soon) with questions.

[bkana]

Hello All,

My name is William and I’m a new member on this forum and soon to be part of the Ascend family. After much research and countless hours pursing this forum I have decided to purchase the towers. Although I'm not new to the hobby, I have been recently getting more into HT, but have always been into audio , purchased my first “real” system while in the Marines oversees (Carver CM-1090 Integrated Amp, a Nakamichi Music Bank CD player and a pair of Polk speakers (Monitor 12 Series 2). There seems to be a lot of insightful and helpful people on this forum with a plethora of knowledge. With that said, I have decided to purchase the following components to put together my system, with questions to follow:

1. Marantz SR6007 (or 5007). The only real difference in these, that I can see is the DSD over HDMI offered by the SR6007. However, is it really worth it? I do plan on playing a number of SACD’s.
2. Oppo BDP-103. I like the versatility of this device and I haven’t really researched any others. I currently have a simple Samsung DVD player paired with my 55” Samsung LCD
3. And of course, the towers (Satin Espresso). I would get the RAAL upgrade, but the budget won’t allow it, and I think putting the money towards a center or sub would be better, your thoughts on that?

Since I will not have surrounds at first, is running the towers in full range preferred? If I add a center and or sub, how does that change that?

In terms of the center speaker, I cannot swing the horizon but would the CMT-340 SE pair well with the towers? If not, does anybody have any recommendations?

Getting back to DSD, is converting the DSD to PCM for delivery to the receiver the best way to handle DSD streams? I’m assuming if the DAC in the receiver can support DSD natively and the speakers are capable of running full range for the main channels, it can be a benefit as the signal does not have to go through the extra conversion processes.

I have other questions, mostly concerning equipment, but I’ll start with these and move forward.

Regards,
William

[bkana]

I realized that I probably should have posted the information/questions related to the equipment in the “Audio Electronics” section. I will do so.

[Kisakuku]

I realized that I probably should have posted the information/questions related to the equipment in the “Audio Electronics” section. I will do so.

I would stay in this forum, as the other sections get a LOT less traffic.

If you plan to use room correction (Audyssey) on the receiver, your DSD stream will get converted to PCM anyway. If you do care about room correction and especially if you might not have a sub for a while, I would get a receiver with XT32 instead of XT (Denon X4000).

The OPPO player is great but it's consuming a very large chunk of your budget. A ~$100 Sony BDP-S5100 can play SACD and BD just as well.

You said you cannot swing the Horizon center, is that because of lack of space or budget? I would think a Sierra-1 (or future Sierra-2) center is a better match than a CMT one. You really do want matching LCR speakers, so if the issue is budget, I would just wait until you have the funds for a Horizon and in the meantime use a phantom center.

Not sure what having surrounds or not has to do with running fronts full range.

[markie]

^^^ What he said!
Time is our friend. What is not in your budget now may yet be doable in the future. So concentrating on the now, I would get only the ribbon towers now and save up for things like subs and centres later. Subs and a good centre are needed for a truly great theatre experience, but ribbon towers make for a great start for a firm home theatre foundation. Afterall David thinks highly enough of the ribbon to be building the new Sierra2 around them, and you may need, er, want, them later for truly matching centre and surrounds.

Welcome to the forum William!

[bkana]

Thanks for the replies.

Kisakuku: Not getting the Horizon center was more about space constraint then budget. And since I’ll be in my current home for another 5 years or so, it simply isn’t going to work, hence the need or desire for an alternative. Also, I do care about having room correction, but won’t Audyssey still do it (room correction) without a sub present? I take it that bass management is also a feature that requires a sub to be present, correct?

Since I will be listening to primarily music, and HT a close second, do the ribbons matter that much? It would be nice to be able to demo both.

If Audyssey is not in play and I picked up the SR6007 (with DSD over HDMI), is that direct to the speakers from the source? I thought the PCM conversion has to be done somewhere regardless. I guess what I’m really getting at is if DSD is really that important.

Also, trying to get my head around DSD: Is it only relevant when it comes to SACD or are there other formats (DVD-A, Blue-Ray, etc…) that benefit/use it?

[Kisakuku]

Thanks for the replies.

Kisakuku: Not getting the Horizon center was more about space constraint then budget. And since I’ll be in my current home for another 5 years or so, it simply isn’t going to work, hence the need or desire for an alternative. Also, I do care about having room correction, but won’t Audyssey still do it (room correction) without a sub present? I take it that bass management is also a feature that requires a sub to be present, correct?

Since I will be listening to primarily music, and HT a close second, do the ribbons matter that much? It would be nice to be able to demo both.

If Audyssey is not in play and I picked up the SR6007 (with DSD over HDMI), is that direct to the speakers from the source? I thought the PCM conversion has to be done somewhere regardless. I guess what I’m really getting at is if DSD is really that important.

Also, trying to get my head around DSD: Is it only relevant when it comes to SACD or are there other formats (DVD-A, Blue-Ray, etc…) that benefit/use it?

Space issues could be solved in some creative ways; you should look at the photo thread.

Audyssey XT devotes disproportionaly more filter processing budget to the sub channel than to the satellite channels, so if you're running your mains full range, you will be under-utilizing Audyssey's potential. Audyssey XT32 would be an even bigger upgrade than usual for a system without a sub.

RAAL upgrade does make a lot of sense for a primarily music-oriented system.

Do not get hung up on trying to eliminate DSD to PCM conversion for SACD playback. There will be little if any discernible difference. BD and DVD-A are based on PCM.

[bkana]

Yes, I have seen the photo thread and I have done every bit of creative re-arranging I could think of to make it work. It simply will not work for my current situation. And that’s ok, I can always get it down the road. I do, however, still plan on getting a center speaker to maximize the HT experience, it’s just a question of getting one through Ascend or somewhere else. When it comes to the RAAL, I think it would sound phenomenal, but from what I’ve read so far, the NrT dome sounds great as well. Having the extra $700 to throw somewhere else would be beneficial. The towers (RAAAL or not) with the new equipment will be leaps and bounds over what I have now.

Thanks for the clarification on DSD, that helps narrow down the receiver choices.

[Kisakuku]

Yes, I have seen the photo thread and I have done every bit of creative re-arranging I could think of to make it work. It simply will not work for my current situation. And that’s ok, I can always get it down the road. I do, however, still plan on getting a center speaker to maximize the HT experience, it’s just a question of getting one through Ascend or somewhere else. When it comes to the RAAL, I think it would sound phenomenal, but from what I’ve read so far, the NrT dome sounds great as well. Having the extra $700 to throw somewhere else would be beneficial. The towers (RAAAL or not) with the new equipment will be leaps and bounds over what I have now.

Thanks for the clarification on DSD, that helps narrow down the receiver choices.

You should definitely get a center from Ascend to match the sound of your Towers. Maybe NRT Towers and Sierra-1 center with NRT would be a good interim solution for you. Then if you do get a Horizon in the future, you could get another Sierra-1 along with it, giving you a pair of matching surround speakers.