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Happines in one box. Can it be?


jdm56

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Sony has introduced two "one-box" A/V components, combining a five-channel receiver with a DVD/CD/SACD player. One is a single-disc machine rated 100Wx5. The other is a five-disc changer with 120Wx5. Both feature digital amplifiers and digital volume controls, and maintain the signal in digital form from disc to amp. This integrated design has allowed them to use the same dsp on SACD signals as can be used for everything else. (bass management, channel level, time delay, etc.) Could this be too good to be true, or a dream come true? Can an inexpensive 5-channel digital amp have true hi-fidelity? Does anyone know anything about these components? I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of driving a klipsch heritage speaker set-up with one little box. Could it work? Would the sound quality suck like the proverbial French trollop? Have I lost my grasp of reality?

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jd, that's a good question. shy of eartesting them i guess one would have to find out & take a look at the dacs, dsp, other components used in them.

myself i'm already sunk in the seperates route. just hoping for upgrades to better & simpler connections like firewire sometime in the near future.

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Maybe I'm just gettin' old. (I know I'm gettin' poor!) I've been through all the box phases: the more boxes the better (phase 1); the more MATCHING boxes the better (phase B); the fewer matching boxes the better (phase 3); and now, the "gee, maybe one box is best" phase, AKA phase 3.5. At this rate of de-evolution, I'll soon be ready for the Bang & Olufson phase, AKA JUST HANG THE DANG THING ON THE WALL, FRED! ...otherwise known as phase B4U-di12.gif

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I dunno. I have had good experience with Sony ES products. And remember, the AVD-S50ES is an all-digital 5-channel receiver with DVD/SACD. Digital data processed and amplified digitally. There should be no noise added. Still, I'd love to see some specs or test results. This could be a harbinger of things to come, as the world moves towards all-digital A/V components. Particularly in light of the copyrights holders justifiable anxiety over loss of control and income, partially due to illegal copying and distribution of "product".

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In spite of my 'separates' comment above James, I too was hoping for some input on the component you spoke of. It seems it would be nice in some applications.

I too have had good luck with SonyES products in the past. One must keep in mind that you generally get what you pay for and a $300 receiver will never outperform $3000 separates.

Keith

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T2K,

I think maybe it's just too new on the market to get much, if any feedback. I haven't even been able to find a review, or for that matter, to find it on Sony's own website. (which sucks out loud, btw!) Maybe Sound & Vision will check it out soon.

Crutchfield has a 30-day return policy though, no questions asked. So I may have to just get one and see for myself. Of course, they're the highest priced outfit on the web.8.gif

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  • 2 weeks later...

As usual, I'm a day late and a dollar short. I've seen some more of these digitally amped "one-box" rigs at even lower price points. So what's the scoop on these things? Are they cheap crap, or what? Seems the digital amps I've read about have all been very expensive, high-end designs. Now, little to my knowledge, these inexpensive, multi-channel digital dvd/receivers are popping up. Sony, Sharp and Panasonic, mostly. Are they, or at least the somewhat higher priced Sony ES variants worthy of the term "hi-fi"? If anyone has ANY experience with these things, I'd be interested in hearing it.

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