Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Please Help me spend my money

Once I get my XBox 360, (which will be god knows when because I couldn't afford to reserve one and now that I can, their crazy backordered) I will have a dilemma. I'm almost positive that my TV has only one set of component inputs and I will have my DVD player and new XBox to run through my Reciever now. Problem is, when my dad got his turntable I switched him recievers so now I have a Denon 1604 which is a fine reciever, but I see that it only has a 30 MHZ bandwith for the component switching and I don't want to suffer from any visible degradation.

I wish XBox had an HDMI output so I could utilize that but it looks like Component is the only answer for now. So, this dilemma (coupled with the fact that I want "more" reciever) has prompted me into looking for another reciever. I've had a Sony and two Denon's, now I think I want to try a Harman Kardon. I've been looking at the 235, 240, 335, 340 lines. Factory Refurbished or discounted etailers is the way I'm looking. I've noticed that those recievers have a 50 mHz component bandwith switching capabilities. Is this enough? Could someone please let me know what the minimum Component bandwith is for no visible degradation. I wouldn't mind going to a newer Denon (as the specs say they have 100 mHz bandwith) as they have proven reliable and feature ladden, but for some reason I've been itching to try a H/K. The main reason is for the Bass MGT and call me crazy but I want to try the "warm sound." Please no remarks or fighting over this one fellas.

Budget is around $400 including shipping (although I'd prefer to spend less). Off the top of my head the important features that I want are PLIIX, Logic7 (hopefully these decoders are better than regular PLII), Bass MGT, and high component bandwidth. Other features like Auto EQ/setup are unimportant to me as far as I know.

So can you gentlemen (or ladies if you're out there) recommend one of these receivers or an alternate choice that would fit my aforementioned criteria?

Oh, and I'll probably be making my purchase a week or two after christmas (probably about the time I will be able to get my hands on a 360). So I have time.

If it was my money, I'd purchase an HK. My reasons are mainly due because I can't stand Denon. I know, that's almost taboo considering there's lots of people who like them.

I wouldn't worry about HK's specs buddy, they are very conservative with their ratings/specs ect...



Sutter

Oh, I'm not worried about the power aspect, I just want a high quality reciever(which I know the HK is) that will provide me with visuals the way the game or DVD intended. I noticed between the 235 and 335 the only difference I could see was 5 more watts per channel. So basically, does the 240 have any major differences over the 235 that I should worry about?

Well I can tell you one, out of many, things that I like about HK's, and that's the ability to have full control over crossover settings.

Most receivers will allow you to set the crossever to whatever, but whatever you set it at, that's what it is for all channels. HK lets you set the crossover for each channel, and that's something that's huge to me. Might not be all that big of a deal to some, but it is to me.

Very few receivers gives you this ability either, usually you got to go with a pre/pro to get that. I was looking at perchasing the Yamaha RX-V4600, but I very well may go after the HK 635 by the time it's all said and done. At this point, it's too early to tell though. I'm still reseaching and comtemplating things.



Sutter

Next question, on somewhat related topic. I'm thinking about getting an Ipod Nano 4G. How does the downloading of music to the Ipod work? I know you can pay for songs through Itunes but I have over 150 CD's that I would much rather burn to my computer at a bit rate higher than 128KBPS (more on this later). Can I do this?

My computer only has Windows Media Player for music download/playback. And whenever I make copies of my CD's I select the "highest sound quality settings" and the MP3's still sound like crap. When I use my parents EASY CD CREATOR I notice no degradation in sound quality, even through my Axioms'. Do I need similar software to accomplish good sound quality through an Ipod? I may sound ignorant, but I know little about computers and Ipod's.

I want high sound quality because I may make copies for myself on disc format and I will be getting some Grado 125's for the listening.

I'm also considering an iriver HS-10? It's the 5Gig version that includes an FM tuner. Does the iriver allow different downloading to it so I can capture songs at a good sound quality?

I basically want near CD sound quality from my mini player that is small enough to wear during workouts yet will handle quality listening sessions as well as not break an arm and a leg for price. I understand that using a bit rate higher than 128 consumes more precious space but I must have good sound quality. Any suggestions or explanations would help very much.

Oh boy, I wish I could afford your conundrum. I just want a reciever that will get me by for now for 2-3 yrs until the whole HDMI 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 fiasco gets sorted out as well as DD+, True HD, and DTS-HD get incorporated into recievers at a reasonable price.

And yes, I do think I will be getting a HK. The bass management is the real deal breaker for me as well. I just gotta figure out which one.

I'm with you on the whole HDMI thing. It was the big reason why I was looking into the Yamaha RX-V4600.

My projector has HDMI connections, as do my dvd player, so I thought I'd go after a receiver that has the connections as well and take advantage of the whole HDMI thing. However, the more I learned, the less I liked, at least at this point in time. Besides, up until now, I've been running everything via component cables and have been completely blown away by the picture. Enough to hold me over for a while untill they get all this HDMI stuff straighten out anyways.


Sutter

You can absolutely rip at higher than 128. I rip at 160-256, depending on how I'm feeling on any given day. Generally, I find AACs (the primary format in iTunes) to be higher quality than MP3s at a given bitrate, but other people (violently) disagree. iTunes is a free download, btw, so you can get it and check out its burning capabilities for yourself. For reference, a 256 VBR AAC takes up about 11 GB for a 5 minute song.

Maybe that should be 11 MB? Otherwise a 4GB iPod would hold about 1.8 minutes using a variable bit-rate of 256. :-)

11G? That would be almost triple the capacity of a Nano for one song! I sincerely hope that is a mistake. When you say free download, do you mean I can download my Cd's to Itunes and then to my ipod for free? I'm still not understanding how the CD to Ipod ripping takes place and how you set the bit rates.

Oops, yeah 11 MB. I should know that.. I've got a 1 GB shuffle!

Per the CD ripping. I have no experience with AAC so I can't yay or nay kcarlile's post. Though, he tends to know what he is talking about. I personally use a program called Exact Audio Copy with the LAME encoder (both free) to do VBR (variable bit rate) MP3 encoding of my CDs. ARS Technica has a handy (and I think readable) guide on doing this. But, again K is correct, iTunes is free and will be easier to use than the setup I just suggested. Less configuring and downloading.

just more food for thought.

-jr

No, I tend to sound like I know what I'm talking about. There's a difference!

iTunes is better with AAC than MP3 IMO.
That being said, Exact Audio Copy with the Lame encoder does MP3s better than iTunes and its MP3s at the same bit rate sound better than iTunes AACs (all in my opinion). However, iTunes is MUCH easier to use.
Coming from someone who has ripped over 20 GBs in the last week.

I love my new iMac!!!!!

thanks for the replies guys. Next question, do I have to have an Ipod to register or download iTunes? And Exact Audio Copy is free, so where do I find this free stuff? I think I'd be willing to learn how to use the Lame encoder if it is worth the sound quality.

This will all be done during my Christmas break, so when I'm not working I'll have nothing better to do!

Quick Answer, The new xbox 360 has a dvi output, you could purhcase a dvi to hdmi hook up and that would solve your problem instead of blowing more money. Although i know how tempting it is to blow money on new toys.

Thanks for the reply michael. I'm thinking your making more sense than I am. If I go that route, I don't "need" a new reciever then. I probably should start saving for graduation so that I don't have to move back in with my parents. But isn't that what Tax returns and my spring bonus are for? Oh geez, the logical side in me is saying to save my money for more 360 games and get a DVI/HDMI converter cable.

I'll throw another free one into the mix that uses LAME encoding: CDex. Free, pretty user friendly, free, not buggy in the least, and...oh, yeah...it's free.

I tried EAC and for some reason that I don't recall now I didn't like it very much. Someone please correct me, but does EAC connect to CDDB? Maybe that was it...

What is the problem with having DVI and using a cable to convert to HDMI to connect your video projector or TV, especially if the audio is going to be processed by the receiver/preamp?

It's all digital, right?

By default EAC connects to FreeDB. You can get EAC here and the LAME software here.
You will need to extract the lame software into it's own folder then tell EAC to use an external codec and tell it where that codec is located on your computer.

From within EAC you choose EAC, Compression Options. That should open a window called "Compression Options". There is a tab titled Exteranal Compression, click it if it is not already chosen. In the first dropdown menu choose LAME MP3 Encoder. Below that is a field called "Program, including path, used for compression". Click the Browse button to the right of that and find where you unzipped the LAME program (LAME.exe). You can (though not recommended) set some command line parameters in the "Additional command line options" field. Seriously, it's not recommended. The support for it is confusing and the presets you can choose are great. Personally I choose Variable Bit Rate 192 from the Bit Rate drop down menu and High Quality. Well, at least on my machine at work. I think I have it set a bit higher at home, but that's purely psychological. There is no discernable difference in sound quality. So, yeah, you can use some of the switches, but that's really for geeky tweakers (not the meth kind thank you very much!) who can't leave well enough alone.

-j

iTunes is absolutely free--get it here.

Gawd, I sound like a bad ad.

Just give me that ol' Visa number and I'll help you spend all the money you want.