Does the FM antenna that came with your tuner amp/stereo receiver suck?

Dolby-Tru HD/DTS-MA is only found on Flu-ray disks. They provide an uncompressed audio sound of the soundtrack. Your player will do what is called the first unfold but your receiver would need to be compatible to do the final unfold. Even with the first unfold the sound is better than on a DVD.

Sounds like your receiver may not have some of the features I assumed it would. If you give me the model number again I will look it up.

If you have a way to make it look good consider a matching center channel speaker to your mains to make a 3.1 set up.


JDBarrow said:
Pardon me, my memory is short sometimes. I post stuff and forget about it soon. I already have about $1,000 invested into this new damned home stereo gear, including home-customized furniture that is still in the building right now, which I'm incorporating into my existing living room Samsung television and Panasonic Blu-Ray video sytem. I just hope I can get the whole damned thing eventually working to my satisfaction and looking good on the entertainment rack. That's all.

FM reception is of least importance to me. Playing music from my music collection and actually ENJOYING it is of the utmost importance. TV broadcast sound as in football games as well as DVD/Blu-Ray movie audio is of the next priority. Sound for computer gaming is the next highest priority. What I will eventually have is a 2.1 channel audio system for home entertainment. There will be two main floor speakers and a "big-gass" subwoofer.

The new $400 Marantz networking audio receiver of mine is not a full-on "home theater/surround sound/Dolby ProLogic" unit but it is not a bare-bones old-fashioned stereo tuner-amp by the same token. It's somewhere in the middle of the road. My new Marantz does not even have the DOLBY Double D trademark printed on it anywhere. There is nothing "DOLBY" sound-wise about it. My cheap Pansonic Blu-Ray player ($100 new in 2014) does in fact have the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio logos on the back panel whatever the devil that means. I think it it is a surround-capable movie disc player. I suppose a 2.1 audio setup might be dubbed as "semi-surround" by some.

Audio and video tech of today has a bunch of techy-geeky terminology associated with it. The messy tech-speak language is about as bad as computers and smartphones.

I mean what in the world is "sample depth" and "sample frequency" when Wikipedia is talking about "DTS-HD".

Suffice it to say, I either like the way a home stereo sounds or a TV picture looks or I don't.
Click to expand...
 
Mr Peabody said:
Dolby-Tru HD/DTS-MA is only found on Flu-ray disks. They provide an uncompressed audio sound of the soundtrack. Your player will do what is called the first unfold but your receiver would need to be compatible to do the final unfold. Even with the first unfold the sound is better than on a DVD.

Sounds like your receiver may not have some of the features I assumed it would. If you give me the model number again I will look it up.

If you have a way to make it look good consider a matching center channel speaker to your mains to make a 3.1 set up.
Click to expand...

Here is a link to a video for my exact Marantz model. I don't think there is a feasible or elegant way to put in a center speaker the way my new rack is designed.

 
OK, your receiver is stereo and 2.1 will be the best you can do for movies/TV. No auto set up or some of the other stuff I talked about. Sorry about that I should have checked the receiver sooner.

You do have HDMI ARC. This would allow you to send TV sound to the receiver. It's like a 2-way transmission between the TV and receiver, information goes both ways. However, you already have, and are using the digital cable so this is just FYI.

You also have HEOS built-in streaming. You would need to download the app. This will allow you to stream music using your phone or tablet from the app. You can also add HEOS compatible speakers in other rooms or take them outside to hear. Most of the music services require a subscription, like Spotify, Tidal etc. This is a better method than Bluetooth in my opinion. Your receiver does have the Bluetooth or Airplay though. I should add streaming from HEOS the information comes in from the internet.

There is also an app that allows you to be able to control your receiver if you wish.

Your receiver has a decent built-in DAC so you can run a digital connection from your computer into the NR1200. There may be a way you can do that via Wyfi but that's not my area of expertise.
JDBarrow said:
Here is a link to a video for my exact Marantz model. I don't think there is a feasible or elegant way to put in a center speaker the way my new rack is designed.

Click to expand...
 
Mr. Peabody:


Here is how I connect all the components now:

TV to receiver via digital optical cable
Blu-ray player (also plays DVD and music CD) to TV via HDMI cable
PC to TV via HDMI cable
receiver to sub via RCA subwoofer cable
receiver to main speakers via 18 gauge copper speaker wire
Android Moto phone to receiver via Blutooth pairing

I could also play digital music from the PC to the receiver via the TV. I have to have the TV to use as a PC monitor anyway. Will digital music coming from the PC via HDMI to the TV and then to the receiver via digital optical sound better than digital music coming driectly from the phone to the receiver via Bluetooth? I will have to try this one day. I still need to load up my music collection onto the set-top TV PC.

My Marantz NR1200 receiver does have an extra sub pre out RCA jack for an optional second subwoofer. I guess one could call two mains and two subs a "2.2" sound sytem.

My Marantz in theory could support A+B speakers if the impedence was high enough on all the speakers. A+B is just two-channel stereo with four main speakers in the works.

Four main speakers over two channels plus two subs might be called "2+2.2".
 
I never thought of a stereo receiver as sounding BRIGHT or DARK. I think that is more in the equalizer, bass and/or treble settings. I think the Musicolet player equalizer ROCK setting on my phone sounds BRIGHT while "BASS and TREBLE" setting sounds darker and richer.

I like BASS and TREBLE for pipe organ, 1950's/1960's rock and roll and classical music while I like the ROCK setting for 1970's/1980's pop as well as for jazz.

BASS and TREBLE is reminiscent of the days when home stereos generally didn't have equalizers. Older stereo phonographs often had a LOUDNESS control instead of a VOLUME control.
 
Your connections are fine.

Do you use a streaming music service? If so and it's on your computer that's fine. You could also utilize the HEOS feature on your receiver.

JDBarrow said:
Mr. Peabody:


Here is how I connect all the components now:

TV to receiver via digital optical cable
Blu-ray player (also plays DVD and music CD) to TV via HDMI cable
PC to TV via HDMI cable
receiver to sub via RCA subwoofer cable
receiver to main speakers via 18 gauge copper speaker wire
Android Moto phone to receiver via Blutooth pairing

I could also play digital music from the PC to the receiver via the TV. I have to have the TV to use as a PC monitor anyway. Will digital music coming from the PC via HDMI to the TV and then to the receiver via digital optical sound better than digital music coming driectly from the phone to the receiver via Bluetooth? I will have to try this one day. I still need to load up my music collection onto the set-top TV PC.

My Marantz NR1200 receiver does have an extra sub pre out RCA jack for an optional second subwoofer. I guess one could call two mains and two subs a "2.2" sound sytem.

My Marantz in theory could support A+B speakers if the impedence was high enough on all the speakers. A+B is just two-channel stereo with four main speakers in the works.

Four main speakers over two channels plus two subs might be called "2+2.2".
Click to expand...
 
JDBarrow said:
I never thought of a stereo receiver as sounding BRIGHT or DARK. I think that is more in the equalizer, bass and/or treble settings. I think the Musicolet player equalizer ROCK setting on my phone sounds BRIGHT while "BASS and TREBLE" setting sounds darker and richer.

I like BASS and TREBLE for pipe organ, 1950's/1960's rock and roll and classical music while I like the ROCK setting for 1970's/1980's pop as well as for jazz.

BASS and TREBLE is reminiscent of the days when home stereos generally didn't have equalizers. Older stereo phonographs often had a LOUDNESS control instead of a VOLUME control.
Click to expand...

You will find that as you dive into the realm of better gear, they have no tone controls or equalizers. For the most part, we get what sounds good without adjustments. My Luxman has tone controls but they are never used. Line Straight bypasses the circuit and eliminates the tone controls which is preferred. Lesser units may them need to get what they lack to begin with. Some people fiddle with equalizers or TCs with every album or disk they play.
 
The idea of no tone controls is better, is left-over from older last century designs. New designs have no quality problems.
It's each audiophile's time, money and enjoyment.
Feel free to adjust frequency response to taste.
 
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