Well, I caved and finally went for the str-dg820, for 330 euro delivered. I didn't see much movement in price and don't trust the new model enough - it takes too long to get here, and I'm worried the old model will be mostly gone by then (it's not widely available anymore - all the other good offers I could find were sold out already with prices now starting near 400 euros, and with the DH700 already out at 300 euro, I'm thinking the new model will be at least 400 euros as well).
I really have been wanting a proper surround system (vs pro-logic I) for a looooooong time now. I'm very interested in finding out the differences. I've been listening more closely lately and trying the different modes, and noticed that when I turn on dolby surround I clearly lose some of the upper sound range. I'm also interested in finding out how bad my original rear-speakers are in terms of range.
(and how good my ancient Wharfdales hold up).
The things I'm looking forward to:
- proper 5.0 surround (personally I don't care much about subwoofers, and it may be a while before I use 7.0 rather than 5.0, considering the space I use the receiver in is - unfortunately - rather small, about 10 m2, though I may still go for it anyway). While I have had surround since 1992 which is way longer than anyone I know here, its decoded from 2 channels which loses some sound quality, rear speakers only get a limited range, and they are not stereo - it's just one rear channel. When you think about it it's still amazing how good that sounds! The really big thing is that the center speaker does wonders for positioning speech near the tv properly, and that the rear speakers do a great job in creating believable reverb which really greatly improves the spatial soundscape. So big cudos for that early surround!
- and so with that, being able to get the ultra-high quality sound from the games and the bluray discs over the separate channels to the separate speakers without having been da'd and mixed into 2 channels and then back - probably converted back to digital, and then again back to analog
to four channels over 5 speakers. I'm really, really curious how much difference this makes (and whether my speakers / hearing is good enough to tell
).
- being able to plug in the hdmi cables into the receiver and then one cable from there to the TV. My TV's second HDMI port somehow has some kind of slight interference or something causing me to currently plug in my HD cable box using Component
- being able to have music on without having the TV on. Technically this was possible already but not without confusing my wife too much (she'd have to switch channel on the tv as well as the receiver - now it's receiver only). I can stream music through PS3 (DNLA), have a fair number of CDs ripped to it, and the cable box has a lot of music channels as well (will definitely get the PS3 slim when it gets here at some point just to save power though
- I'll take the other to the study
)
- not have to go through the ext1 and ext2 when switching inputs from HDMI to Component on my TV as I couldn't find a way to disable these altogether and I don't use them - in fact, I won't have to switch inputs on my tv anymore)
- have separate digital audio inputs on my receiver, so that I can for instance plug in my Roland XV5050 or mixing panel into one of those directly should I want to (probably not too often in the living room, but still)
- do more with just the one remote (hopefully saves me from getting a Harmony or something similar, although I know this remote isn't the best)
- replace my 17 year old and slightly weary STR HD515, which has one or two inputs that are a bit loose (I guess I could fix it but ... ), the remote is starting to get old, etc.
Not looking forward to:
- all modern amps are deeper than my current, and won't fit easily into my cupboard. However, personally I've always wanted to put my PS3 upright next to the tv, as that's more convenient especially now that we put a cover over the cupboard to prevent the devices from being molested by my son, and the PS3, although it's fine where it is, can use the extra ventilation when it's hot in the summer.