Yamaha DSP 800 to upgrade hifi amp for cinema sound

[piquet]

Does anyone have any experience of the Yamaha DSP 800E used upgrade a regular hifi amp to surround sound ?

I have an Arcam amp & CD player and some big Mission 734 speakers, so it would make sense to keep on using these by buying something like the Yamaha, plus a centre and two rear speakers. Is there anything wrong with this approach ? Is there anything I won't be able to do ?

Cheers !

[sideshowbob]

I've got one and it is great ... 6 channel in and out, with lots of digital inputs. Excellent decoding too.

The only problem is you can pick up a full av amp for about the same price and link the pre-outs to your Arcam. I did write a review when they first came out ... here (http://dvdtimes.co.uk/reviews/hardware/yammy800.html)

[lynx]

Iirc pgchimp partnered one with a nad amp.Keep an eye out for him,and get his comments.

[Richard46]

Hi Piquet
I have the following set up

Stereo Amp Musical Fidelity X-100AR with the Yamaha DSP e800 The MF drives Castle Harlechs for stereo and for fronts
Centre and surround are Boston micros.
I use an Arcam DV88 for DVD and CD.

I keep the Stereo CD path completely separate from the Yamaha. ie use the Phono outputs straight from the Arcam to the MF CD input.

I would reccomend the DSP 800 especially if you want surround sound but do not want to affect or compromise your existing Stereo sound wiithout spending a fortune.

Richard

[piquet]

Thanks for the review sideshowbob - printed it off to read.

Richard, thanks, that is exactly what I want to do - keep the CD setup separate from the surround sound, and also not fill the room with 7 speakers ! It's all beginning to make sense to me now!

How do you connect the hifi amp to the DSP800 ? The guy in my local hifi shop mentioned the Arcam's pre-amp connection.

Phil

[Richard46]

Hi Piquet

Dont know what your salesman is talking about; all the inputs (cd phono etc) are in effect 'pre-amp inputs', the one marked pre-amp or line out is a low level signal output (for daisy chaining extra power amps etc) so dont use that.

No, you just take the signal from the Main Line out (not the speaker connections) on the Yam to any available source input on the Stereo amp and set it to that when using AV source. The line outs on the Yam are just to the right of the speaker connections for the centre and rears.

If you link the co-ax from the dvd to the Yam and the Phono outputs from the dvd to a separate input on the Stero amp you can switch to that input when you just want cd stereo play.

Also make sure you do not have the yam set to DVD or you will get sound from all the speakers which IMO sounds terrible when using a 2 channel source. In fact I turn the Yam off completely when listening to music.

I think that will give you want you want. Hope its clear. If not Email me if you get the Yam and I will send diagram.

Richard

PS you could still link the DVD straight to the Arcam amp by phono if you get a full five channel AV amp as Sideshowbob mentioned. I would guess that you would need a fairly good and expensive AV amp to justify actually replacing your Arcam for 2 channel play.

[piquet]

You're a star Richard, thanks a million. That looks clear to me, and I'm pretty sure I will be making an investment sooner rather than later - especially now I found it for around £230 !

Thanks again,

Phil