[Ron D]

I'm quite sure that Onkyo does not output SACD via the digital outputs, either coax or optical. Very few companies have this capability- Emm Labs & dCs are two that I know of. All SACD output from this machine will be by the analog outputs only AFAIK

[jermmd]

Besides the bass management limitations, would this universal player make a good match fot the McCormack MAP-1 Multi Channel Preamp?
What other setup options (such as speaker size and distance) are absent?  Does this player offer DTS and Dolby digital music modes?

I'm thinking of simplifying my setup to a uniplayer, 5 channel analog preamp and 5 channel amp to powered sub and speakers (5.1 setup). I want great 2 channel music plus all the movie modes.

What do you think?

Joe M.

[Ears]

Besides the bass management limitations, would this universal player make a good match fot the McCormack MAP-1 Multi Channel Preamp?
What other setup options (such as speaker size and distance) are absent?  Does this player offer DTS and Dolby digital music modes?

I'm thinking of simplifying my setup to a uniplayer, 5 channel analog preamp and 5 channel amp to powered sub and speakers (5.1 setup). I want great 2 channel music plus all the movie modes.

What do you think?

Joe M.

This player offers the best built in dd/dts I have ever heard so yes it would be great for using the MAP-1 for movie surround.

[zybar]

There is a MAP preamp at a pretty good price on Audiogon right now:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatran&1103770778

The few reviews on the unit are pretty darn positive.

There is also a UDP-1:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlplay&1105328631

I am not affiliated with either seller in any way.

George

[JoshK]

If you are a DIYer do a search for Davey's 6ch VCA on the apogee forum.  State of the art 6 channel volume control for ~ $200-300.

[andy_c]

What other setup options (such as speaker size and distance) are absent?

All that stuff is there.  For front and rear speakers, you can do large or small.  For the subwoofer, you can do on and off.  For the surround and center speakers, you have large/small/off options.  You can set distances, and also calibrate levels with each one individually using a calibration tone.  It's only missing the fancy variable crossover frequencies that the Denons have.

The manual can be found here http://63.148.251.135/redirect_service.cfm?type=own_manuals&file=DVSP1000.pdf

The analog audio out configuration begins on page 76 of the manual.

[jermmd]

Boy, this sounds like a real possibility.  The audiogon ad for the MAP-1 is what prompted me into thinking about this setup.  The UDP-1 is more expensive and perhaps not as good.  Hence the title of this thread.

Does the Onkyo Universal player do DTS/Dolby music surround formats?  I'll check the manual now (thanks for the link).  Off topic: Is there some way to connect my Dish HDTV receiver to the MAP-1 and get prologic/ Dolby Digital?

Joe M.

[Ears]

I have seen two comparisons of the sp 1000 for audio against a 2k Sony xa777es and a 3k Marantz sa-14 at Audiogon and the Asylum were both owners prefer the Onkyo right out of the box to there former stand alone audio players.

I have read dozens of opinions on this universal and it would seem that unlike every other player at anywhere near its price...this is  THE universal with universal acceptance from everyone

Add to that, the best build quality, the best remote and faster reaction times for loading and swithcing tracks ect, and the sp 1000 is as close to perfect as your likely to see or hear in this price range...or anywhere near it.

[J North]

Is there a definitive answer whether or not the SP1000 converts DSD to PCM?

[arminia]

Jermmd
I use the Bel Canto 6 channel preamp and a Denon 2900. To get DD off satellite I bought a Klipsch DD 5.1 processor which was less than $200. Works just fine.

[lkosova]

Caryaudio is coming out with three multiplayers very soon. They are waiting for the new chip to make it way to them. The SACD will be around $5,000 but the other two will be multiplayers that will do all formats with HDMI and DVI. One will be $3,000 and the other will be $1500.

I have the Cary Audio cd/dvd 6 that got great review in Sensible Sound and it is a perfect match for the VMPS RM-30's. It spews midrange...yes the cd player spews midrange and has gone on to audition with some very good players side by side.

There will be several more Cary dvd/cd 6 reviews coming out very soon....This is a 35 lb yes 35 lb player that is very stable. Soundstage,detail,width,clarity and an excellent dvd player to boot. Colors are outstanding.

Even as a dealer for VMPS, Cary etc this is in my current setup at home!!!


Check it out....I have had many Denon and other players side by side and I just do not see the comparison.

Larry Kosova
www.audioandimage.com

[Ears]

Caryaudio is coming out with three multiplayers very soon. They are waiting for the new chip to make it way to them. The SACD will be around $5,000 but the other two will be multiplayers that will do all formats with HDMI and DVI. One will be $3,000 and the other will be $1500.

I have the Cary Audio cd/dvd 6 that got great review in Sensible Sound and it is a perfect match for the VMPS RM-30's. It spews midrange...yes the cd player spews midrange and has gone on to audition with some very good players s ...

I am sure the Carys are nice for audio... but the sp 1000 is considered to be the best 1 box dvd playback  (picture quality)regardless of price currently available.

And JVB Digital just added this player to there sdi modded players list in case anyone needs a slightly better 2 box solution.

They also have a region free mod.

[lkosova]

Ears,

I will not get into a "mine is better" issue. We all like what we have to a point. I am a price point guy and at the price point the quality it first rate. There will be several high end reviews coming out soon on this machine and I think you will see my point. I just have compared this to some machines and the picture is just better. No lip sync problems and colors are outstanding. It sorta makes my Infocus 7200 look better then with other players. It could be the Screen Research screen also???

I just saw a player at Costco for something like $39.00. The people that buy this most likely think that these produce great pictures also!!!

Larry

[gitarretyp]

I picked up a 3910 a couple of weeks ago with the intent of modding it but ended up returning it. I found it rather siblant, congested in the mids, bloated/muddy bass, and the resolution and detail were very lacking compared to my marantz sa-14 (of course it shouldn't be as good as the marantz, but the difference was quite large). I also don't usually like to use this term, but i found it rather lacking in prat. It just never got my toe tapping to the music. I also was rather dissappointed with the video. Macroblocking and noise drove me crazy (yes, i tried adjusting my display and the denon to get rid of these annoyances). On certain SACDs, the transport was clearly audible at my listening position. The noise would die down after the first few tracks on the discs, so i think the transport may have been poorly setup.

I just received the onkyo sp1000 yesterday to replace the denon. So far, i am much happier with the onkyo. There is some noise in the picture (no more than i noticed with the denon); but macroblocking is not present, and colors are more vibrant and deeper. The transport is at least as quiet as my marantz was. I can't evaluate the audio or sync issues yet as my amp is down at the moment. Hopefully, i'll have it fixed in the next few days. I'll keep everyone posted.

[wshuff]

The Cary made it into the latest Secrets shootout.  The score wasn't that high, but Kris still seemed impressed.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=121

In fact, here's his quote from a thread on AVS:

If Cary Audio made a universal player that was along the lines of the DVD-6 I would DEFINATELY be checking that one out. I was blown away by the quality of that player. If you are big into 2-channel audio and don't care for the new high resolution formats that is definately one to take a look at.

[Rob Babcock]

You guys know I'm a fanatical booster of MC and DVD-A/SACD, but even I'm not really sure it's worth spending $2k on a universal right now, at least with Blu-Ray/HD-DVD on the horizon.  I'm a "glass half full" kinda guy when it comes to MC, but the news isn't great.  In fact, my local BB recently cut the size of the SACD section by nearly 50%.   BB is the 2nd largest music retailer in the US, right behind Wally World, so this may be telling.  It looks like they're giving up on SACD, and if they are, will the other retailers be far behind?  You know if it was selling and making money they wouldn't be scaling them back/phasing them out.

Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray are capable of supporting full quality MLP and DSD.  DSD has already been accepted, in fact.  Oddly, Sony has been mum so far about whether or not DSD will be part of the Blu-ray spec.  But it's certainly technically possible.

I foresee that the SACD/DVD-A format as we currently use it may be on the way out, to be replaced by hi rez music on some high def DVD format.  Buying any digital electronics carries some risk of obsolescence, I'll admit.  But I wouldn't sink my money into a new high end universal right now.

[Ears]

You guys know I'm a fanatical booster of MC and DVD-A/SACD, but even I'm not really sure it's worth spending $2k on a universal right now, at least with Blu-Ray/HD-DVD on the horizon.  I'm a "glass half full" kinda guy when it comes to MC, but the news isn't great.  In fact, my local BB recently cut the size of the SACD section by nearly 50%.   BB is the 2nd largest music retailer in the US, right behind Wally World, so this may be telling.  It looks like they're giving up on SACD, and if they are ...

Rob, the first hd dvd players will be more than 2 k, whith the exception of Sony Playstation 3, and most only pay from 1450.00- 1600.00 for there 2k universal players.
If....hd dvd arrives next year...it will be many years before there will be any amount of software worth buying, and that software is going to cost considerably more than regular dvd....making the likelyhood of people rebuying anything except there favorite movies slim, for some time to come.
As far as renting hd dvd...thats not going to happen until years after the hardware is released.
Remember...last year a lot of people said we would have hd dvd in 04.

As far as sa-cd ... there were around 870 releases in 04 and my 3 local BB'S have 3 times as many sa-cd titles as dvd-a...and this is not counting all the hybrids mixed in with the redbook cd's.
Even so.. the selection of hi rez is pitifull in retail stores.

BB....is no indicator for hi rez sales imo... just as the RIAA is not a valid indicator for hi rez sales.

Only a few big labels even report to the RIAA and whith over 80 labels making sa-cd, its easy to figure that sa-cd most likely has had its best year so far and will continue to grow as a niche format as long as they continue to release them.

Most buy there hi rez online were the selction is vast, and BB,Sony,Warner ect have basically no marketing plan for hi rez which is definitly always going to be a niche format.

I can see why anyone might hesitate to buy a 2k universal, just not for your  mentioned reasons.

Happy Holidays to everyone
Greg

[Rob Babcock]

I don't think there's any chance HD-DVD will cost that much; even Blu-ray will likely be cheaper than that.  Of course it'll be awhile before there's much out, but honestly, do you think 900 SACDs in all the years the format has existed is a lot?  With respect, I think what BB sells is a huge indicator of the "pulse" of the music market.  My local BB has the same number of SACD titles as DVD-A, but again, that's part of my point- they carry very few of either.  And you know what's in the space the SACDs used to occupy?  Music DVD videos.

I do agree with you, Ears, that neither Sony nor any of the rest have ever had any marketing plan for SACD.  Nor DVD-A for that matter.  Both likely will survive in some form, although I think the mass market has spoken.  And the word is apathy.  No one cares about them and I don't really think either format will really ever be "successful" in the way LP, CD, DVD, VHS, cassette tape or MP3 have been.

Whether or not $2k it reasonable for a universal player designed to play 3 formats in their twilight years is debateable.  Certainly it makes no sense to me, but someone with a lot of money, well why not.  There's a lot of interesting software already out, although little of it is mainstream.  And every newsletter I get from the online music sellers seems to be full of SACD cancellations.

If $2k is reasonable for something that will almost certainly be obsolete in 2-3 years, then lay your money down.  I don't mean that sarcastically, I just honestly think that's about how long the current formats have to live.  Many of us have to make our purchases last longer than that, but lots don't.  I guess if I had cash to burn I'd be pretty interested in the Denon 3910.  But I can't afford one now and don't think spending that much on a DVD/SACD/DVD-A deck is logical.  YMMV.

[Ears]

I don't think there's any chance HD-DVD will cost that much; even Blu-ray will likely be cheaper than that.  Of course it'll be awhile before there's much out, but honestly, do you think 900 SACDs in all the years the format has existed is a lot?  With respect, I think what BB sells is a huge indicator of the "pulse" of the music market.  My local BB has the same number of SACD titles as DVD-A, but again, that's part of my point- they carry very few of either.  And you know what's in the space ...

Rob....I am not rich...I am a construction sub contractor

Your opinion definitly has validity as far as hi rez but I said almost 900 releases in 04 alone for sa-cd...there are well over 3k sa-cd releases and sa-cd and dvd-a were always going to be niche formats whith never a chance at mainstream even whith marketing.

There are just too many forms of cheap or free music available, not to mention a lot of people use music as background noise as opposed to actually listening to it these days.

[Rob Babcock]

Yeah, there's thousands of each available; if a person never looks at Music Direct and the like you'd never realize you can get a lot of music on DVD-A, too.  My only concern is that I don't feel there's ever going to be a lot of new pop/rock music for either format.  

I'm not ready to declare the formats dead, and I hope that's not how I'm coming across.  It's just that I'm not confident enough in their future viability of spend $2k on a player.  Nothing wrong with doing so if you already have a lot of discs, though, IMO.  I have about 70- I was buying them at a pretty good clip til I ended up losing my job.  Several months of unemployment pretty much kept me from buying a lot of new stuff.

I do still encourage anyone to give DVD-A (and SACD) a shot.  Who knows, maybe they'll yet manage some type of promotion of them that'll lead to some sales.