i am looking to expand in to AV and integrat with my current spealers ( SOPRA 2)
It is often recommended to have matching centre speaker.
Is this necessary - am thinking cost here.
If i get the Sopra centre and second hand arcam or anthem receiver and the NAP V175?
I was thinking start with just L,R. and center channel - get a sub later then move to surrounds after.
Or is the money on the Sopra centre not worth it a cheaper center and surrounds in one go?
Any advice gratefully received.
I have Sopra 2s and use them with my Naim amp and AV amp. I use a switch to change from one amp to another.
I had a Focal Aria centre speaker but now don’t use centre speaker. I have it configured so that AV amp doesn’t use the centre. So effectively my AV set up is Left, Right, Rear Left, Rear Right and Sub.
I have found an improvement in getting rid of centre speaker.
Obviously the Focal Sopra centre speaker is in a different league and I am sure it would work very well.
I have a low slung AV unit/ TV stand and a new 65" TV so decided I liked the more simple looks without a centre speaker.
Interesting.
I find hearlng the dialogue often difficult in movies - getting the balance right hard.
My learing from this is either all out on the SOPRA or try what you have!
so you use the naim processor with your 500DR I guess this probhits 7.1 or 7.2 in the future - but good to know the naim processor will be fine with my 300DR
I don’t use Naim at all with AV amp. I have a switch between amps. Effectively I am using AV 4:1.
Dialogue is effectively stereo.
Thanks - excuse my ignorance - is there a particular switch you use? - the SOPRA2 are plugged into a switch so you can get music from your 500 system or front L/R Av channels from your av amp?
just asking as music is my no.1 priority so dont want the switch to interfere with that - realising my system is not on a par with yours!
Beresford TC 7220 MkII switch.
It allows connections with 2 sets of speakers and 2 amps.
Switch is a hub. One set of speaker cables from switch to Sopra 2s.
Then speaker cables from 500DR to switch
Speaker cables from AV amp to switch.
In addition I have another set of speaker cables for Focal Aria 936s in conservatory into switch.
So I can switch between 2 amps and 2 sets of speakers.
The switch is operated manually. I switch between them on daily basis depending if I am watching TV or listening to music.
I can also listen to music in conservatory/garden with 2nd set of speakers.
I set it up like that years ago when I had 82 and 135s.
There’s other ways of doing it.
This way I am not using my Naim system at all with AV. It is totally separate. But I am making best use of speakers on two amps.
Thanks Dan.
And the sub i guess you dont use that with music then?
Part of my thinking was a decent REL i could use for both - but maybe i could just go the other way and get an AV and spealer package and not even bother with twe affort of joining them up.!
May be simpler - just like the idea of sharing the sub
I don’t use the sub with the hifi stuff. For AV use only.
I don’t need a sub with Sopra 2s for listening to music. They are good enough as they are with the 500DR, and I am certain with the 300DR as well.
You can use the 252 in AV bypass mode to control left and right speakers, so they would be powered by the 300DR and then use an AV amp for the centre, rears and subwoofer.
I had the switch from when I had 82 and then 52 which didn’t have the AV bypass feature.
I am sure given what I have it would be quite easy to use the Naim for left and right channels.
Also if buying an AV amp you want one that works with 4k and 8k TVs. There is some compatibility issues with older AV amps. What are you going to use as a processor?
I believe some on here have used their main amp say a 300DR for left and right and a 175 for centre and two rear through an AV amp which is effectively used as a processor only. If you do some searches on here you will find further information. It could be the way to go.
For me I am quite happy for now with what I have. Be interesting how you get on. I see there is Focal Sopra centre and a 175 available on usual auction site at the moment.
many thanks - indeed i have seen them!
You certainly would want to get your centre speaker as close in ‘voice’ to your main speakers as you can. Matching is obviously best, if expensive!
If you use the AV bypass on your pre-amp that will give a great result but for additional amplification an alternative would be to use a processor with amplification for rears / ceiling (Arcam or Anthem would be my choice) and find a pre-loved Naim 145 mono amp for your centre speaker. They don’t come up often but a web search shows one with a UK dealer now.
Having tried other options for AV integration, I moved to this a year ago and haven’t looked back.
I totally understand about the match - but boy does this becone expensive - my primary concern is still music. So 2k on a centre speaker + potentially a stand is a lot to think about.
when i first got my SOPRA2 's i had a Naim 200DR poweramp and it was not good enough and until i got the 300DR i was not getting the quality those speakers deserved. So hence my question would a 175 or 145 be good enough? I am not going to get a new 350 mono amp for this - so its either a lower spec speaker or potentially not good enough amp.
Also there is the AV processor v AV amp issue. I would suspect the amp would be fine to power surrounds in which case getting an amp is the right decision but dubious an AV amp can handle a SOPRA centre.
Anyway thanks for all your replies.
Need to think if i really need the AV quality or just stick with a soundbar. My main thoughts were making extra use of my amazing SOPRA2 speakers!
For me my surround sound is pretty good. A £500 AV amp bought 8 years ago. 2 AE rear speakers and AE subwoofer and the Sopra 2s of course. It’s very good. And the Sopra 2s make it sound special.
It’s much better without Aria CC centre speaker as Sopra 2s are so good.
Music is my main thing sound quality wise, but AV is good enough for me. Dialogue is alot better without centre speaker in my set up. Sopra 2s make the AV system.
Would I change anything out?
When I got the TV I was getting glitches with AV amp glitching. I did firmware update on Yamaha AV amp and connected it to ethernet cable. After a few months all glitches stopped. I was looking at changing AV amp out at one point. But now it all works well. So I am quite happy with it.
I looked at the Sopra centre speaker and was tempted. I was dubious about changing out centre speaker Aria CC to using the Sopra2s alone for left, right and then changing configuaration on AV amp to not using centre speaker.
My findings were that Sopra 2s handling left and right and getting rid of centre speaker, with sound from centre processed to left and right worked.
The problem for me was I didn’t want to raise TV height and have it wall mounted. I thought I did. But when on a nice low slung AV unit I was hapoy with the looks and sound.
If I had all my AV boxes away from TV area and had the TV wall mounted then things maybe different.
It’s all dependent on room, looks and priorities.
For what it’s worth our two TVs have stereo Naim systems attached. Works well. No clutter. No issue with hearing dialogue.
We have gone the route of using an SN3 (in AV bypass) route for the front left and right and a NAPV-175 for the centre and rear channels. The old Arcam AVR600 now just acts as an audio processor as all of the video sources are routed direct to the TV and feeds line level audio to the Naim amps. Front 3 speakers are matched (PMC 20.23 and 20.C) but the rears are an old pair of Tannoy Revolution R1s. Sounds pretty decent though and probably more than enough for most.
Just an add on, but we do not use a sub, the PMC’s have more than enough low frequency extension for us to make this unnecessary.
Thanks all for your contributions.
Not sure what (if anything) I will do.
Sopra Centre is certainly a big investement - so my worry has alsways been if i get it will an AV amp center channel be able to power it or would i be finr with a cheaper or no center as some have sugeested
Anyway you have all got me thinking things trhough and am grateful for the input