I'm the current owner of a 950/7100 combo and would like to downgrade/upgrade to a 1070 soon. I was wondering what your thoughts are on a few things.

1) I live in an apt and although I like to listen to my music loudish, the power I have now has been more tha ample. I'm even thinking that "downgrading" to 65W should be fine to drive my 7.1 Monitor bronze series speakers. If not, how much would it help to keep the 7100 and have that amp drive them? Should I just wait and see if I hear an audible difference?

2) I AM very excited to "upgrade" to the benefits of the 1070, including DVI switching. Given that I have a plasma I'd like to use strictly as a monitor and ( currently have to switch from component to S-Video on my plasma which is a huge pain), what is the best setup possible for running a newer DVD player and MOXI cable box with DVI out? I'm thinking Moxi should be DVI/coax, and DVD should be component/coax? Or should I get one of those newer high-def DVD players that have DVI-out? And is it consdiered higher quality to bypass the digital inputs for DVD and let the player doe the processing instead of the 1070? To reiterate, most important to me are a) convenience and b) quality of signal.

3. Lastly, any thoughts on the best sounding and best value device to listen to my 60G of mp3s that are stored on my computer (in office three two rooms away) on my new 1070?

Thanks for all the help...

Chris


Thanks!
Chrisser

I think you want a SqueezeBox2 . Mine sits atop my 950 via a digital optical connection and talks to my computer in my home office across an 802.11g LAN.

Did you compare it to Roku Soundbridge ? I'm planning on getting one of those guys in the next few months?

Mike, I have and use the Roku Soundbridge. I'm using it as a music source in my back porch, connecting to my home network wirelessly. After a few problems with the location of my wireless router, (which is placed in the cellar), it's worked flawlessly! One problem I did have was with Norton Anti-Virus not allowing the Roku to connect with Rhapsody. I had to change my anti-virus software, problem gone! Jim

P.S. Well worth going to the Roku Soundbridge forums and reading up on some of the tips given there. JEB

I have a pure 802.11G wireless network which I would have had to run in compatibility mode (802.11B) with the Soundbridge. I also wanted more active support for Slim Server which I like. They both seem to be in the same niche and have gotten good reviews I just felt better about the Squeezebox2 and its user community. I did not compare it to a Soundbridge in person so I am not saying it is better so just look at the features you need and either should be fine.

Any thoughts about #'s 1 or 2?

1) I live in an apt and although I like to listen to my music loudish, the power I have now has been more tha ample. I'm even thinking that "downgrading" to 65W should be fine to drive my 7.1 Monitor bronze series speakers. If not, how much would it help to keep the 7100 and have that amp drive them? Should I just wait and see if I hear an audible difference?

2) I AM very excited to "upgrade" to the benefits of the 1070, including DVI switching. Given that I have a plasma I'd like to use strictly as a monitor and ( currently have to switch from component to S-Video on my plasma which is a huge pain), what is the best setup possible for running a newer DVD player and MOXI cable box with DVI out? I'm thinking Moxi should be DVI/coax, and DVD should be component/coax? Or should I get one of those newer high-def DVD players that have DVI-out? And is it consdiered higher quality to bypass the digital inputs for DVD and let the player doe the processing instead of the 1070? To reiterate, most important to me are a) convenience and b) quality of signal.

1) I just posted some comments in another thread that might help answer this question - basically, my personal preference would be to hang onto the 7100 at least long enough to compare the two.

2) My experience with DVI cable boxes has been a bit interesting. From some comments I've read on AVS and some tinkering with my Pace box this year, it seems that cable box manufacturers have not yet (or at least not as of a year or so ago) been able to make use of the full benefits of a digital video output. My Pace box is a pretty decent HD cable box (better than the Scientific Atlanta stuff that is standard in my market), but the picture quality on HD channels is actually a little better on the component output than the DVI output. You might give the Moxi a try both ways, though, to see if the same is true in your case - if the two are comparable, you might even think about using the 1070's DVI switching to connect both the Moxi and a player like the Oppo Digital OPDV971H to the 1070 by DVI and coaxial digital audio. I suggest the Oppo because I've used one myself and been very impressed - for $200 and with a DVI or HDMI input on your TV (since the Oppo's upconverted digital is only available at the DVI output), it is a remarkably good piece of equipment.

As for the audio output from a DVD player, the only time that I would advocate using a player's onboard decoder would be for SACD or DVD-Audio (which in most cases require the decoding be done at the player to obtain the benefit of the high resolution audio). For DVD-Video, I always recommend using the digital audio output - not only is the decoder better in most receivers (particularly something at the level of the 1070) than in a DVD player, but you also gain the advantages of the receiver's bass management and additional processing modes (such as Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Digital EX, and DTS ES). Definitely stay with the digital audio output (coaxial or optical).

Gonk, thanks so much, your comments were really helpful.