Looking for some 990-related advice

I'm looking for some advise on an audio upgrade. I have lower end Adcom (stereo) components (10 years old), a powered subwoofer, and a cd player. I listen to cd's. I'm interested in moving to a setup where I store my music on my computer and access wirelessly. If I go with Apple TV, the DAC will be a big issue (I'm thinking optical out to a pre-amp). I don't have plans to add speakers and I suppose I will run my TV/DVD sound through whatever I end up buying, but HT is not my main concern.

Option 1: 970 + 7075 or 7125
Option 2: 990 + 7075 or 7125
Option 3: some other AV receiver or components
Option 4: stick with the adcom pre-amp, replace the stereo amp and buy a separate DAC to run the Apple TV through.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

If you don't already have an Apple TV, don't buy one. They aren't very good. You are better off getting a Mac Mini and using it for the same thing.

Apple TV is limited to 720p for one thing.

My brother went through this recently. He was an early adopter of the Apple TV and recently replaced it with a Mac Mini.

Oh and I'd go with the 990 and the 7125. Use the DACs in the 990. And more power is always a good thing.

http://scobleizer.com/2007/12/27/the-macmini-hdtv-revolution/

You are staying two-channel and just trying to migrate to a music server, right? If so, I'd suggest looking into something like the Slim Devices SqueezeBox. It has pretty respectable DAC's (they're Burr Browns, certainly more substantial than what is in the AppleTV) and it has a built-in display so you wouldn't need to have a TV on hand to operate it.

If you do decide to replace the Adcom gear with some home theater equipment, you might think about going with a pair of M2200's instead of a seven-channel amp.

Thanks for the responses BloggingITGuy and gonk. If I could just have a Mac Mini sitting next to my components that would be nice, but I would need a keyboard too, right?

Do either of you know how well the SqueezeBox works with Mac/itunes? My music-server-to-be is an imac. Gonk, I thought using the TV as a display might be a plus since I could see more in terms of directories and files, no? I guess I'm not sure how the display on the squeeze box looks in action.

I was looking through the online owner's manual for the M2200 and read that you should not put cd's, dvd's, manuals, etc "in-between multiple amplifiers in a stack." So, would it be ok to stack two M2200's?

You would need a keyboard, but there are some good wireless ones available for it. Some even match the look of the mac mini.

I'm not sure how SqueezeBox integrates with itunes, however you can see here http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_squeezebox.html? what the display on the SqueezeBox looks like.

Would basically allow you to listen to music without the TV being on.

In fact the Apple store sells the one my brother uses: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/We...nMore=MB167LL/A

$80

You can stack two or even three M2200's and be just fine.

If anyone plans to use a Mac Mini (or any Apple computer so far as I can gather) with an Outlaw 990, note that the 990 will not detect a DTS audio signal from the Mac.

I've brought this to Scott's attention and offered to lend them a Mac Mini to test with, but they didn't take me up on it. There seems to be no reason to believe a fix will appear for this issue in the near future.

Strangely, the 990 detects DTS from my Sony DVD and Toshiba HD-DVD players, and my Onkyo TX-SR600 receiver detects DTS from the Apple Mac Mini. But getting the Mac and 990 to play well together with DTS seems like a no go.

- Jason

Gonk,
Any idea how the Burr Browns in the SqueezeBox compare to the DAC's in the 990?

Your suggestion of two M2200's plus the SqueezeBox looks like the most practical solution. I could just stick with my Adcom pre-amp for now.

The SqueezeBox uses TI's PCM1748 DACs which resolve to 24 bit 96kHz while the 990 uses Analog Device's AD1852 DACs that resolve to 24 bit 192kHz.

Slbenz

Ah, I see. So the DAC in the 990 is twice as good.

I wouldn't say that 192khz is twice as good as 96khz in practical terms, but they will be better, yes.

Sorry, mine was a bit of a tongue-in-cheek reply.

Based on a little "research" today I'm still not sure about SqueezeBox vs. Apple TV. For streaming songs from an imac to a 990 the differences seem to be:

SqueezeBox doesn't require the TV to display menu/song playing (although TV might display more information)

Apple TV has a hard drive (could this prevent possible hiccup problems with wireless connection?)

SqueezeBox has a better DAC (not so important if using the 990 DAC)

The hard drive won't help you when streaming from the iMac.

It would only help you if you put content directly on it.

SqueezeBox also allows you to stream Pandora, which can be a cool added feature, plus out of the box SqueezeBox handles a lot more codecs (FLAC for instance) than Apple TV.

Gonk,
How would a two-channel plus powered sub set-up work with the 990? When playing CD's (using analog out to the 990) could I bypass all digital on the 990 and effectively have what I have now with the Adcom pre/amp, amp and powered sub? Or is this the very bybass issue that is being discussed in various other topic forums?

There are a couple issues there. First, yes, the bass management issue being discussed is I believe related largely to the analog bypass mode (haven't been all that active in that discussion, as it doesn't relate to the way I'm using the 990). Second, there is no analog bass management in the 990, so when you bypass the DSP section you must chose to either have no sub or to have double bass (the sub gets a summed full range copy of the left and right channels while left and right continue to get a full range signal).

While I am certainly very fond of my 990, I just wonder if a full-blown surround processor is the ideal pre-amp for a two-channel music system?

Not sure about the comparative costs, but we have had a Sonos system (www.sonos.com) for about 2 years now and are very pleased with it. The hand-held controller is great, and because Sonos sets up its own wireless network, you can use it anywhere in the house. The system can run off your computer or a NAS hard drive (a better option IMHO since you don't need to have your computer up and running.) It also is very flexible in terms of expansion. It has digital optical out so you can use the 990's DACs. You can stream Rhapsody, Pandora, Sirius and Napster (with subscriptions). The downside might be the price. A basic system -- controller, wireless bridge and zone player -- would run about $850, and you need a DSL or better broadband internet connection.

If your "audio upgrade" also includes better sound may I suggest Option 5: don't change your Adcom equipment but put a tube buffer between the preamp and power amp. The Yaqin does a fantastic job for $175 plus shipping; see http://www.pacificvalve.us/YaqinTB.html. It really works. Look under the "why is the 990 so tall?" thread.

Slim Devices claims the Squeezebox will play from iTunes: http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_features.html although I've never tried this. You can download their SlimServer software and try it with a software Squeezebox and see how the iTunes integration works.

I've had my Squeezebox for about two years and I really like it. Of the audio outputs I've only used the optical, partially as mine is on a shelf and the thinner cable is easier to hide. The sound is just dandy although I haven't noticed any difference with my new 990 (but the 7700 did help :-) Makes a nice clock too.

The Sonos system seems nice but its Desktop Controller software doesn't support Linux which makes it a non-starter for me.

As an update on the Sonos, it does play from iTunes, which we use for our music. I have two iTunes libraries set up -- one slightly compressed for the iPod, and the other uncompressed for a feed to the Sonos/990.

Based on the excellent information provided here, I'm probably going to stay in the two-channel audio world for now. I'm considering two M2200's to replace my dying Adcom amp or I've toyed with the idea of something like the NAD c372 to replace both Adcom components.

If I do stay in the audio-only world, the Squeezebox or perhaps the Sonos (depending on the quality of the DAC) will make more sense than Apple TV. It seems that both the Squeezebox and Sonos work well with an itunes library, aside from the (current) inability to play protected aac files.

RCF051,
Thanks for the info on Sonos - it looks perfect for getting music to multiple places in my house. Does your Sonos system work smoothly with iTunes? Specifically, do you have to rescan your iTunes library manually or are iTunes changes/updates/playlists recognized automatically?

It is not automatic, but it is very simple. You load the Sonos Desktop Controller program onto you computer -- it mimics the hand-held controller. Once Sonos knows where to look for your music, you can download music into iTunes and then make Sonos aware you have done so by using the hand-held controller or desktop program. The only caution I have (and I don't think this is particular to Sonos, but more to iTunes) is if you plan to run different music libraries (as I do -- one compressed and one lossless) you need to make sure you have the correct library loaded into iTunes before synching with Sonos, so that you don't wipe out one music list and replace with another. Even if you do, thought, the solution is fairly easy -- get the iTunes library to the one you want, the resynch with Sonos. BTW, Logitech has just announced a new (or updated) distributed music system for the house at the CES. Don't have much info on it, but it might be worth a look.
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/172/4180&&cl=us,en