AV receivers for old and new consoles

looking for some recommendations regarding a decent AV receiver that supports retro consoles such as PS1,snes,mega drive and so forth. Does anyone have any experience on what to look for and what price range? preferably pounds as i would like to buy in the UK

 

Over what cable/signal types types? If you want the best (RGB), receivers are unfortunately lacking in that department and always have been. How many devices total are you wanting to connect?

 

more then likely RGB and composite or HDMI for the recent gen of consoles

 

for RGB scart you're better off just feeding it through a switch box into the TV directly and maybe taking the audio and feeding it through a receiver if you want TBH i don't bother with receivers

 

why whats wrong with receivers? i mainly interested in the audio aspect of it. I.E playing FFX with 5.1 would be a experience

 

Your tv may have an audio out?

 

Nothing is wrong with them i just don't see the need for one in my setup, although i do have my scart swith box sending audio to a DVD player (JVC home cinema system) which controls 5.1 speakers and it is quality

but yeah you could check if your TV has audio out on it maybe even optical which you could feed to a receiver, pioneer tend to be a solid brand

 

i have a lg flatron [FONT=Titillium Web, sans-serif]m227wdp [/FONT]but i need to get the LCD pannel changed (it dropped) and broke the screen but has optical out and SRS surround, so maybe a pioneer would be decent for it

 

Receivers are the best option available to hook up all the consoels, IMO.
For my CRT setup I have a receiver without HDMI. Plenty of S-Video and Component for my needs and the sound, let's face it, when you change to a Receiver you never come back to any kind of setup. With a receiver pre-hdmi you really have all the options for all the nineties games (and even GC). A lot of Surround options to play the game in it's maximum. For example, the Surround for Ocarina of Time is different from the one of Majora's Mask. Of course there are people that like to put 5.1 in anything they play or watch, but I'm not into that. Prologic is good if used wisely (in fact the best option when you have just stereo analog outputs in the source) (but is the better option IF the game offers prologic, like a lot of PS, N64, DC and GC games do) (people tend to dislike prologic for the reason that they turn it on ALWAYS, don't do that, really...)

For a newer setup you need to buy a more expensive receiver because the cheap ones comes with a few number of connections. I don't like a device with just hdmi inputs, that's pathetic. But any good brand receiver will fit you well. (Denon, Yamaha, HK, Onkyo)

And you really can't go cheap with the speakers. Buy nice speakers and you will have the best setup available.
If you can't afford good speakers, you can get a "In-a-box" Home Theater. It's a receiver that already comes with the speakers almost always from the same brand.
Even this kind of home theater will be an excellent choice and superior to useless tv speakers. The bad point is the limited number of inputs.

The main factor you need to consider is nothing related to game consoles but the room size. (Don't worry about compatibility but you can take into consideration the number of inputs)
The room size will determine the kind and number of speakers you will use. Don't worry about using just two speakers while playing a stereo game. Of course you can activate the prologic to use 5.1 or more, but that's "unoriginal" imo lol

If you have a big room you should look for "tower" speakers for the front and bookshelf for the surround. The central speaker of some kits are exactly the same bookshelf of the surround channels, but usually they are different, with more treble for the voices. The subwoofer is generally not from the same brand of the other speakers. That's not a problem. The size of the subwoofer must be choosen based on your preference. If you like more bass, choose a bigger woofer, it's just that. With tower speakers you don't need that much bass from the subwoofer at all.

For a smaller room you can use bookshelves in the front too. But they lack bass and you will need a better subwoofer. Some kits come with cheaper (maybe without tweeter, smaller) bookshelves for the surround channels. That's a personal taste too.
Something you need to consider is "listening" to some brand of speakers before buying. Some people love JBL, but some people don't. Also some people use to say that this brand, for example, Infinity, don't match with a specific brand of receiver, like Yamaha. That's personal, don't worry. That's why is recommended that you listen in a shop, or a friend's house.

There is a lot to take into consideration. It will be a hobby just like gaming... Time and money and the result is wonderful.

 

.. Now someone talking my language! i actually was given a Kenwood AV Amp Krf V5030D i had a friend test it for me (just the audio channels) and they work i just need to test the video inputs and the optical. but i assume it works fine. i am in a small room right now and when i move i plan to use that for the legacy 8/16/32 bit consoles and others on a new Amp i like pioneer personally but yammy make decent Amps for the money

http://manuals.kenwood.novenaweb.info/languages/EN/support/manuals/KRF-V7030-6030-5030D.pdf

 

Certainly nothing wrong with receivers. I use one myself (A 2006ish pioneer VSX). The problem is that video switching on receivers won't support RGB signals on analog cables. Component yes, RGB no. So If you want the RGB switching I can't see how it can be done without a separate switch for those signal types. I feel your pain, would be nice if you could just by a receiver with 8 scart ports or whatever but no such product exists.

 

what about Euro AV cables.. i remember back in the day using my VHS channels to play my games on my TV it still works...

 

Sorry mate I'm just confused. Where do you plan to plug the Euro AV (scart) cable into? I thought you must have been looking for a receiver that could take a couple of those connectors natively, plus a few others like composite, component and s-video. Using the scart cable is preferable because its the only one that can send RGB signals.

*edit* I just saw your LG flattron has two scart inputs. Will you need more than two?

 

sorry i meant composite no scart LOL bigtime fail on my end, my flatron has a broken panel can i can't seem to find a replacement you are right i am looking for a modern day AV receiver (i have a older one but haven't tested out the video outputs) with legacy connections on the back not scart

 

I am thinking about this http://www.uk.onkyo.com/en/products/tx-nr626-92085.html found it for 300 pounds brand new

 

Okay, now I'm following.

Looks nice to me, but to be honest I don't know how it compares to similarly priced models from the others. Probably pretty good. I consider Onkyo trustworthy. Price seems nice too.

 

i agree just need to find compatible speakers for a decent price. but this is all just subject to change as i have more important things on right now..

 

My AV Receiver can convert every analog input into every analog output, and also analog to hdmi.
My TV don't have S-vídeo input, so I use the receiver and output to component or hdmi to my tv.
Sadly it does not have rgb/scart inputs.

 

and what receiver is this sonik? i am not too concerned about scart but thanks for the information

 

Fantastic idea going for an AV Receiver - you won't look back.

The lounge TV has the contemporary consoles hooked up to it and we're using a Yamaha RX-A2020 with VAF loudspeakers - lots of juice under the hood and the audio quality is very good for an AVR.

For the retro stuff our previous AVR (Yamaha RX-V1400 IIRC) takes care of the heavy lifting, with a combination of old Technics fronts with the centre matrixed between them, discrete sub and a pair of satellites mounted on the wall. Not a patch on the lounge setup, but great for retro gaming. All the inputs are run either direct to the AVR or via a separate video switch. No RGB switching as I run my RGB consoles through a transcoder. I have about 20 components hooked in simultaneously, so the only way to achieve this is by using additional switches to feed into the AVR.

Onkyo's not too shabby, but I've always been very impressed with Yamaha's offerings. Great value, steadfast performance and damn reliable. My first Yamaha AVR I bought back in 2001 is still up and running over at my brother's place and hasn't skipped a beat yet, and couldn't be happier with our subsequent puchases. I don't know how Yamaha AVRs compare in price in the UK, but they've been competitively priced in Australia. Good luck!