Arcam vs. B&K

Hi Hthf, I have the B&k 507 series 1 and couldn't be happier. Great for voices, and that was the main thing i listened for when I was buying. Arcam 300 was on my short list, it seemed better for music than the 507, but I was buying for movies at the time. after about a year of owning the B&K I bought a Hi-End CD player and was blown away by the music it was producing, then I became a beginer audiofool. Now my theater is in the den and I have a seperate 2 chanel room. B&K is great for movies but limited, no HDMI,no 2 zone for outdoor system which would be nice. Just my 2 cents,good luck

I can only vouch for the 307.Have had it for 4 yrs now and still don't feel a need to upgrade.Sounds great,powerfull,and the level of adjustments rival and sometimes betters seperates.

The B&K 507 S2 has a second zone which even allows you to play a completely different (or the same if you want) source than in zone one (all at the same time).

It does not have HDMI or video upconverting, but again not sure what the benefit of this is? If your DVD has HDMI out why take the video signal through the receiver? Just another step for it to get stepped on.

Also, not so sure that HDMI is the end all. Lots of different opinions on this and seems like there is not a finalized standard - lots of different implementations on different brands of equipment.

Arcam's also have a great reputation. I don't think you can go wrong with either. Try to listen and compare. At the price of the used 507 S2 you can buy it and test it and then sell it for the same price if you are not fully satisfied. If you can buy used at good prices, you can usually get 100% or close to it of your money back if you decide not to keep it.

guys, thank you all for your replies. It really helps!

I don't really cared about any video processing in a receiver either. Like Ckoffend said, it's just one more step for the signals to travel through and very possibly got degraded in the process. I will just connect all my video outputs to the monitor, be it a TV or a projecter. I am also not very sure what HDMI's benefit will be in this time. The standard is just unconvincing even with the 1.3 version.

And one more question, what's the difference between B&K 507 S1 and S2? Is this only a software upgrade or is there any hardware upgrade as well? I just couldn't find any info on their website.

Thank you all again!

Fans, give a ring to a B&K dealer and ask them what the difference is. Tell 'em you have a S1 and a friend with an S2 and by listening you can't tell any difference but wanted to know if an upgrade is likely in your purchasing future. I believe the differences are minimal.

By the way, since our back and forth yesterday, I remember seeing an S1 being advertised somewhere for about $1400. I think it was even a dealer demo. BOL