What I Don't Know About Audio Technology

I have not upgraded my music system in a long time. Oh, I've added DVD players, new CD players, even a separate audio amplifier system for center and rear channels. But, the heart of my system, my Nakamichi stereo receiver, is 20 years old and my speakers are 18 years old. And there are several new audio and video technologies that my system can't handle well. So, as much as I love my Nakamichi, I decided to do some upgrades.

1. First I decided to get a new 5.1 channel receiver and eventually purchased a new Yamaha 5.1 receiver with 105 Watts of Power. One of the big features I like about it was the ability to restore the sounds of compressed music (MP3's and satellite radio) back to its non-compressed state. And since I am downsizing and put all my music into MP3 format on my iPod and computer, this was a big deal for me.
2. Then, I decided to buy an all-in-one CD/DVD player that could also play my SACD (Super Audio) CD's and my MP3 CD'S. For that, I found a Denon player that I bought at a fabulous price.
3. I was going to buy new speakers. I have a pair of Celestion SL-12 speakers that sold new 18 years ago for $1,700. I was in Costco recently and heard a $1,000 system that just sounded horrible compared with mine. After doing some Internet research, I discovered that there is probably nothing better on the market today than my current speakers (at that price) and I decided to keep them. I read several posts from people who wish they still had theirs.
4. After deciding that, I bought a new Celestion center channel speaker at a great price that matches my front speakers and it made a world of difference over the the previous center speaker I was using.

So, I thought I had everything figured out and was excited yesterday when my new receiver and DVD player showed up at my front door. I took out the old components, cleaned up the cabinet, put the new components in their respective places. Of course, the whole system required a major rewiring job. So I duly unplugged and marked my cables.

At this point, I was dying to hear my new system in action...so I plugged the DVD/CD player in and turned them on. Nothing. No sound, no TV picture, no nothing. At least it didn't explode. After trying and trying and failing, I did something I seldom do, but was desperate. I got out the manuals. There I discovered a whole new world of adventure. I learned about optical fiber optic cables and digital coaxial audio connectors. What? In order to make things work, I needed a couple of these cables so I went and bought them. After about 5 hours into this project, I have some limited video and the audio is getting better. But, there is still a long way to go. I definitely have to keep reading the manual.

I just can't figure out all the things that the receiver does. In the old days, there was a button or switch for everything. Now, these new receivers do so much that you have to go through a whole series of steps to tell it to do one thing. And my new Yamaha is not alone in this. They all do it. They have so many capabilities that creating individual buttons is impossible. So I will keep plugging away, reading the manual and pushing buttons. My only problem will be remembering everything I do correctly as my own internal memory systems are not as strong as they used to be. But I am determined to emerge triumphant.

The bad news is I haven't even tried to connect my computer or iPod to it yet. Perseverance is the key.