AVR-4800 is it time to upgrade? (1 Viewer)

[David Proud]

Hi! I have a Denon AVR-4800 THX EX Ultra certified receiver and am very pleased with it.

I moved into a new house and am building a new 7.1 "6 channel" dedicated theater with Barco 8" CRT front projection. I would like to add dedicated monoblock amps for my front two channels and setup the AVR-4800 to handle the side and back surrounds.

My question remains would the Denon AVR-4800 with the added monoblock amps be suffecient for a good EX/ES setup or is it time to upgrade.

How well is the Harmon Kardon 8000 and how does it compare to a Denon?
I know The Marmon Kardon has Logic7 but its not THX certified and I doubt the DACS in it are as good as the ones used in the AVR-4800.

I know my Denon was tested at 143watts per channel even though its rated at 125Watts a channel.

Bottom line is it worth selling the AVR-4800 and upgrading to the HArmon Kardon? Or would that be considered a downgrade?

Thanks,

David

 

[Yogi]

If the 4800 has performed well and you are happy I would suggest continuing to use the Denon with the monoblocks. For HT you cant get much better unless you go to separate prepros in the 3K range. Plus you dont know what issues lie with the HK and why they are being dumped in the market. Plus for HT you will hardly notice any improvement with any other receiver. So stick to your plan of adding monoblocks and keep the 4800. Going to the HK would only be a sideways move with possible reliability issues. I have looked inside the HK520 (not the 8000) and have been very dissapointed with its build quality. So save yourself all the trouble and stick to the 4800 + monoblocks.