Which reciever should i get? (1 Viewer)

[David?P]

Heres, the break down. im looking to get a nice set up. i dont know much about home theater but heres a list of recievers that i compiled and would like your guys honest opinion

HK AVR630 $700
HK AVR430 $550

Onkyo TXNR801 $550
Onkyo TXSR701 $465

Denon AVR3803 $675

i really like the looks of the HKs, but i would rather go for sound quality and performance. thanks

or should i go with something smaller?

 

[Joshua H]

i dont have the experience to give you advice, but where are you finding the 3803 for $675? or the onkyos for that matter?

 

[David?P]

its at the place i work

 

[Brad E]

They sure aren't giving you much of a deal on the HK's. At the prices you listed, I'd probably go with the Onkyo 801.
I don't know anything about the Denon though.

 

[PaulDA]

The Onkyo 801 is a steal at that price. Retails for 1000$

 

[David?P]

yea, i know the Onkyo is a good deal, but one thing stopping me from getting it is that we do not have it in stock (dont know when we are getting them either), and i am leaving from there within the next 2 weeks. so i need a good reciever.

i also dont think i would need such a powerful reciever

i plan on probably pushing 4 Kef Q1s, Q9CBL and PSW2150

 

[Byron_T]

I have the Denon 3803 and it's perfect for my setup. I think the new model, the 3805, just came out so retailers me be looking to get rid of the 3803's. I looked at HK, Onkyo and Denon when I was looking and decided on the Denon.

 

[MuneebM]

Have you considered the Yamaha RX-V1400/RX-V2400 receivers? They sound great, have excellent surround field processing, plenty of power and are packed with features!

 

[David?P]

they dont carry yamaha where i work

 

[PaulDA]

I have the Integra equivalent to the 701 and have enjoyed it immensely (at least for the short time I've had it).

 

[David?P]

ok, as i stated, i do not know much about home audio, so i was wondering do i even need a reciever with the power of the 630, 801, etc. for the speakers i plan on getting?

should i get something cheaper with less featuers, or am i better off just geting that high end of a reciever because of the money?

 

[PaulDA]

You are more likely to harm your speakers with too LITTLE power, than too much. If your amp/receiver has to work too close to its peak output to achieve the listening level you desire, it can send a distorted signal to your speakers, often referred to as "clipping". This can have deadly effects on your speakers (blown tweeters, blown woofers, etc.). The general rule of thumb is to get as much power as you can afford (within reason, IMO), thus your amp has larger reserves and doesn't work as hard. This is the primary reason powered subwoofers are so popular, as the sub amp takes the load off the main amp. For the dynamic Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks on DVDs, the power needed for those Low Frequency Effects (LFE) can be quite high.

P.S. I'm no expert, I've picked a lot of this stuff by reading the various websites devoted to audio and posts in this forum over the past year.

In the end, with receivers, it's a trade-off. If you like having the latest in processors and features, you'll likely upgrade frequently, so you'll have to factor that into your decision. If, like me, you want the essentials, (DD, DTS, and, now that I've experienced it, DPLII) you can forgo other nice to haves (auto room calibration, 40 other DSPs, etc.) and go for more power for the same money. (Despite this philosophy, I ended up with a feature-laden receiver, ironically because I really liked its "Pure Audio" mode, which bypasses all processing.)

Bottom line, if you like the sound it gives you, if it has the essential features you want, go for the most power you can afford. If the features/sound do not come from the most powerful, don't worry, you can always add outboard amps later and retain the feature set you want (while preserving your budget). Clear as mud, right?

Good luck.

 

[David?P]

Question, my brother is telling me to get a reciever with video up conversion. what excatly is this?

does the HK 630 and 430 have video up conversion? he is recommending to go with a denon reciever, which i know it has the conversion, but he states that the HK was garbage. any thoughts on this?

 

[Ken_Chengr]

HK is certainly not garbage. He may prefer the Denon sound, but HK is not garbage. Since you work there, listen to all of them a lot and decide for yourself. All of them are nice machines. The NR801 even has the added feature of playing networked MP3s. A seperate device to do that for the others, will cost $99-200 by itself.

Neither the 430 nor 630 will convert video source, the 3803 will. Some people call it upvert, upgrade, convert, whatever it's called amounts to taking one type of source(s-video/composite) and send it out something better, usually component.

Good luck.

 

[ScottCHI]

but it's not really "better"

it won't improve a composite signal to s-video or component video quality, for example. "convert" is the best word.

 

[Drew_W]

I have no experience with Onkyo stuff, but last I auditioned, Denon and H/K sounded totally different to me. Go auditioning. There's life behind the specs. You wouldn't buy a car without test driving it would you? All receivers are not built equal.

And the fact that you don't know what video upconversion is indicates to me that it's not a huge priority. Or is it? Without looking at specs, write down what you want your receiver to do (remember, it can act as a glorified video switcher if you need it to). Then, based on that, find receivers within those specs. Then go audition.

Auditioning = CRUCIAL.