Shawn N

My cash is limited and had been looking at lower end Yamaha's in the 200-$400 range. Been told to saty away from low end yamaha's. What do you think of the denon DHT-684DVD or AVR-683. Or should I just pony up and get the AVR-1604 or AVR-1804. Also if I were to by say the 1804 which is 6.1.. could I run only 5.1 speakers. Can the rear center be turnind off?

ChrisLazarko

I would def. stay away from the lower-end Yamaha lines. They aren't rated at there true power and it's bogus...

Denon and HK are two recievers for this price range that I would definantly look at. The Denon 1804 is a very nice piece, also the new Harman/Kardon line the AVR-130 and AVR-230 are also very nice pieces. My vote goes to the AVR-230 if you have the money, otherwise the 1804 and AVR-130 are nice pieces to own. Good luck.

steve nn

Hi Shawn-- The S-B on the 1804 can be disabled in the set-up menu. You can also use two speakers for the S-B and this option works out very well imo.

Shawn N

Steve,

When you say I could use two speaker for the s-b can you expalin? Do you mean just splitting them into the back corners of my room?

My problem is this. I just built my family room. Before putting up the drywall I ran my wire for the two rear surround speakers about 7 foot up. Now that I've learned about 6.1 with rear center I'm not set up. How bad would it be to set the rear center at about 4 feet difference in hieght from the back left/right?

steve nn

You have the option of going with one center S-B or you can go with two speakers as your S-B. On the 1804 there are two sets of binding posts for your S-B. If you go with the the single S-B option then you have to be sure to hook it up on the right set of posts I think? The manuel will clarify. I was wrong it is on the left side. (S-B 1) is what they call it. Left set of S-B posts then.

Of course it would be best to have it/them at the same highth. Mine are not. I have my surrounds on stands to the side and the B-surrounds up on the wall above listening area parted 4' angled down. If your listening area is 3-4' in front of your surrounds I would think the difference in highth (I take it lower?) would not present a major problem if calibrated correctly? Your S-B should be a little higher than your surrounds if going the single rout optimally though. We all do what we have to and what our room dictates at times. Just like most of us have our centers higher than our mains.

You can cut a strip of drywall out and run a conduit though it and then feed your wire if this is a option? You then could do the drywall patch and texture gig. I have my wire painted for now on my S-B and since I know I will be staying with it now, I need to hide the wire.

There are some other options also when you have S-B available. You can move your reg surrounds up closer to your mains along the side and place your S-B where you would normally have your surrounds. I did not like this myself.

Chuck Kent

Well, I have no issues with lower end Yamaha's. I've got one driving a small HT with 4 ohm Thiels as mains and it does great. Well worth the $$$, IMO.

I like Denon's too. Well made with a nice feature set.
(BTW, the Denon AVR-683 is the same as the AVR-1603. So it would be last year's model. The DHT-684DVD has the AVR-684 in it, which is an AVR-1604.)

Going up in price will bring more power and features no matter what brand you buy. But if the differences fall into the diminishing return category (and that category can be different for each of us), then you might want to go a little less ambitious and use the money you save for movies and music.

DonnyD

I concur with Chuck about lower end Yamahas.... Those who have them around here never have a issue with them either.....
I believe that ALL companies in the receiver market have lower end models that some would say " stay away from"......
Listen to them yourself and check the features and buy the one you like...... Try not to be swayed by some persons opinion..... go with your OWN.......
Good luck.