1014 and 2channel music

Aaron_Mum · 03-03-2005, 10:02 AM

Its been cool to hear about all the positives with this reciever. I'm looking for opinions on its 2channel performance. Sounds like the 1014 is quite capable for HT but how are you guys finding it performing for your 2channel needs?

I am considering it for a pair of Paradigm Monitor 7s with a sub for my two channel pleasure. I am about 60/40 music to HT so it has to give me an improvement on my low end Yamaha reciever for music.

I am also considering magnepan MMGs as a future upgrage and am hoping that the 1014 will have enough punch to drive a more demanding speaker than my M7s.

Am I asking too much from the 1014? Opinions please.

MikeGee · 03-03-2005, 06:57 PM

I just got the 1014 a couple days ago.. I am very new to the whole home theatre game so my opinion may be a bit bias.
My setup is 4 Athena AS-B2 bookshelf speakers and the Pioneer 1014. Maybe its my speakers which are not high end enough for it but when i finished hearing the first song i immediatly thought to myself... "This doesnt sound as good as my Logitech z-560 computer speakers" I played with the Bass/Treble settings which offered me + or - 6 for either Bass or Treble. I put bass on 2 and Treble on 6 and hands down my Logitechs have way better highs. However this receiver to me is a power house. I put the volume up to about where my computer speakers distort and i dont think the volume was even halfway.
Home audio on the other hand.. i just finished watching Requium for a Dream and the speakers seemed to play the highs alot more acceptably than i found when listening to the Stereo sound..
I must be missing somthing however because i heard it had a 5 band equalizer and i've only been able to just do very basic Bass/Treble adjustments because i dont know how to adjust further.

Scott Lawrence · 03-04-2005, 12:49 AM

I've had my 1014 for a few weeks now and it's 2 channel audio is very very good. It actually sounds far better than the multichannel modes: DD, DPLIIx, DTS Neo:6 included. I have both the 2-channel analog and digital outputs from my DVD player connected and can easily switch back and forth, and they both sound great. The stereo mode is very enveloping, clear, bright but not overly bright. I'm very impressed. There really is a great dimension to the sound even in 2-channel mode. On my old receiver, I always used Neo:6 for music but the stereo is so good on the 1014, 99% of the time that's what I use now.

Take one home and try it, but I'd be surprised if you aren't happy with the stereo music experience.

EvanW · 03-04-2005, 01:58 AM

Ive had my 1014 for almost 3 months now and have never turned it off 2ch for more than 5 minutes, 2ch is all i use for both movies and music and the 1014 has no problem with either.

Chuck_W · 03-04-2005, 07:44 AM

Like Scott, with my old receiver I listened to CDs in a processed mode (PLII in my case) because 2-channel was very unimpressive and I always needed to use the loudness function to get any dynamics. With the 1014 I listen primarily in Direct 2-channel...it sounds much better than my old receiver and the 1014 does a good job of integrating the sub (tower speakers using a 50hz crossover for 2 channel).

Is it as good for 2 channel as the Denon 3805 I tried in my home last year? No...not even close in my opinion, but for the difference in price I didn't really expect it to be.

I don't know how it would compare to your Yamaha. I know I was impressed with the Pure Direct 2 channel sound of the RX-V1500 in a store demo.

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John Garcia · 03-04-2005, 12:39 PM

Quote:

I know I was impressed with the Pure Direct 2 channel sound of the RX-V1500 in a store demo.

When comparing sources, particularly when you are using a "direct" mode, you need to know if the source is connected via analog or digital, because you need to know which DACs are being used. With analog, you are hearing the SOURCE'S DACs, not the receiver's, so what you are hearing is more a product of the source.

Chuck_W · 03-04-2005, 02:29 PM

Good point John. The receivers I listened to that day were all hooked up with an analog connection to the same source, but still had noticeably different sounds.

David Judah · 03-04-2005, 02:42 PM

How clean the "direct" mode is depends on the brand of receiver as well. Some treat it as a true direct mode and others still redigitize for bass management and other things. That might explain the differences, Chuck.

DJ

Chuck_W · 03-04-2005, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Some treat it as a true direct mode and others still redigitize for bass management

I don't know how the 1014 works in Direct mode. Like I said, I run it with the mains set to small so I don't know if it's redigitizing or not when using the analog outs on my CD player. It would be nice to know...if it does redigitize I would definitely rule out buying a better CD player.