Looking for recommendation for receiver (1 Viewer)

[Anish]

Hi,

I am building out my basement and am looking for some feedback on AV receivers. The space is an L-shaped area with a 100" fixed screen at the start of the short end of the L, shaped open space. The finished ceiling height will be about 7.5' and it is a pretty open concept area averaging about 14' - 15' width all the way around the L with about 15' length on the short end of the L and 36' length on the long end. The components that will be driven by this receiver are as follows:

Epson 8500UB projector
Paradigm Studio 100 fronts
Paradigm CC590 center
Paradigm ADP rear/surrounds
SVS PB2-Plus sub
Oppo 83 blu ray player
Xbox 360
Bell 9200 satellite receiver

Receiver recommendations are very welcome, to ensure that I am getting the full potential out of those big Paradigm Studio speakers above! I would like to gauge opinions on receiver recommendations based on 2 criteria:

1) Budget not a factor
2) $2000 budget

Also if anyone is recommending a receiver for both scenario 1 and scenario 2 above please identify if you could, what I would be gaining in the receiver by going from the recommendation in case 2 to the recommendation in case 1.

Thank you for reading!

 

[vm8444]

hi room sounds square shaped god I hope not.
marantz 8002 or
nad 747
Ive installed nad with paradigm studio 20's before
and they still love it 5 years later,
know that they undervalue wattage for your 100's


marantz sounds good too if you can compare
use at least audioquest type 4 speaker wire for front flex 14/2 rears
I'm using epson6500 ub projector too bud and love it

and #1
arcam avr 600 for no budget
and denon avr 5308
or seperates too many too mention
now about the second part to your question

features multizone
dac's dynamics power etc

vince
theaudioguy.ca

 

[Dave Moritz]

[COLOR= black]I do not have any experience owning Paradigm speakers but have heard a few pairs at CES. If they like power then you might want to consider the upper end of Onkyo or there Integra line up. The higher end Onkyo's have big power supply’s, high current and sound great. The Marantz and Denon's are good receivers as well and for a lower model receiver you can always add an external power amp, that is as long as it has analog outputs. Emotiva has really good power amps for the money and would make a great addition to a receiver that could use a power upgrade. I am for the time being using a Yamaha RX-V995 that hopefully will get upgraded to a Denon 3808ci or 4308, Marantz or Onkyo 876 or 906 receiver. The Sony ES models have nice interfaces and a good selection of inputs but I am not big on there surround features and IMHO they sound a bit anorexic to be honest with you. And I am not that big on the current models of Yamaha anymore and the fact that they are not using Audyssey is another reason I am not choosing them. I personally like the Burr Brown DAC's and I also like the Wolfson DAC's used on some of the Pioneer Elite models. Denon uses Burr Brows as do the upper end of the Onkyos, but be carefull because many of the Onkyos use Cirus Logic not Burr Brown. For now my main receiver is the Yamaha RX-V995, Sony DVP-S9000 ES (CD/SACD), Sony BDP-S300 Bluray, Sony LCD HDTV, Denon DVD-2200 used for multichannel SACD & DVD-A and my main speakers are Altec Lancing A-7 Voice Of The Theaters. This is all a work in progress and hopefully it will be improved and I to would love to have a video projector some day. Another brand that might work well for you and you may want to research it, is Rotel. Or you can just say the heck with it and go with a preamp/processor like McIntosh and matching it up with some serious power. [/COLOR]

 

[atkins]

i would recomend the pioneer elite sc-25. uses ice amp technology to drive 7 channels @140 wpc each getting their own deignated amp. it has plenty of inputs, two hdmi outputs, multi zone, and a whole lot more for a 1700 retail price tag. i own one along with an onkyo 806 and the pioneer blows the onkyo out of the water in sound clarity.

as far as an unlimited budget i cant realy offer any sugestions considering ive never had a budget like that to work with so ive never really done the research. skys the limit though.

 

[vm8444]

nad too must be heard with paradigm anish

 

[Anish]

Wow I missed all those responses... did not get any email notifications of responses. Sorry guys...

Anyway, my basement build project has been chugging along a bit slower than expected so I have not made a decision on this yet. I appreciate all the great feedback but I must admit that it was a bit difficult to understand your post, Vince. But I think I got the jist of it.

I am drawn to the Denon since that seems to be the consensus on one of the best receiver manufacturers out there and I have an old one myself and have been extremely pleased with it (AVR3802). I was thinking about a 4310 or 4810 but would be open to Onkyo or Nad (never heard of them before) if they could be considered in the same breath as Denon.

Pioneer Elite sounds like an interesting proposition too at a relatively attractive price point.

It has been a few months since this feedback... anything new out there to consider or would the ones to consider be:

Denon 5308 (or would a 4310/4810/3310 be good for the money?)
Onkyo (which model?)
Nad 747
Marantz 8002

Any others to consider or any to take off the list above?

 

[Anish]

I think I am decided on a Pioneer Elite SC 25... read some amazing reviews on it compared to the Denon even.

Thoughts?

 

[Dave Moritz]

I have been considering Onkyo but I do not like how the lower end of this brand cuts the bandwidth on there some of there midrange recievers. I am not crazy about how hot many of them run and most importantly I keep hearing bad things about Onkyo's customer service.

I would also look at Pioneer Elite, Rotel and Marantz. I am still trying to save up for a reciever to replace my aging Yamaha RX-V995 and if I could buy one today, I would buy the Denon AVR-4810CI without hesitation!

This doesn't mean I would not go and check out the Pioneer recievers with the ice amplification. One of the major things I like on the Denon vs the Pioneer Elite is that Denon has the Audyssey and the Pioneer doesn't. Just keep in mind to plan for future sources to make sure you have enough inputs and as long as the reciever has analog preouts, you can allways add external amplification later on down the road.

Let us know what you end up with and how it works out for you.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Originally Posted by Dave Moritz

One of the major things I like on the Denon vs the Pioneer Elite is that Denon has the Audyssey and the Pioneer doesn't. J

While the Elites do not have Audyssey, they do have a feature called MCACC, which is basically Pioneer's proprietary version of Audyssey. I am sure there is a lot of debate out there on how effective Pioneer's implementation is in comparison, but MCACC does provide for auto calibration and room correction. Pioneer has also advanced the program over the years, as my newer Elite 94txh receiver does a better job of room correction via MCACC than my previous Elite 47TX receiver.

 

[Ginovino]

If you don't require 7.1, why not look to Emotiva products where you can get a 5 x200 watt rms amp @ $699.00 and the highly regarded video processor UMC-1 also for $699.00. shipping will cost you $50.00. take a look: http://emotiva.com/umc1.shtm

I think you will be pleasantly surprised..