What Did You Notice Most When Upgrading To Higher End Receiver? (1 Viewer)

[James Edward]

I'm buying an NAD T752 today, to replace my trusty Onkyo 575X.
What have others noticed when going from mass market to a more refined receiver?
Anything in particular stand out?
Thanks for any commentary...

 

[Paul Clarke]

Hello James,

The 752 is a sweet sounding receiver but I also liked the 575X and consider it one of the last honestly built Onkyo's in that price range. Due to the conservative rating of NAD however you can expect even more honest power. Under the heading of subtle change, I would listen for greater detail in the highs, especially in terms of timbral accuracy, tonal balance, note decay, etc. Bass should be more precise and not err on the side of greater fullness at the expense of mids and highs. Balance through the frequency range is the key to sweet sound IMO and NAD generally has a well balanced sound. To my mind both NAD and H/K have very similar philosophies in terms of product. Although I own H/K, NAD is superior in 2 channel to my ears. In the past NAD Feature set has kept me from making the switch but lately it seems that is becoming less of an issue. Enjoy your new toy.

 

[JohnSer]

James, I agree with Paul, with my impression with going from a 575X to HK520. How much you will be able to notice it, may depend on your speakers. The T752 looks like a nice unit, enjoy!

JohnS

 

[Ian Lascell]

My brother just bought the same receiver. He is eagerly awaiting its arrival. A couple of weeks ago I stopped by an NAD dealer to listen to some integrated amps. They had one of the AV receivers in that same line (may have been the 752) set up for two channel music with the new Meadowlark speakers (Swifts maybe?) It sure sounded nice. The salesman cranked up the volume a lot louder than I usually listen. I could tell he was impressed with the sound and wanted to show it off. I must admit it was very clean power all the way up. I love what NAD does. They don't seem to worry about what other companies are doing, they just do their own thing in a very simple way, and end up offering great performance at a pretty low price (comparitively). The only NAD product I own is their 541i CD player and I absolutely love it. I'm going back to that dealer to audition the 320BEE integrated to use in my office when he gets it in. Enjoy your new toy!

 

[Khoa Tran]

i have a C320BEE, there's no comparison, it just sounds better and better each day i listen to it....i love this thing

 

[Daniel Alan]

I can hook more stuff up to it

 

[Jed M]

Among a lot of subtle differences I heard, the absolute first thing I noticed was how tight and real (concert like) the bass felt. I remember actually hearing a drum set and not just a drum. That was pretty cool. Enjoy your new receiver.

 

[Jonathan M]

Hi James,

I also have a T752 on the way, and can't wait! Please let us know how you like it when you have had a chance to play. There are not many comments on this unit about yet, and from what I have listened to so far (Just in the store), it is a great sounding unit with tons of power in reserve.

 

[Eric_E]

Jonathan, James:

So what do you guys think of the T752? I'm seriously considering one of these myself - now that it's been about a month, what have your impressions of the unit been? Has it done everything you wanted it to do? I'd love to hear some reviews.

 

[Jonathan M]

Hi Eric,

See my threads regarding the bass management (The latest one is the one with actual measurements done).

As for the sound, it is exceptional. I am currently still building my speakers, so I am only using it in 2 channel mode with a sub. The Dolby digital downmix is very good. It certainly seems better than using my DVD player (Sony) that I used to use via a stereo amp. I watched Forrest Gump the other night, and the first Vietnam scene was really good with the helicopters swirling around etc.

As for the rest - the remote is surprisingly good. (Surprising taking into account NAD's previous attempts It has all you would expect for a learning remote including macros etc.

There are a few things that you may want that it does not have - namely onscreen display on the component video out, no upconversion of Svideo/Composite to component etc - to me these are a non-issue.

All in all, a great receiver that is very solidly built.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask if you need to know anything specific.

Cheers,
Jonathan

 

[Mark Yatchak]

What have others noticed when going from mass market to a more refined receiver? Anything in particular stand out?

Yes, my wife and her family think I have truly lost my mind.:b They find it extremely hard to believe a receiver (49TX) can cost $3500.00. Especially since it's "only a Pioneer".
They saw them at Best Buy for only a few hundred dollars. Oh well, they still love me.

 

[Lee-M]

It sounded better.

Really.

Seriously; I noticed that the sound became a lot more real and immersive, with greater ability to locate where the sounds were intended to be, um, located.

Of course, this was going from an HK receiver to the Anthem AVM-20 (it better sound better, for the cost )...

 

[peter m. wilson]

Hi,

I also have the Onkyo and love it, and am not giving it up.
It's leaving the HT for the living room.
The Onkyo was my first foray into mltich sound and really wetted my apetite.

At Christmas my brother told me that instead doing the hdwre upgrade of his Denon 5800, he was going to get the 5803 and offered me the 5800 which i promptly took and had upgraded to 5803 audio status.

Quite frankly it's a whole different world for me on the audio side.
I also got 2 pair of Totem model 1's to replace 25 yr old b&o's and jumped into dvd-a and sacd.

It would be silly of me to try and compare the flagship denon to an entry level Onkyo, it has become different products for different uses.

There are a couple of features that the Denon has that anyone investing in a flagship av reciever should know and one of them is starting to become all too evident with the onset of combi players of hirez music dvd-a and sacd.

Some reviews of these new players are suggesting that the performance of one format is better than the other on the same machine.
This will not be a factor necessarily for people who invest in this Denon as it is the only one (i'm almost positive) that has 2 sets of analogue in's. It is also one of only 2 that has "DOLBYHEADPHONE".

In anycase I love mine all 170wattsx7 of it.

Peter m.

 

[Eric_Strickl]

The first thing I noticed was you really do get what you pay for!!!! I originally had a vr6070, 2 ksb2.1s, 1 ksw150 and a 200 disc jvc cd changer. I went from that to an Anthem avm 20, Integra dps 8.3, 2 hr824 monitors, 4 hr624 monitors, 2 hr626 monitors and 2 pw-2200 subs. When I got it all setup the first thing I noticed was that I just spent over 10000 on a HT setup and I don't even have a car that runs! Then I listened for about 5 minutes and realized "I would do it again in a second"! I was so impressed I had to go change my depends!!

 

[James Edward]

Hmmm...

Keep in mind- ALL comments refer ONLY to DVD and satellite playback. I have a separate system for music. Both receivers were calibrated with VE.

The short story is: I did not notice much, if any, difference in sound between the Onkyo and NAD. The longer story is below...

I guess I did not get back to my own thread because I have had mixed results. Which is either a testimony to how well the Onkyo 575X performed, or simply that my room and other equipment don't require the extra power that the NAD is capable of putting out. Moral: Small rooms probably don't benefit nearly as much as larger ones in such an upgrade.

After replacing the Onkyo with the NAD, I noticed virtually no difference in sound quality, or quantity. By quantity I guess I mean that since I never ran out of headroom with the Onkyo, there was nothing for the NAD to best. I belive this is due to my very small(12x12) room, which simply did not require NAD's extra current availability.

As someone stated earlier, the 575X was the last 'overbuilt'(Onkyo's word) receiver in the low-mid price range, and really was quite good for the money(I paid $375.00). Certain things that I generally don't use are probably superior on the NAD or don't exist on the Onkyo:
1. DAC's- for CD listening via a DVD or cheap CD player.
2. 6 channel inputs and outputs
3. Whenever I ran the Onkyo with speakers set to large, it would cut out at high volumes. I almost always run them small, and let the sub handle bass. My previous experience with NAD tells me it probably would not shut down.
4. I don't know all the specifics about SACD or DVD-A playback, but I believe the ability to drive a full range speaker is a big plus, because of bass management issues.
4. HD component switching is available on the NAD, but I run my components directly into the TV.

Bottom line- If you have a small room like mine, and don't use the system for music, and have an Onkyo 575X, think hard before assuming it can easily be beat.

Equipment:

TV: Toshiba 57HX81
DVD: Toshiba SD5700
Speakers: PSB 4T, 8C, 1B
STB: Hughes E-86 HD

 

[Bolivar G]

The main thing I noticed when I went from my Kenwood VR-309 to my Denon 4802 was the rear channels coming alive.
All movies were sounding different especially the newer ones like star wars pod race, etc.

 

[Hank]

When I upgraded from my Yamaha 2095 to my Denon 5700 in was night & day. The Denon sounded fuller, more detailed , more powerful. Music took on new life. Tight bass and a nice midrange. It was like upgrading to seperates. I paid $1100 for my Ymaha 2095, sold it 8 months after and purchased my Denon 5700 for $2400.

 

[Holadem]

The main thing I noticed when I went from my Kenwood VR-309 to my Denon 4802 was the rear channels coming alive.

VR-309 to Onkyo 575x:
Inifitely better music performance, it's not even funny. Akin to moving from boom box.
Much better movie dynamics, much clearer highs, heck, just much better.

From Onkyo 575x to Denon 4802
Significanly better music: First time witnessing the concept of imaging and depth of soundstage. Newfound clarity and detail was NOT subtle at all. Aslo, this was a move from forward sound to laid back. No necesserely better, but different.
Movies: Headroom, headroom headroom. I couldn't hear the amp straining at high volume any more and that was great. However, it took a while to adjust to a laid back sound for movies, IMO it should be right in your face. Preference I guess.

--
Holadem