Overkill for Home Theater (1 Viewer)

I am looking at getting a Pioneer Elite 45 to replace my older Kenwood reciever (5.1 and no DTS). I will be using this receiver almost 100% for movies. I have PSB Image 5Ts for the fronts, PSB 9C for center a Kenwood subwoofer and Infinity minuettes for the surrounds. Is the Pioneer Elite 45 more receiver than I need if I'm not going to use it for music? Should I be looking at the less expensive Pioneer 912 or the Kenwood 6070 or some other comparably priced receiver and use the other money to upgrade my surrounds?

Well you may want to consider a couple of things.
1) how big is your room
2) how long do you think you will keep this reciever/and will you be upgrading your speakers anytime soon?


Don't get me wrong the 45 is a great piece of equipment but you may want to get the 912 and put the money in other equipment.
I was in you same position a while back..I had a kenwood with DD but no DTS. I looked around forever...wish I would have waited and saved up the money because I now want seperates. I first upgraded to the Onkyo sr600 which I enjoyed but had problems with playing some movies so I ended up with the Pioneer 811 because I was able to trade my kenwood in for credit towards the 811. For music the 811 could do alot better but for HT it gets the job done(by the way speakers do make a difference). I liked the sound of the Onkyo over the pioneer but kept the pioneer because I was satisfied with what it had to offer for the price. The only reason I am glad about this is the 811 has pre outs so I can add an amp. So you may want to think about what you want out of it and think future somewhat considering things change so much ...that is why I want to get into seperates so I only have to upgrade the pre/pro and not the amp.

The room is about 15x13.
I would say I will be keeping the receiver as long as it supports the latest formats/channels. I don't believe there are "many" movies out yet that support 6.1 channels and all are DD or DTS so my hope is that the receiver will last me 4-5 years minimum. I will be keeping the fronts and center speakers for the forseeable future but do have an interest in upgrading my surrounds and sub. I currently have $1000 to put toward my HT so getting the Elite 45 would mean no speaker upgrade at this time.

I also am concerned with a lower end reciever being able to handle my PSB speakers since they are 6 ohm speakers.

I love my 45TX and highly recommend it. I use it with Paradigm Studio 40s, CC, and ADPs.

My dealer sells it for $849 and sometimes $799 on sale.

My e-mail address is [email protected].

E-mail me if you wish their number.

Mike

Mike,
can the 45 do 6 ohm speakers because I know the Pioneer 711/811 have problems with def tech speakers and shutting down the receiver(overload).

The newest ones can. The first ones COULD shut down with a 4ohm load. That has been upgraded, so I would assume there would be no problems with a 6ohm load.

I know alot of recievers don't handle anything below 8ohm load at least in the lower end models.

The Elite 45TX owners manual recommends 8 ohm speakers but it does have the switch for 4 ohm / 8 ohm.

The Pioneer 912 manual pretty much cautions against anything lower than 8 ohms.

I'm not sure about the Kenwood 6070 as I didn't see any information in thier manual about using anything other than 8 ohm speakers. My current Kenwood seems to do fine but I never really push them to higher than normal listening levels. Also my current surrounds are 8 ohm.

I'm pretty much talking myself into going with the Elite 45TX or another comparable reciever based on the front three speakers I have and the thought that when I upgrade my surrounds and add rear surrounds that may also be 4/6 ohm speakers it may be to much for a lower end reciever to handle.

Am I right in thinking this?

Tim,
You may want to do some more research to see what receivers can handle lower than 8 ohm speakers. I beleive the yammies do.

I've found that for movies, it can be hard to distinguish between receivers. Most sound very good. It's for music that you start to be able to distinguish some differences, especially with 2-channel playback. For me, music's more important, but if I were shopping for a movie-only receiver, I'd expect to be able to do very well in the $400 range.

I am using a Denon receiver with 80W/ch and have no problem with movies. My fronts/center are the same as yours and I am running the PSB 2B's for rears. Above all, make sure you get a reciever that has pre-out for at LEAST the fronts and center. This can allow you to start upgrading to separates starting with a 5 ch amp to drive the fronts and center (this will take all the load off the receiver when it only has to drive the rears). [The 5T's with 2 sets of posts can be "bi-amped" by "Y" splitting the pre-out fronts into channels 1 - 2/ 3 - 4.]

Later on, you can get a pre-pro and you're off and running!

Thanks for the info everyone! I think I'm going to go ahead and purchase the Elite 45TX. Now I just have to figure out where to buy it from. I was thinking about going with Soundpro.com as they have one of the best prices I've found and I haven't been able to find anything negative about them so far. Anyone here have experience with this company?

Just ordered an Elite 45TX earlier today for $800 including shipping and should get it on Wednesday.

I have a Pioneer 45tx powering Def Tech 2002tls, 2500, and 2 BPX side speakers. Im in an appartment right now (house in June) so I havent really pushed them yet.