Recommended receiver (1 Viewer)

Hey everyone, I am new here and kind of a novice to home audio. I was trying to find a receiver for my Klipsch speaker set. I have the F-3 set up a 12'' Klipsch subwoofer. The receiver I am using now is a Yamaha HTR-5640. The problem is that I want to get better quality from my speakers. I spent enough money on the speakers that I want to get the best sound that I can out of them. I mainly watch movies. I have gone through other forums and most people are pretty unanimous. H/K, Marantz, and Pioneer Elite. I was looking for something between 200 - 400 dollars. This there is something cheaper then that and will fit what need....that would be even better. Let me know if I need to provide more detail on anything or if someone has questions about my current set up. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

What kind of other devices would you be hooking up to it, now and in the future? That will determine the types and amounts of inputs you will need on the receiver.

H/K, Pioneer Elite and Marantz are definitely good receiver brands, although there have been many posts on this forum about build quality issues of the lower priced Harman Kardons. You could also consider Onkyo, Denon and Yamaha. They should all have something in your price range and are well respected brands. Each will produce a slightly different type of sound from your Klipsch speakers though so you will need to factor that into your decision a bit. I'll let Klipsch owners chime in on what receivers mate well with their speakers.

I've always thought that Yamaha paired very well with Klipsch, heres why. Klipsch speakers aren't built to be accurate, they are designed to reproduce sound efficiently and effectively and sound good doing it, not boomy like Cerwin Vega or Bose. I've ran Klipsch off of a small little amp built into a boom box quite effectively. Yamaha is know for amps that produce great power (or at least they use to be known for that), so pairing up a speaker with a nice powerful receiver will - IMVHO - bring out the best in your speakers.

I guess the question is why do you feel you need to upgrade. Different receivers will affect how your speakers sound, Denon will probably tame your speaker, they will be easier to listen to; however, they will lack that mighty punch that the Yamaha provides. Unless you are just tired of the way your current Yamaha sounds I would suggest holding onto it until you can afford a receiver that is future proof (HDMI switching, ethernet ports, HD Radio, iPod support, and all that other crazy stuff receivers have today), or as future proof as electronics of today can be.

Just my .02...I say if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I will eventually be hooking up HD to it so HDMI upgarde possibilities would be a nice addition. The receiver I have right now isn't necessarily bad, I am just not very happy with the surround sound. I don't know if it is the low watt per channel or if it is another issue. Maybe I am wanting too much from it. It is just that I have heard better set ups on HTIBs.

Sounds like the Onkyo TX-SR605 is the receiver for you. I can be purcased in the $400 range. Or the Yamaha RX-V661

http://store.audioholics.com/product...eater-receiver

Yamaha RX-V661 Home theater receiver with HDMI switching at Crutchfield.com

Or the harman Kardon avr 247 or avr 347
You can get them refurbished with a 1 year warranty on ebay harmanaudio store. 247 around 300 and the 347 around 400.

Matt: what exactly did you hear in that other HT system that you liked, but your system lacks?

BTW: those particular Klipschs - to me - have a rather (this is difficult to decribe!) dry or analytical sound. Their Reference Series is better but still share that quality. Yamaha receivers are known to be very accurate which to many people translates to slightly bright and clinical.

So......pairing Klipsch speakers with Yamaha electronics is something I wouldn't personally do unless you want every sonic detail painfully etched into your brain. Not all movie soundtracks are made to high quality standards and such a system can reveal that in all its puke-y glory. :frowning:

And please don't be insulted if this sounds like an amateurish issue to bring up, but are all the system's basic operating parameters set correctly?

Like:

* speaker distance
* proper crossover for that particular set of speakers
* proper speaker location
* proper channel volume level

I only bring this up because I've been running into some HT owners lately that never adjusted *any* of these very fundamental things and their system, including one that used some pricey Snell loudspeakers and Lexicon electronics, sounded like cow poo.

Thank you all for the replies.

Lance: Don't worry...I am not offended by anything you have said. In fact, i ado agree. They do have a boomy quality to them. The main reason I got them was because I was able to get them at a discount a few years back for about 800 dollars with sub. Also, I have the book shelves and not the floors. The other system I listened to just had more of a "full" sound if that makes sense. You didn't have to sit right next to a rear to get the full effect. I am thinking about getting someone to come out and look at them because I wouldn't put it past myself to have something configured incorrectly in the receiver,

*The fronts are no more then 10 feet away. Rears are about 6-7 feet on either side of the living room. I have them mounted on the wall. They are facing down and towards the middle of the room.

*I don't know what this means. If it is for the wiring, I have monster cable on all but one rear. I was lazy on this one and used cheap cabling.

*See the first answer. If I need to go into more detail let me know.

*I have the fronts at a low level and the rears at a high level. I believe the fronts are +1 and the rears +5.

Let me know if this information helps. Also, I am looking into the Onkyo and H/K receivers that the other users posted. Thank you all.

HI,

I think your current set up is probably fine but is not properly calibrated.

My advice, FWIIW is go to Radio Shack and buy an Sound Pressure Level meter.

They cost about $40. Find a test disk (I have used AVIA for years)and get your levels correct. Once you have done this (and I am betting they are not currently correct or even close), then watch a few movies with good soundtracks - perferably DTS - and see if your impression changes.

For the princely sum of less than $100, I think you will find that this adds HUGE value to your equipment and you will not want to change out your current amplifier.

Dave

Thank you for the reply Dave. You are probably right. I will go to Radio Shack and pick one of these up. I would rather do this first before buying a whole new receiver. BTW, where do I purchase AVIA?

Thanks,

Matt

Thank you for the advice Dave. I will go to Radio Shack and check that out. Is the Sound Pressure Level meter pretty self explanatory? Also, where do I purchase the AVIA test disk?

(Sorry for the two replies....didn't see my first one come across)

Thanks,

Matt

Yikes that seems really out of balance - IMO something's not right. Some possible reasons, assuming the speakers are in 100% working order:

1) make sure the receiver is set for FIVE point one operation, in other words the back surround channel is deactivated. Because if the *six* point one mode is being used - but no speaker is hooked up to the back surround speaker terminals - literally almost half the rear surround effects are going into a black hole! I've experienced this a lot with store demo systems.

2) not all movies have a lot happening in the rear channels. To see what I mean, use a movie that does: the last three Star Wars prequels, The Fifth Element, Titan A.E. The Abyss, Transformers is suppsoed to have an active mix and there's lot of others. But even with these, there is not always something occurring back there all the time.

And before @1977, movies just plain didn't have surround effects.

3) make sure the dvd player's digital output is set to "bitstream". Because if it isn't, all that comes out is a stereo signal that the receiver will apply a DSP mode to (hall, Dolby Pro-Logic, stadium, etc) in an effort to generate some kind of surround effect......which usually only results in the rear channels giving off a subtle/low volume ambience effect.

I will check the DVD player. I am pretty sure I have the speakers set to 5 but I will check that also. I have been reading through the manual on the set up process so I will run back through that as well and see if I may have missed something. I will let you know if I find anything. Thanks again.

I have RF 83's and picked up the onkyo 805 a while ago and I'm very happy with the performance and features.

Pioneer VSX 1017 or any Pioneer Elite.

I have been looking at the Onkyos. The 605, 705, and 805. If I can not get the one I have working I am going to look into getting one of these. Thanks for the info.

Well at first I was just going to try and play around with the setting on my receiver. But I found a great price for a Pioneer Elite VSX-56TXi and went ahead and purchased it. Now the real question.....how does everyone think this will sound with the F3s?

Good luck on setting your receiver...it should bay off big dividends in your sound.

For receivers, I recently demo'd the Onkyo 705 vs the HX 347 and (at least in my opinion) found that while the Onkyo was a very good value feature wise for the money, but couldn't hold a candle to the HK's sound quality.

Stick with what you have, unless you spend a lot more money I doubt you will notice a difference.

Hey Bob,

WHat about the Pioneer Elite? I am thinking there will be a big improvement in quality