Best receiver for Klipsch speakers? (1 Viewer)

[Mike Puett]

I'm looking to upgrade to a 6.1 receiver for my home theater and would like suggestions on the best receiver to be paired with the Klipsch Reference 3 series speakers. I've heard that some receivers can be "brighter" than others (similar to speakers) and this should be taken into consideration when selecting a receiver. Supposedly the Klipsch speakers are already "bright" sounding, which I like, but I'm afraid that when combined with a "bright" sounding receiver, it may be a little too much. Use is 90% HT, 10% music.

I've read good things about Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, Outlaw, and Pioneer. I'm looking to spend around $500 and wouldn't mind picking up a good used one to get a little more than buying new.

Suggestions???

btw - I'm currently running a Marantz SR7000 receiver and like the sound.

 

[Yogi]

Marantz, NAD, Denon and HK receivers are good match for Klipsch speakers. Stay away from Yamaha, Onkyo, Sony ES IMHO.

 

[CurtisC]

I know Klipsch,Denon sound great together.

 

[Mike Puett]

That's two votes for Denon... I was beginning to lean toward the Yamaha, Pioneer, Sony because of cost - if I was to buy new. However, I may have to look at the classifieds and ebay to see if I can find any good used Denons. Which model would you guys recommend around the $500+ range and 6 channel?

 

[Haris Ellahi]

Also check out Rotel A/V receivers.

 

[Ted Ross]

Yamaha

 

[Keith HR]

the interconnect and speaker cables have more to do with making your speakers sound bright than anything else. Large gauge stranded speaker cable can magnify the problem. You might try using one strand of 22ga wire (called solid core cable) to the positive and one strand to the negative of your speakers. If you are industrious, you can make up a version of that for interconnect cable using one strand of 26 ga. wire (solid core cable) to the positive and negative portion of an rca plug. I designed audio cable for 15 years,

 

[Yogi]

For about $500 see if you an get a used 3801. Now thats a receiver thats hard to beat for that price. It sounds better than the later generation 3802 and probably even the 3803.

Best of luck.

 

[Chu Gai]

Well I've got to toss in a dissenting voice here and state that I don't buy into the warmer/brigher/neutral receiver thing. This isn't to say that some receivers don't mate better with certain speakers but that has more to do with looking at the speakers impedance curves and determining if a particular receiver is likely to have issues with that. Certainly power wise, the Klipsh don't require much power 100 db sensitivity in a typical room environment) to drive them to levels that'll leave you either deaf or dead when your neighbors come in to thank you for making their lives miserable.
Whether you will consider your speakers bright or whatever is dependant upon your own tastes combined with how your speakers will interact with your room. Some rooms can be problematical in the sense of having many hard reflective surfaces (hard floors, nothing on the walls to absorb/diffuse sound reflections, etc.) but that's not to say that these are insurmountable problems that can't be addressed with some creativity.
With regards to wire or interconnects, unless you were to go to ridiculously long lengths of speaker wires or do something like add a resistor to the wires there won't be any effect to the sound. This axiom holds true also for interconnects.
Since you're in the market for a receiver, I'd be looking to define a couple of things, one of which you apparently have...the price point.
The other is I'd make a list of what's important to you.
How many inputs do you need/want?
What sort of processing features?
Is the bandwidth adequate if I want to run my TV through it?
Is there a local service center or is that important?
Does the receiver need a phono input because maybe you'll be resurrecting some turntable?
Is the actual power adequate for my 'future' needs? After all, with all channels running, the delivered power is often lower than the optimistic ones quoted by the manufacturer. Reviews help here.
The list goes on and it's different for all of us. Its different in the way we subjectively weigh these things and even something like appearance and the ease of using the remote can be factors.
With regards to getting more for your money several options present themselves. There's always online sites such as onecall.com or accessories4less.com that have interesting units that come up from time to time. Having the luxury of being able to sit back and wait until a good deal comes along can often be very rewarding. Ebay is also to be considered as are postings in the newsgroup rec.audio.marketplace. As to how it is that some units that are legitimately new able to sell for 50% off or more from list is quite the mystery though

 

[Mike Puett]

Thanks for the detailed information. I've read a few reviews and have a few unspoken favorite candidates but didn't want to persuade any comments. Definitely many things to consider and as an engineer I tend to analyze things to death. IMHO this forum is one of the best sources of reasonable unbiased information and carrys more weight than most reviews. Thanks again.

 

[RobWil]

The bad thing about buying online is that if you don't like it , it may be a hassle or impossible to return. Then you're stuck with it. Some places like Circuit City have a 30 day return policy. You could take a couple home at the same time and compare, or bring one home at a time, until you find one you like. I think Goodguys and Tweeter have similar policies. Of course if you bring more than one home at a time you have to pay for them first, but if you have enough room on a credit card this isn't too hard to do.
Only problem is that you're stuck with their brands and inventory and can't shop around as much. Although if you found one you liked you could always return it and find it somewhere else cheaper, if the price is an issue. But it's really nice to hear one in your own setup first before taking the dive and much different possibly than hearing one at the store.
BTW...I have an HK AVR320 with my Klipsch KG5.2's that I like quite a bit.

 

[CurtisC]

Hey Mike,good luck,and the best advise is listen to any you can afford,and look at features.

 

[Mike Puett]

Thanks everyone!