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Denon 1803 vs Yamaha 630 - which would you recommend for my speakers? (1 Viewer)

darren_b

Grip
Joined
Sep 13, 2002
Messages
17
I'm in the process over the next few weeks to buy either a Denon 1803 receiver or a Yamaha 630 receiver. Both sound great, and have what i'm looking for (component/DPL2)

I have the following speakers,

FRONT 2 x Jamo X floorstands; 6 Ohms, Min 200W max 280w
CENTRE 1 x Jamo X Centre; 6 Ohms, " " " " "

REAR 2 x Yamaha wall mount 6 Ohms, Nominal 25W max 80W
100W Sub WOOFER

I currently have a PIONEER 409GS, and find that it doesnt handle my speakers very well, you have to turn the volume up abit after movie being playing for an hour.

1. Will these 2 receivers driver these speakers ok?
2. Does anyone have some experience with either (Im using 90% for home theatre, 10 % if that, for music)
3. Are these rears ok matched with these front and centre. (They actually sound fantastic)

Thanks for anyones input,

cheers from Australia
 
Joined
Aug 20, 2002
Messages
37
I'm getting a 630 next month, so my experience is purely from store auditions but from what I have learnt I believe it would have no problems driving your speakers. Don't know about the 1803's abilities though - fingers crossed someone else here has a similar setup and can help you out.
 

Angelo.M

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2002
Messages
4,007
darren:

I can't completely answer the questions you've asked, but I can tell you that I spent about 2 hours A/Bing the 1803 and the 630 this weekend, with 2-channel music and with very limited 5.1 usages (about 15 minutes of a DVD). For music, I think the 1803 wins hands-down; the 630 sounds great, but lacks the midrange smoothness and detail of the 1803. That being said, the 630 packs a bit more of a whallop in both music and theater. So, for your purposes, you might be better served by the 630.

Happy listening,

AM
 

Walter_Sa

Auditioning
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
5
Hi, I too have not decided yet between Denon 1803 and Yamaha 630. I have a slight preference for the Denon, because I like this brand and I know its predecessor has generally had very good appreciations. I also think I will never go into all those surround modes of the Yamaha DSP.

What the 1803 is missing is the pre-out (to be honest, I only need it for the mains). Is it possible to connect one of its VCR-out to an AUX-in of an external integrated amp, to overcome this?

Thanks to anyone willing to comment.
 

ReggieW

Screenwriter
Joined
Mar 6, 2001
Messages
1,571
Walter,

It's interesting that the Denon 1802 has pre-outs for the mains. I wonder why Denon decided to drop this feature for the 1803.


Reg
 

Walter_Sa

Auditioning
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
5
Reg,

what they did is removing the pre-out and adding the multi-zone capability which for sure is more flexible, but
- as far as I know - not so straight to use if you just need the simple pre-out that the 1802 offered. That's why I am trying to figure out how to have this work. Here in Italy the 1803 has not been announced yet, I took a look at the pdf manual on Denon web site. Other than that, the 1803 has enhancements over the 1802 that would make it worth the wait ....
 

Mark Amayao

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 13, 2001
Messages
156
I work for the Goodguys and the 1803 for msrp is a great receiver. I have listened to the 630 extensively and its nice. but for the price they have its not worth it. and I feel other than feature list and aesthetic wise its a step back from the 620 .... just take a look at the chassis and innerds of the 620 compared to the 630. The 1803 ive probably auditioned about a week since we got it. Its sounds great. I thought the Denon had more "oomph" to it. They were both demo'd on a Energy Connossieur package and a Klipsch reference rf3ii system so far. I thought the 1803 did a much better job on the energy's ... more slam and bang on the balins tomb track on lord of the rings. When the Cave troll swings his chains at legolas you can hear more of the chain in the left surround, almost making you duck in the 1803. the 630 was less convincing.

I was dissappointed though when the rep mentioned a couple weeks before we got it in that the 1803 did not have pre-outs ....

he stated that clientel shopping within this price point generally arent looking for features like that in a receiver. still dissappointing .....

after my vacation (a week) ill do more demoing on different systems.

enjoy! whatever you rpurchase turns out to be.
 

Bob East

Agent
Joined
May 2, 2002
Messages
29
I've had a Yamaha 630 for a few months now and have been very pleased with it. At the price, all receivers have trade offs. In my opinion, the Yamaha has the fewest and the most performance for the bucks. The only 2 criticisms I could offer would be it could sound better with 2 channel cd and no DTS-Discrete. DTS Discrete is no big deal as there are very few movies out with it. As for 2 channel cd, I now hook up the player(Sony 755) to the analog 6 channel bypass or use Dolby Pro Logic II/music mode. My speakers are 3 pairs of Sound Dynamics 300 TI(4 ohms). I use the small setting for all speakers and have a Velodyne F1200 sub. I've had no problem with a lack of power using these settings(my speakers do go down into the 30's hz range but running full range would require an upgrade to a separate multi channel amp).

As for the Denon 1803, I took it home this past weekend to try it out. For my setup, the Yamaha smoked it. I was very surprised by this. I had tried out a Denon 3802 and had been very impressed by it. I certainly did not expect the 1803 to sound as good, but did expect it to be competitive with the Yamaha. It was not. Music sounded very thin on the Denon. As for movies, I had to crank the Denon up to near it's max to get things going. The amp on the Denon simply did not have enough power to drive my speakers, making the lack of preouts on the receiver all that more meaningful. I now plan to add a multichannel amp to the Yamaha for my next upgrade.

I did read the 2 recent reviews of receivers in this price range from British HT mags and they reviewed the Yamaha very favorably with one naming the Yamaha the best. The Denon they reviewed was the 1802. I also looked at the Marantz and HK receivers near this price range. Both perform well at music and good at movies but lack features important to me. The Marantz 4200 and 5200 do not have component switching and the HK in this price range does not have a 6 channel amp. Thus I eliminated both.The Onkyo 600 does not have preouts either leaving the choice for me the Yamaha 630 or the Pioneer 811(one of the British mags stated the 811 was a fine value but the Yamaha 630 was better overall-I did not try out the 811 personally nor the Kenwoods in this price range so I cannot comment on how well they may work with less than 8 ohm speakers). I wish people well with their choice.
 

Matt Jesty

Second Unit
Joined
May 15, 2002
Messages
390
My experiance selling both of these rcvrs is that the 1803 and 630 both sound comporable, and while I seem to prefer the YAMAHA I think that it may be more of a personal taste issue rather than a clear sonic victory....you'll have to listen for yourself....However, the denon seemed to have very little in the b@lls dept., and didn't want to drive anything with much authority, it worked better when I set the x-over high and ran small ,relatively efficiant satttelites...to me this is about all it will work for, maybe excepting Klipsch....I'm interested in the 2803 'cause that series (28) seems to be where the current output jumped.......with some odd problems I'VE noticed wit some 1603/1803's, I'd vote Yamaha........
 

Cyrus_I

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 20, 2002
Messages
58
I'm also in a similar position as you daren although I would be using my reciever mostly for music. All of your comments have been great but I was just wondering which reciever wins hands down with 2ch stereo music.

I was also wondering which reciever you finally chose daren.

Cheers
 

darren_b

Grip
Joined
Sep 13, 2002
Messages
17
still demoing them this weekend, for my tastes (home theatre mainly) im leaning towards the Yamaha, its a very nice piece of equipment. The denon doesnt seem to handle the Bass as well. The yammy has more 'omph' in it. will probably buy next week, but all ur comments are very interesting and have helped me heaps,

thanks,

feel free to add to post if u have any more experiences with either receivers
 

Wayne Ernst

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2002
Messages
2,588
I've owned the Yamaha HTR-5560 (same as the 630)and currently own the Denon AVR-1802. Initially, I had planned on purchasing the Yamaha so that I could move the Denon to another listening location in my home. For some reason, I was never happy with the Yamaha - I preferred the Denon sound for both home theater and music. Plus, between the two receivers, the Yamaha seemed a little under-powered when compared to the Denon. Before my 30-day return option was up, I quickly packed up the Yamaha and returned it. I was so very happy to get my Denon back into its old slot

Again, this is just my option - and that's the beauty of it because we can have our own opinions. However, the Denon was the best match for me. Given that you're asking about the AVR-1803 model, I can't really comment on that receiver. Maybe, Denon cut a lot of corners between the 1802 and 1803 in order to bring more features out with the 1803 model. Possibly, the performance between the 1803 and 630 are more similar at this point in time. If that were the case, then I'd look for a used 1802 receiver which you should be able to find at a good price.
 

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