H/K AVR 720 or the H/K AVR 8000 (1 Viewer)

[RickBlacker]

For those of you who are knowledgeable of the harman like of receivers, if you were to make the choice and you were not worried about money, which would you buy and why?

I am in this situation and I am having a hard time deciding....


Thanks all!

 

[Raphael O]

the avr8000 has been having quality control issues - but it is a very flexible piece and excelent receiver , only 5 channels powered - you need an amp to do 6 or 7.1.

the avr 7200 is new and has a lot of features - all channels powered , and we dont know the quality control issues yet.

i bought the avr8000 - the first one they sent me was DOA , the second one they sent was ok and d so far im satisfied and impressed.

but i have not tinkered with it too much yet to see any problems - except for the center channel buzz when your ear is 6 inches away from the center channel tweeter.

 

[RickBlacker]

Well, I currently have the AVR-520 as well as a PA-4000 to power my extra speakers. I just am having a horrible case of upgrade fevor. :b

I am just having a hard time deciding if the 7200 would be just as good if not better.

The one thing I like about the 7200 is that it has DD-EX where the 8000 does not. However the 8000 has THX ultra. But does that matter? Eh.... I dunno.

I guess what it comes down to is sound comparison between the two.

With the 8000 having THX Ultra, can you get a discrete 6th channel out of any DD-EX DVDs?

 

[Raphael O]

im not sure rick coz i am only running 5.1 for now , but i have heard from a member that the THX of the avr8000 is the one used for dd ex and i dont know if it is discrete.

but dont take my word as i have only heard about it .

wait for a reply from someone who really had this done.

 

[Serge Breton]

Rick,

the 8000 has DD-EX. It's called THX Surround EX and can be found on the AVR8000 along with most of the other higher priced recievers and processors out there.

 

[RickBlacker]

Serge, thank you kindy for that clarification! That helps me narrow it down. I know the 8000 is not their newest receiver, however, for the price you can pick it up these days, it's hard not to want to buy it.

 

[Phil*K]

To my knowledge none of the Dolby formats are descrete above 5.1. The rest is all matrixed. The only descrete 6.1 format is DTS.

Phil

 

[RickBlacker]

Phil, i think your right. I just headed over to the DD web site and was doing some reading. It does sound like EX is NOT a discrete channel but rather as you said matrixed. I though I had read or someone once told me that EX was a discrete channel.

 

[Phil*K]

Rick,

Every thread that I have seen on the subject has stated that DD EX is matrixed and I've asked a couple of salemen at Hi Fi Buys and they said the same thing.

Cheers

Phil

 

[John S Choi]

From H/K web site. AVR7200 will process 2.0 D.D. or 5.1 D.D. to 6.1 matrix D.D. . AVR-8000 does not do this.
I also heard AVR7200 will not process 5.1 D.D./DTS to
LOGIC7. AVR-8000 does this.

 

[Serge Breton]

the 6th channel on DD-EX is matrixed but on DD-EX encoded dvd's such as JP111 and LOTR the rear center adds more realism and ambience to the soundtrack. It sounds really good and better than DD 5.1. On standard DD 5.1 soundracks i usually leave EX processing off however since i find i'm losing some of the dynamics with EX engaged. My personal preference

 

[RickBlacker]

Has anyone had a chance to do a sound comparrison between the two? Or has anyone heard of such comparrisons and know what was said? I hear great things about the 8000 sound.

 

[Jason Brent]

John,

Where did you hear about the 7200 not doing L7 on 5.1?? This is something I've been wondering, and I think would be a big benefit for this reciever.

If it did do this I would consider upgrading my 525 to get the more power.

 

[John S Choi]

Phillips Brandes has post on AVS.
" I talked to Rick Jordan a product manager for AVR-7200
at H/K. He said 7200 has one processing chip and will not
convert to L7 from D.D./DTS."
H/K has two processing chips.

 

[John S Choi]

AVR-8000 has two processing chips.