Help: I think my receiver sucks: (1 Viewer)

[Johnny_M]

hmm, my old sony and my new kenwood both are rated at 100w per channel. is that what u mean by "same power capabilities". Because my sony sounded like crap.


Johnny

 

[Paul S]

If you Sony were operating correctly it would sound the same as your Kenwood, that is exactly what I mean.

 

[Kenneth Harden]

OK, lets shift gears. Put in the clutch, and upshift into 3rd, and let it back out while applying a small amount of throttle:

Paul, are you saying that all receivers sound the same, be it a $200 Sony or a $4000 Denon?

 

[David Judah]

It's not like we ever need a reason to upgrade, Kenneth, but I think you're making a pretty good case. Are you looking for things to tell your wife?

As for your particular issue, I didn't notice a problem with ROTK so I'd be inclined to say it's the receiver as well. Sony's are notoriously noisy and harsh, IMO, until you get to the ES line.

Paul,

Speakers will make more of a difference in overall sound quality, but to say one step in the chain, a receiver or pre-amp/amp combo, will make no difference seems rather silly and goes against my experiences.

That might be an easier case to make for old analog stereo receivers, but with digital processors and all they entail(A/D & D/A converters, bass management, signal processing, etc...)it's a no-brainer that they'll have an impact and not sound the same.

DJ

 

[Kenneth Harden]

I answer to myself - I'm 19, so it is just a matter of parting with a given amount of cash and being done with it.

I have some nice JBL's, and am looking to upgrade to some Klipsch SF-3's and a SC-3, and those are certainly speakers that deserve better than a cheap Sony amp.

 

[NickSo]

yea well, looks like you were pretty set on upgrading, just needed an excuse to... coz im 100% confident that the high pitched whine is not a fault of the reciever but of the DVD.

 

[Kenneth Harden]

It will be a while before I upgrade.

Also, my Sony is very inflexable setup-wise, and I would love to calibrate things better than they are now.

 

[Paul S]

David, as I mentioned above, go to the Audioholics website and do some research. Receivers do not sound as different as you might think.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

Kenneth, In any regard, just don't push the volume level too high. I'm sure with the receiver described, lots of distortion could be introduced in an effort to get the sound level up there. This could be very bad for the speakers.

My nephew has a very similar Sony receiver. I recall it being a model that sold for $199 at Best Buy a few years back. I gave him a pair of JBL speakers a few years back, which he blew because of introducing too much distortion to them. Last week, as his graduation present, we hooked him up with a pair of Paradigm Titans. Let's hope he doesn't push the receiver too hard to blow those, too.

Finally, subwoofers go a long way in helping us. Without a sub, we tend to want to overdrive our other speakers in an effort to get some bass into the room. Having a sub, allows us to use a bit less volume because we're getting the bass that we desire from the sub (well, for some of us, we are content like this.)

 

[DonJ]

First off I don't put any stock in website like audioholics. Second you named on the most efficient speaker brands out there.

I'm sorry if you power a pair of B&W Nautilus 800's with a $300.00 Sony receiver it would sound like utter crap.

 

[Chris]

I wouldn't trust that assessment either. In reality, a crap receiver will never make good speakers sound their best. And bad speakers will hinder a good receiver.

You have to have at least mid-level of both; you can't hook up a $300 set of HTIB type speakers to a Denon 3805 and expect to get "high level" performance, just as you can't hook a pair of VonSchweikerts up to a $150 RCA Receiver and think they will sound good.

*laugh* It's amazing though, price does come down. When I bought my Denon 3600 AVR years ago, I paid $2,100. Now I could get three times that for 1/3 the cost, basically.

 

[David Judah]

Being the curious person I am, I did cruise over to Audioholics and check it out. I couldn't find anything in any of the articles, but I did find some posts in the Forum by "PDS" saying the same thing. Is that you Paul?

Do you have any links of tests performed by Audioholics or Hirsch/Houck Labs? I'm genuinely interested.

DJ

 

[DonJ]

I agree with you but I believe moving from a low to midgrade receiver has a bigger bennifit than moving from low to mid grade speakers without a change in amplication.