Receiver recommendation (1 Viewer)

[penn3]

Hi,
I am planning to upgrade my receiver and want some recommendations.

I am looking for a receiver for 70% HT and 30% music. Budget is around $1000.
I currently have very old yamaha receiver and a pair of MMGs.Room size is small-medium.

For the HT I plan to buy the HSU ventriloquist VT-12 with the subwoofer.
I plan to keep the MMGs mostly for stereo and use the vt-12 setup for HT.So the receiver should have some kind of A/B.
When I went to a local shop here in Ottawa, once I mentioned MMG I was directed to Arcam and NAD.
Arcam is above my budget.
NAD T753 looks good but worried abt the noise issues many people experience as I read in the forums. Also they are not very feature rich ex. no THX (I am not sure how important it is but since I am on lookout for a new receiver why not get one with all features so that I dont have to upgrade for few more years)

Based on my research I found following to consider..
1. Elite vsx81
2. Outlaw 1070
3. Nad T753
4. Pioneer 1016

Any thoughts?

 

[Lolipox]

NAD 754 is already out but i don't know about the noise issues and it STILL doesn't have HDMI.
You should consider Marantz 7001 or Yamaha 1700/2700 btw, a lot of good reviews of them and they are features rich especially the Yammie.

 

[Seth=L]

To be honest $1000 for a receiver and less than $1000 for speakers isn't a well balanced budget. When budgeting the receiver should only cost you about 1/3 of the entire budget.

What I would do in your present situation, I would get a descent $500 receiver with preouts and get a seperate 2 channel amplifier to power the MMG's, like an Adcom. Adcom amplifier are good for driving heavy loads like the MMG's, and most receivers, even in the $1000 range really aren't up to that challenge.

This is of coarse my opinion, but this type of set-up would probably better serve you.

 

[John Brill]

I second Seth=L's recommendation.

To be honest, you don't need 80% of the "features" incorporated into many of the mass market receivers. For HT, you will mostly use only the Dolby Digital or DTS settings and for music, straight stereo. Other processing DSP features you will use once to play with them but will revert back to the default settings.

The NAD recommendation from the shop isn't a bad one as Magnepan's tend to be power hungry and NAD has a reputation of solid amps. Curious as to which Ottawa shop you went to... Glebe or Clyde location? If it's the Glebe store, mention you read about noise issues with the NAD and you'd like to try it out before buying. They will probably take a credit card imprint and let you take it home for a day or two. Clyde store, forget it. They just came out of bankruptcy for a reason and are probably heading right back.

 

[penn3]

Thanks for the inputs.
I had gone to the one in Orleans. I dont see the Glebe one you mentioned in the list of dealers.Thanks

 

[John Brill]

Ah, StereoPlus, haven't been out there yet... No harm in asking if you can try before you buy but I suspect they won't have that flexibility being a chain store. They may have a very liberal return policy though.

AudioShop in the Glebe is independently owned carries some nice stuff and just recently became a Rotel authorized dealer... Dewar's Audio probably didn't like that!

 

[penn3]

I am getting the Outlaw 1070.
I am trying to find a sound meter in order to setup the channels.I am not able to find a single shop in ottawa which carries it.
Anyone know where I can get it?
thanks

 

[webanthony]

I would consider Onkyo - great products, just check out CNET's review on the TX-SR674, I would also consider the TX-SR604, which is a great deal, with true HDMI switching as opposed to the Pioneer (just pass through).