Should I upgrade from my Denon 3300 (1 Viewer)

[Doug Z]

I know that question seems a little vague but considering that it is about 6 years old but still is an awesome HT receiver, it seems lacking in the music dept. My setup consists of the 3300 with a shotgun bi-wire of Audioquest crystal to the Polk RT800's and CS400 center, M5's in the rear on some monster cable, sub is a mirage FRS 10. Movies are incredible but normal cd's just have a flat sound to them. I hear the HK's are better for music and I do want the HT and music to be equally as good but is it my setup (don't knock the RT's)? Thought about the Swan 6.1 for the mains considering the price right now. Could be the speakers, could be the setup in general but I would like to get some opinions...I do enjoy listening to the current system and the sound is very loud and clean but I think I could possibly tweak it a little.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I find it odd that music does not sound great on that Denon AVR-3300. Music should sound great with that reciever. And your polks should sound good as well. Are you running your tone control flat? While Swans sound great I dont see your main Polk's the problem ether. And while the HK's do a good job I wouldn't say they where better than the Denon's.

I have a Yamaha RX-V995 reciever myself and its over 8 years old. And I have been looking at new recievers as well. There are new Denon recievers that have 1080p hdmi switching. The new Denon's are very good with music and movies. I have seen the disontinued Denon AVR-3805 with M&K's at the CES show a few years ago. It sounded really good and they used there $1500 dvd player and the video was routed to a high end crt projector, needless to say it was very impressive.

I would wait to upgrade your reciever until the new recievers with 1080p hdmi switching are out and the new surround formats are included with the recievers. Your reciever has one good advantage over mine and that is it has component video and mine does not.

As far as HK's go they use high current amplifiers but they dont seem to have enough flexability and no hdmi switching. The Denon's have alot of flexability,1080p hdmi switching and great processing. Im not to crazy about the Sony or Sony ES recievers but they have some good flexability and hdmi inputs, some people love them some people do not. Yamaha makes some good sounding recievers as well. I would sit down with a pad of paper and write down all the inputs you need for the sources you have. Figure out the number of analog and digital inputs you will need. Ask yourself what want in your next receiver. Do you want HDMI inputs and how many do you need. Will you be getting a 1080p Blu-ray HD player or 2nd generation HD-DVD player? If so you may or may not need 1080p hdmi switching. How important is the capability of 7 channel discrete surround formats (Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD and DTS-HD). Will you have a need for a satalite radio input? Do you want assignable digital inputs that you can assign to any input? Do you want assignable internal amplifiers so if you use an external power amplifier you can reassign the unused internal amplifiers? Plan for the future and try to buy more reciever than you need so you have something that will be usefull in the future instead of spending more money on another reciever.

To be honest I have been sitting here trying to figure out why your system sounds flat on music and am drawing a blank. Some people do not like equalizers but that might help you with your problem. With your next reciever you may want to consider using a multi channel power amp it usually helps provide better sound performance.

What size room do you have?

What is your budget for a new reciever?

Do you know anyone with a different brand surround reciever that you could ask them to bring it over and hook it up to your speakers? That should tell you if the Denon is truely weak on music or if you need to look in another direction. Hopefully someone else here has a suggestion or has a better answer about your problem.

 

[Doug Z]

Thanks Dave for the response, I will wait and see what unfolds later this year due to the constant change in technology. As far as inputs my TV has 2 DVI and multiple component inputs so I'm ok there, I would rather let the receiver switch just the audio anyway, JMO. The tone controls are set at "0" The room dimensions are 26'x14' w/ 8' ceilings, the set off-center towards the right because of a door I need access to...as are the speakers. Not everything sounds dull but sometimes sounds like just one big speaker..saying "mono" would be a stretch but it could be that particular track or maybe my ears are gone.... LOML, new baby,

.


Speakers are set to small and the sub is the only source for the lows, not front&sub. Don't get me wrong most of the time it sounds fantastic but not like a vinyl through a set of B&W's.


Sorry forgot to add I would like to stay in the $1K range but what about using the 3300 as a preamp with a seperate amp? Possibly a Rotel or Parasound (used probably)...the set of Halo's are just a bit out of reach and I still want to sleep inside.

 

[dany]

I went from my 3200 to a 2805. It was worth it just for PL2.

 

[Doug Z]

I wanted to add that I switched from my Sony DVP S550 to a Pioneer DV578A because it was progressive scan for my RP CRT, not much difference between the 2 units but the $99 Pioneer has a terrific picture but I'm sure the set (57X500) helps out also. I have not tried a more up to date Denon DVD player, this is what I'm not to sure how much the AV will improve and what model to choose. Would the 2910 be enough or could the 3300 even benefit from the 3910? I have no problem mixing brands but I figure the Denon's would be happier together.