VR-6060 or VSX-D811S (1 Viewer)

[Brian_Tho]

I am trying to decide between these units, and I really need the help of members of this forum. Here is what I would like to know.
1-Is either one more powerful than the other. Do these receivers have powerful amps?
2-What is the sound like? Is it warm, bright, or neutral?
3-I currently have a Sony HT-DDW840 HTIB would this be a big jump in power and sound? P.S. I will be getting new speakers. Medium Size not Large.
4-Is the music that bad on the Pioneer. I am happy with the sound on my current system will it at least be as good?
5-I know the VR-6060 is the same as the VR-6070 does the THX features make that big of a difference in sound quality. Note I do not have any THX certified Cables, Equipment, or a room that meets specs.
I just want to say thank you for your help in this matter.
I am really caught up and need some good advice. Very tough decision to make.

 

[Lyden]

i can only speak for the pioneer... im an owner of the 810s wich is prettymuch the same thing as the 811s. one thing you might notice is that the amp lacks oomph but ive found it to be a really clear sounding amp .... i dont know what a warm sound is to be honest .... but this amp surely shines twords the highs. i love the sound i just wish it would have alittle more oomph the newer version of it (811s) they might have given it what it lacked hope i helped in your decision

 

[Brian_Tho]

How big of a room are you using the 810 in Lyden. How high do you usually turn it up. By warm "I" mean a little bit of bass in the voice from the center channel. Thanks for your input I am new to the forum but an avid home theater junky.

 

[Lyden]

i have my 810 in a 12ft by 12ft room and for music i can sometimes have it up all the way ... for movies i have it about 75% of max volume smetimes louder .... but i think my 810 is screwd cuz once its on for a while the sound seems to drop out and i have to blast it more ...... you get some lows in the center chanel but im not exactly useing a "center" speaker for that chanel i have one i built that i use ... its 14" wide 5" tall 6" deep it has dual 4" mids a 1" softdome tweeter and the port in the front on the top is a 4" sub i took from a computer set up i had .... it sounds decent in movies its just a wondeful thing to have . im a newbie HTer who talks tomuch

 

[Brian_Tho]

Anyone else come on guys!

 

[Leonard B]

I have the 6060 and have no complaints. It has the same amplifiers as the THX 6070, which puts out 92 watts. My home theater is 13' x 18' x 7', and the 6060 has plenty of headroom, more than I could listen to without hurting my ears. I am also running high efficiancy speakers, which lessens the demands on the amps. The unit doesn't run hot and the remote is very good. I had no problems with the learning remote. Another thing to consider is that the subwoofer crossover is set at 80hz, while the Pioneer gives you the option of choosing 100hz and above. This may or may not be important to you depending on your setup. All in all, I like the 6060.
Hope this helps.

 

[Rich Sharbaugh]

I was watching the LOTR Extended Edition last night with the 811 and it sounds great. I have found that when the receiver picks up DD or DTS the sound level is amplified. The speakers (currently only have FR , FL, and CC hooked up) are set to Large and they will shake the floor @ -40 on the volume control. The sound overall is very crisp and clear.
I too questioned the music/sound ability of this receiver and I think this receiver does well with music. I was figuring that I would play a CD and agree with the guys about music quality of this receiver, but that was not the case. For the price this receiver is really GOOD!!!

 

[Brian_Tho]

I have LOTR Extended this is one of the louder DVDs. How about DD 5.1 what level do you listen on that? What size room are you in also? Music can you crank music up to loud levels. Thanks

 

[Lyden]

ive cranked my reciver up to max level wich is -4 for some reson.... and the sound is still nice and clear but ony thing with my speakers the bass gets distorted but only if i ajust the bass and treble controls if i leave the reciver on flat it sounds perfict all the time. and also pioneers customer support is quite good although $53 for a replacement remote still bugs me. heres the facts ive heard the kenwoods at best buy and the pioneers hooked up with my speakers and IMO the pioneer puts out a nicer sound for music but for HT i dident reeally notice much of a differance the pioneer is a bit louder in DD and DTS though.... and its really clear but the kenwood has more oomph in the low ends, i dident like how the highs came out .. but i have a really sensitive ear so...

 

[Rich Sharbaugh]

LOTR in the DD mode was also louder than standard ProLogic. For that matter I think that all of my DVD with DD or DTS are louder than standard ProLogic mode. The room is 13'x20' and the receiver doesn't seem to have much of a problem filling the space. I still need to get the sub, which is on order.

Music is clear and I can push the system around -10 and it is loud. Much farther than that and the system starts to distort. Now Lyden might be right about the bass and treble controls. In order to get the needed bass while in stereo or ProLogic I adjust the bass levels and set the unit in on Loud mode. That might be what is distorting the system.

 

[Arthur S]

The power output of the Kenwood is going to be hard to beat. As Leonard noted, Sound & Vision measured 92 watts X 6 with all channels driven. This is a lot of power for the price. Sound quality is quite good. I have the 6070 and it has exceeded my expectations. Check some other threads, there may be some good deals out there.

Artie

 

[Peter_James]

The Kenwood has clips on the back for some of the speaker connections, and the pioneer has all posts. Also, the Pioneer has pre-outs, and the Kenwood doesn't. The last part IS a big deal to me, maybe not to you though.

P.J.

 

[Chris Huber]

I have teh 811S. Everything is fine with it so far. In my room, I turn the reciever up to -30 on the volume and it loud enough...
Sounds really good too. Chalk that up to the JBL-S class thoguh

 

[NickSP]

Brian, I have tried the 811S as a prepro but not had a chance to listen to the receiver thru it's own amps. I felt the receiver did a good job decoding in HT and it sounded very crisp. However, I thought the music was very bright and a tad harsh and resulted in fatigue. I believe this receiver can be had for $299 and for that price it is an awesome buy.

 

[charles mix]

I had the Kenwood for a while. A very good unit. It has some very good detail and will play at very high SPL's. It also has a very good DD/DTS processor. I do like the pioneer stuff but they do come some corners in the power supply section. Hope this helps.

 

[Brian_Tho]

I want thank all the members who have replyed to date. It helps alot to have opinions from owners of the products. Ok so here it goes after reading what you guys say, I can disern two things.

1-The Pioneer does not have the power that the Kenwood has?

2-They are both good units for the money?


Is there anyone here who has used both and what did they think. Look guys I think the main thing I am conserned about is the power. Which of the two receivers is the most powerful. Hate to sound like a newbie! Which I am! Sort of. I dont know after reading for the last few months, I do feel a little informed.

 

[Brian_Tho]

Let me clarify a little. I have a friend who owns a STR-DE835. I have listened to movies at his house plenty of times, and his receiver is very powerful much more so than my STR-K840P. We can only turn is up not even halfway, and his is super loud. He has a 25x15x10ft room. On the other hand my receiver i have to turn up to about 45to50 on a scale of 1-74. Are all new receivers underpowered? I would hope that the Pioneer, or Kenwood would be more powerful than my puny little HTIB Sony receiver. I mean I'm not looking to damage my hearing, but lets face it a receiver should be fairly strong throught its range.

 

[ThomasL]

What size room do you have and what speakers do you plan on getting with the receiver? I have a 13.5 x 12.5 room with Cambridge Soundworks M50 bookshelf speakers and a Paradigm PDR-8 sub along with a Pioneer 811S. For 2 channel stereo music, I never have to turn it higher than -50db on the volume dial and for DD/DTS movies, never higher than -36db. When the receiver first came out, a fellow home theater forum member had the 811S tested to be around 78 watts/channel with all channels driven. How much power you need is going to depend on how big your room is (i.e. how much air are you filling with sound waves), your room's acoustics, your speakers' sensitivity ratings, and how loud you like to listen. You should also sit down and figure out what features you'd like to have. If you do a search on this forum, you'll find tons of posts going back to April regarding budget receivers under $500. I've mentioned in many previous posts that 2 channel music is somewhat lackluster at my listening levels and with my speakers. This could be simply a product of the receiver or some combination of things. I never did bring in a Marantz 5200 to see if it made a big difference. But I've found with the Pioneer that the Loudness feature really makes it sound nice to me at lower volume levels. It is simply boosting the 100Hz and 10Khz frequencies in some bell curve manner.

good luck,


--tom

 

[Guy Usher]

If you are concerned about power then do not use tone controls or loadness compensation, just a little increase in bass can put a huge burdon on your amps. Only use tone controls or loadness compensation for very low level listening just enough to warm it up, dont forget to put it back to flat when you crank it up. I have seen receivers running wide open with the volume knob at 10 o'clock because of tone and loadness controls. I dont use them, all they do is cause problems, they are too broad in their range, with subs and decent speakers there should not be any need for tone controls.