What makes the difference in receivers? (1 Viewer)

[Jacqueline C]

What I'm asking is how what factors affect the sound that you get? I can understand why different speakers will sound different bedause yor taliking about sound coming out of different sized tweeters, woofers, and different materials in the boxes and different sized boxes etc. but I was wondering, if you hook up the same speakers to different recievers do you get different sound and if so why?

If the difference in recievers is more about reliability and just raw power let me know.


Thanks

 

[Cees Alons]

Jacqueline,

Yes. Most of the differences are no longer the quality of the frequency curve and/or the distortions. In those respects receivers and power amps are more and more equal (given roughly the same price league). Nowadays important differences are: power, clipping characteristics, functions, reliabilty, cross-over. And, if you find that important too: looks, weight.

Cees

 

[Jack Briggs]

Cees said it all!

 

[John Garcia]

The components used in the physical design of the receiver, the quality and more specifically the "sound" of a component or the combination of components is what results in the "way" a receiver sounds. The design of the amplification section often plays a very large role in how a receiver sounds.

 

[Ted Lee]

or put another way...

a better receiver will have been designed better using better stuff inside.

to use an extreme example...you have two receivers. one is 300 dollars, the other is 1000 dollars. both put out 100w/ch, with similar features, etc.

which one would you expect to sound better? hopefully, it's the 1K receiver. why? because all that extra money you're spending is going into a higher quality piece of electronics. the power supply is better, the electronic stuff inside it is better, etc.

all of that yummy goodness should equate to better sound. of course, notice how i put the emphasis on should.

 

[Kent Wo]

Okay, so if they are all around equal in a specific price range, are there any that stand out in sound quality? For example, which receivers stand out in the 300 range? 500 range? I've heard good remarks about Dennon and Onkyo, but have no specific model numbers.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Sure. The differences at the bottom, say below 400 or so just won't really be there, for AV receivers anyway. Hoever, 600 and up you should have nice stuff if you're not too options oriented. Different brands may sound slightly different. Yamaha is often considered "bright," Marantz more musical and warm, Denon, Integra/onkyo geared more for HT. Again, those are loose general terms I keep hearing. There are lots of brands, read up as much as possible about units in your price range here and elsewhere, and if you can, listen to them side-by side. It's (nearly) impossible to hear differences in different stores on differentspeakers, but if a store carries two units you're considering, fire them up and take a listen.

 

[Frank Carter]

Another brand worthy of consideration is Harman Kardon. I'm a new fan of HK reeivers.