Which way to go? (1 Viewer)

[michele]

Shoud I buy a budget receiver with all the latest decoding e.g. PL11 etc and buy an external amp to power all my channels OR should I just buy a powerful receiver? I am leaning towards the budget receiver/external amplifer but what budget receiver would give me good clean quality processing?
In the end, my HT will be more 70% music and 30% movies.
I want a loud system for my parties yet I want my HT experience to be just as good.
This is the order that I will be buying:
Receiver and/Amplifier
Speakers
HDTV
Other

I'm now researching Receivers.
Thank you for all your opinions.

 

[Yogi]

Buy a 3802 for now. It has all the latest processing and does a top notch job for the price of $699. It has ample power to drive a 90 db sensitivity speaker system to ear shattering levels in a small to medium sized room. Paradigms are a popular choice of speakers to mate with the 3802. Others in the display devices forum should be able to advice you on your choice of HDTV etc.

In future if you decide to need more power, either for a larger room or for your want of more authority and finesse you can always add a budget 5 channel amp for around $500-700 for even better performance. Hope that should help. It would help if you know what your budget is for these purchases.

Best of luck.

 

[Michael WB]

I went the budget reciever route. I bought a Marantz SR4200 reciever. I choose this because I like the way it sounds with music, and since I don't have room for more than 5 speakers there was no reason to buy a bigger model.

I then started looking at 5 channel amps, but I'm on a limited budget so I went for an alternative solution. I have bought a second-hand Denon POA-2400 amp (2x200w) wich is driving my front speakers. I'm now looking for matching amps and when I have those I can start saving for a dedicated pre-amp.

If you buy the budget reciever now and buy external amps you can upgrade in the future and keep your power amps. In the long run I think it will be the cheapest solution.

Michael

 

[DanaA]

Michele,
My advise would be to buy as good quality a receiver as you can afford, making sure it has the requisite preouts and focus on getting as good a power amp as you can, just like you're thinking. I know some will disagree with this, but my feeling is that you'll not only have better sound now, but that it will be more upgradable in the future. Just make sure the power amp is one that will serve you well into the future.
And welcome to HTF. I think it's a rule here that all members who have parties must issue an invitation to the entire forum, so, yes, you will need a large amount of power, indeed, as well as putting up with people taking off your speaker grills, bringing their callibration tools, etc.