I've been (fairly casually) shopping for receivers now for some time. I have a 7-8 year old mid-level Onkyo now that has served me well, but it's time to upgrade for some of the new features like room correction, HDMI switching, and the Hi-Def codecs. I'd say my standards are medium-high. Speakers are currently Boston Acoustics bookshelf, but will be upgraded to floorstanding someday (sooner or later). I don't yet know what those will be, so I want to get a receiver that doesn't limit me when I go speaker shopping. The 3808ci appears like it's currently sitting in a sweet spot on features, sound quality, and price. But now, 6ave's name your own price deal has thrown a wrench into that. The Yamaha V3900 and the Onkyo NR906 initially appeared to be at a price point so far above the 3808 that they couldn't possibly justify the difference. However, 6ave has accepted offers that are around $200 more than the 3808 for both the V3900 and NR906. Now things get interesting
Yamaha seems to have a lot of fans, including salesmen at both BB Magnolia and Ultimate Electronics that tell me they think Yamaha is more "musical" than Denon, for whatever that's worth. I listened to both, and while their sound characteristics are subtlety different, I don't know if I'd say one's better than the other. I am fairly discriminating, but certainly not at the level of some people here. I probably do about equal amounts of music and HT, though I'm probably more passionate about music sounding good than I am about HT. The V3900 also adds some extra power, the presence speakers (don't know whether that really is worth doing), and non-critical but nice features like HD Radio built in.
My big problem with Yamaha is that it doesn't have the Audyssey suite. I'm not so much worried about whether YPAO is as good as MultiEQ XT. I'd expect either to do OK for me. However, I like what I hear about Audyssey's Dynamic EQ and Dynamic Volume. I live in an apartment with thin walls, and while I'll buy a house eventually, I'd hope that within the life of this receiver, a wife and kids come into the picture, which could present some volume limitations as well. From what I've read, the closest that Yamaha has to these is what they call "Adaptive DSP" and "Adaptive DRC", and neither of those are anywhere near as advanced as Audyssey. The Yamaha does have some things that sound like nice steps up above the 3808, and it might indeed be more "musical." But I need convincing that it's worth giving up the Audyssey features (and an extra $200).
The Onkyo NR906 is kind of a wildcard. Of course the it has the same Audyssey suite as the 3808, so no worries there. It looks like it has a better power section than the V3900, which in turn may be better than the 3808. But it sounds like the GUI is low resolution and doesn't overlay on HDMI. I also don't see reference to the ability to control it over the network with a web browser, as you can with the Denon and Yamaha. Silly as it may sound, I like those features. I'd give them up if the Onkyo is really better in some key respect. The other problem with Onkyo is that I don't know of anywhere that carries them around me anymore, so I'd be ordering without hearing it first.
I'd certainly appreciate any advice anyone has. The 3808 still seems like the front runner, though if I could get over the loss of Audyssey I could see the Yamaha V3900 perhaps taking the lead. I'd also be interested to hear any thoughts on usability. I know some people don't think the Denon GUI is intuitive, but it didn't look too bad to me from what little I've seen of it. I'm not sure if the Yamaha (or Onkyo, despite its lower resolution and lack of overlay) is significantly better.
Yamaha seems to have a lot of fans, including salesmen at both BB Magnolia and Ultimate Electronics that tell me they think Yamaha is more "musical" than Denon, for whatever that's worth. I listened to both, and while their sound characteristics are subtlety different, I don't know if I'd say one's better than the other. I am fairly discriminating, but certainly not at the level of some people here. I probably do about equal amounts of music and HT, though I'm probably more passionate about music sounding good than I am about HT. The V3900 also adds some extra power, the presence speakers (don't know whether that really is worth doing), and non-critical but nice features like HD Radio built in.
My big problem with Yamaha is that it doesn't have the Audyssey suite. I'm not so much worried about whether YPAO is as good as MultiEQ XT. I'd expect either to do OK for me. However, I like what I hear about Audyssey's Dynamic EQ and Dynamic Volume. I live in an apartment with thin walls, and while I'll buy a house eventually, I'd hope that within the life of this receiver, a wife and kids come into the picture, which could present some volume limitations as well. From what I've read, the closest that Yamaha has to these is what they call "Adaptive DSP" and "Adaptive DRC", and neither of those are anywhere near as advanced as Audyssey. The Yamaha does have some things that sound like nice steps up above the 3808, and it might indeed be more "musical." But I need convincing that it's worth giving up the Audyssey features (and an extra $200).
The Onkyo NR906 is kind of a wildcard. Of course the it has the same Audyssey suite as the 3808, so no worries there. It looks like it has a better power section than the V3900, which in turn may be better than the 3808. But it sounds like the GUI is low resolution and doesn't overlay on HDMI. I also don't see reference to the ability to control it over the network with a web browser, as you can with the Denon and Yamaha. Silly as it may sound, I like those features. I'd give them up if the Onkyo is really better in some key respect. The other problem with Onkyo is that I don't know of anywhere that carries them around me anymore, so I'd be ordering without hearing it first.
I'd certainly appreciate any advice anyone has. The 3808 still seems like the front runner, though if I could get over the loss of Audyssey I could see the Yamaha V3900 perhaps taking the lead. I'd also be interested to hear any thoughts on usability. I know some people don't think the Denon GUI is intuitive, but it didn't look too bad to me from what little I've seen of it. I'm not sure if the Yamaha (or Onkyo, despite its lower resolution and lack of overlay) is significantly better.
