[sweetdaddyjones]

My old receiver is dying, so I need to replace it soon.


My current setup:

Panasonic 52" 720p plasma

Directv HD DVR

old DVD player (upgrading soon)

PS2 (possibly upgrading to PS3)


2nd room: Toshiba CRT TV (this may be upgraded to a small LCD later this year)


I also have a 3rd speaker location on the back deck


My ideal would be to have a receiver that can send video to my 2nd TV. I also need to get audio out to my back deck.


Other considerations:

I need to get sound from my PC. I have pretty much decided that something like Squeezebox will suffice instead of limiting myself to receivers that can handle this.


I need to have audio in my 2nd room and the back deck. I don't envision having to have sound in all three locations at the same time, so I assume I can find some kind of switch to control whether audio is going to the deck or the 2nd room. Is there any type of decent switch out there I should consider?


I want to be able to add an amp later, so I narrowed my list of choices to receivers with pre-outs.


I've narrowed my list of choices to the following:

Pioneer 1018AH

Pioneer 01XTH

HK 2/354 (no multizone video)

Marantz 5003 (no multizone video)


I'm leaning heavily toward one of the Pioneers because of the good reviews I've seen, but I wanted to get input from the forum about whether how I'm wanting to wire my setup with the 2nd room and back deck will work (i.e. will 2 zones suffice or do I have to get something with 3 zones?). I also want to get some input on whether these receivers are my best options.

 

[sweetdaddyjones]

One other question about the 1018: It doesn't have a 12v trigger. What implications does this have for connecting an amp? As far as I can tell, it just means that the amp won't automatically be powered on when I turn on the reciever. Since I have an activity-based remote, I'm assuming this won't be a big deal, but is there anything else this limitation affects?

 

[sweetdaddyjones]

bump

 

[Adam1971]

Well, I just returned a 9130 (same as 01TXH) and was not impressed with the sound quality, nice surround sound features and ipod connection. But in my comparisons the Yamaha 6190 (aka 1800) blew it away. I was considering the HK 354 as well but got scared away by the reported bugs. My advice by a few, take them home and try them out, return the losers.

 

[sweetdaddyjones]

What did you not like about the sound? I tried to buy the 1018 to audition it, but both of the Best Buys in my area were sold out.

 

[Naxray]

I can only speak on the SQ of 2 of your considerations. I tried the Pio 1018 and the Marantz 5003 in my system (Tannoy mains) and preferred the Marantz by far for music. It sounded fuller and warmer to the Pioneer's brighter sound to me. For HT, they both sound great. I think you have solid choices and it will come down to the mulit-zone feature needs.

 

[Adam1971]



Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetdaddyjones /forum/post/15480985


What did you not like about the sound? I tried to buy the 1018 to audition it, but both of the Best Buys in my area were sold out.

I felt that it really lacked any punch in the mid range as compared to the Yamaha. One of my test songs was "Bring the boy's back Home" from the dvd pink floyd the wall. The Yamaha reproduced horns and vocals that induced goose bumps, the Pioneer just sounded flat. Both receivers were set up, both set on the same dolby digital II setting, both eq's set flat. Bass and high's were comparable in my tests.


I'm using Klipsch speakers, it could be the Yamaha is better suited to the horns in my speakers.


The Yamaha also had considerable more power at then the Pioneer


FYI the Yamaha has speaker outputs for zone 2 and you can also use the presence outputs for zone 3, so no need for an extra amp. But there are pre-outs if you choose to run an extra amp. The pioneer does not have any zone 2 or 3 speaker outputs, you must run a separate amp for each extra zone or use the SB outputs and run 5.1 only on your main room.

 

[sweetdaddyjones]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm curious about whether I can even connect my 2nd TV a (a Toshiba SD) to my Directv HD DVR. If it will display video, do I even need a dedicated 2nd zone video if I don't need different sources running at the same time (I live alone)? Could I just send the video to my 2nd TV using existing RCA jacks/ Component Video/ S-Video? In other words, I'd connect one TV via HDMI and a 2nd via RCA/ Component/ S-Video, resulting in 2 TV's receiving the same video. Is this possible on the receivers I listed or any others?