[Luis Gabriel Gerena]

Hi!

My set up is basically 5 Home Theater Direct Level 3 towers and am looking for the best receiver at the $500 price range. I have seen some models like these:

Onkyo TX-SR601

Denon 2803

Yamaha RX-V1400

Panasonic XR45

Marantz (suggestions?)

Please recommend me based on SOUND QUALITY first. Conectivity, remote, and other bells and whistles are secondary to me.

Regards

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

yamaha

 

[rnrgagne]

I am a big fan of the XR-45, I've had the 25 in my home for a try-out and I set up a friends HT with the XR-10 (5 channel version) I just can not fathom anything SOUNDING better unless you get into the "flagship" level of recievers and even then it would be debatable as to whether it would SOUND better. The only concern I would have would be if you had terribly inefficient speakers. I'm not familiar with yours. I heard the 45 today for the first time at one of my favorite audio stores. They're a "high-end" store carrying products like TacT, Cambridge, Anthem etc. These guys typically don't carry any junk and if there is something out there like this Panny they don't care what the price of the unit is they'll bring it in. They have this unit set up in a 2 channel display powering Opera speakers and in a HT display powering Paradigms. IMO this unit sounds much better than the 25 I had. While the I thought the 25 was an amazing piece for the money I'm even more impressed with the 45. It has better upper end control than the 25. In short this unit is as accurate as anything I've ever heard and has incredible bass control and extension. Remarkable.

 

[rnrgagne]

Oh and I forgot, the sticker price in this store; $900 CND. (About $720 US)

 

[Yamahaluver]

The Yamaha and Denon are both good choices, the Yamaha needs careful speaker matching and it sounds great then, the Denon is way more forgiving in that sense.

 

[jehrico76]

Quote:

Originally posted by Luis Gabriel Gerena Hi! My set up is basically 5 Home Theater Direct Level 3 towers and am looking for the best receiver at the $500 price range. I have seen some models like these: Onkyo TX-SR601 Denon 2803 Yamaha RX-V1400 Panasonic XR45 Marantz (suggestions?) Please recommend me based on SOUND QUALITY first. Conectivity, remote, and other bells and whistles are secondary to me. Regards

Denon, and Onkyo are all pretty comparable models. Yamaha would be a close second, more tweaks, not quite as much guts down low, especially with lower impedance speakers, IMHO. I'm not too familiar with Marantz's offerings the last few years, so I won't comment. IMHO, Panasonic doesn't have the guts the others do. However, considering you said that bells and whistles are secondary, go look at Harmon Kardon. Classic tradeoff with H/K, very, very few tweaks and what not. You're paying for the better quality amp with H/K, don't let those wattage ratings fool you. I think you'd be most happy with the H/K, it provides more current and overhead than the others.

 

[Rob Ricket]

Luis,


Just noticed that ecost has refurbished Onkyo TX-800's for $500. don't know much abt the unit, however if ur considering the 601, the 800 should be a steal at that price.

 

[rnrgagne]

Quote:

Originally posted by jehrico76 Denon, and Onkyo are all pretty comparable models. Yamaha would be a close second, more tweaks, not quite as much guts down low, especially with lower impedance speakers, IMHO. I'm not too familiar with Marantz's offerings the last few years, so I won't comment. IMHO, Panasonic doesn't have the guts the others do. However, considering you said that bells and whistles are secondary, go look at Harmon Kardon. Classic tradeoff with H/K, very, very few tweaks and what not. You're paying for the better quality amp with H/K, don't let those wattage ratings fool you. I think you'd be most happy with the H/K, it provides more current and overhead than the others.

And how pray tell are you jumping to the conclusion that the Panasonic doesn't have the guts? What exactly do you mean by guts? This by far and a way the best product on the market in terms of sonic bang for the buck. This unit uses the same amplification technology as found in $10,000 equipment. The only thing other recievers under $2000 will have over this is more features. I have an HK AVR8000, it's an excellent piece but, I just use it as a pre-amp and I power my mains and center with Anthem amps. The amps in the 25 I had in my home were at least equal in sound quality to the HK and very close to the quality of the Anthem. The "45" I heard today was better than both. As far as guts are concerned the 45 is overated at 100w/ch and is probably closer to 75w/ch but I'd take that over any 100w/ch receiver out there right now for pure sound quality. And sound quality is what this Louis was asking about.

 

[Don Smith]

As subjective as it is, I second the Pannasonic XR-45 for sound quality! As fas as "guts" goes: being a digital amp, it is much smaller physically than the traditional analog amps so many people have trouble believing that it's a capable receiver. Don't know how much power it actually puts out but this thing can really crank. Additionally, it requires much less footprint and ventilation requirements (also looks pretty cool). You can pick one up from the interner for around $300 US

 

[Poseidon]

Toss in another vote for the Panasonic SA-XR 45.

 

[Chip E]

I'd go with the Denon 2803. I have a buddy who has it in his setup. I like it..sounds great.

 

[rcmoto]

Another vote for the XR45. Still crankin.

 

[maui2k4]

I am now deciding on the following choices for receivers ($400-600 range):


1) Onkyo TX-SR601 for $399 from JandR

2) Harman Kardon AVR-430 for $559 from 6th Ave

3) Denon AVR-1804 $499 from Crutchfield


Hard to find a good deal on a Denon from my research on the web. Looks like they are strict about discounting their products. My main use is for Home Theater and I will not be using 6.1 or 7.1 at this time. I mainly need the additional component video inputs for my XBox, DVD and HDTV (only two component inputs on my TV) and would like more power. I am leaning towards the Onkyo only because I have had two other Onkyo units with no problems at all and I am not sure I would need the bells and whistles the HK offers. The Denon also has a lower bandwidth for HD component switching (30MHz vs 50 MHz)

 

[loopy]

It's to bad the Sony STR-DA4ES isn't still available. I've had mine for over a year, and it is still a great receiver. As of today I'd buy it again if I had too. It got somewhat of a bad rap around these forums by certain members, but those who own one know how good they are. From your choices, I'd go with either the H/K or Denon.

 

[hardwired]

Luis,


I have a Panasonic XR-25 (new) and Sony STR-V444ES (predecessor to the Sony DA4ES) hanging around. Send me a private mail if your interested in one of these cheap.

 

[bmedude]

i would go with the yamaha

 

[maui2k4]

After going to Circuit City and comparing a HK AVR-330 (they do not sell the AVR430) to the Onkyo TX-SR601, I was able to easily see that I would be buying a HK receiver. Although I have had 2 Onkyo receivers that I did like, I felt like I had to turn the volume way up on the Onkyo to hear it and the sales rep said he had to do the same with the one he had for movies. I was able to work out a very good deal that ends up getting me a HK AVR-430 (yes, AVR-430) for $530 delivered. The best I could get the Onkyo TX-SR601 for was 430 delivered so I think the extra $100 is well worth it.

 

[Rob Ricket]

I have to agree w/ you concerning the volume control. my previous unit has a DC servo motor for the volume control that maxed out at 3/4 revolutions. In fact during set up last night it took me over an hr of going over the connections before I turned the vol know 1.5 turns to hear some sound. Anyway, glad you like your HK.

 

[jehrico76]

Quote:

Originally posted by rnrgagne And how pray tell are you jumping to the conclusion that the Panasonic doesn't have the guts? What exactly do you mean by guts? This by far and a way the best product on the market in terms of sonic bang for the buck. This unit uses the same amplification technology as found in $10,000 equipment. The only thing other recievers under $2000 will have over this is more features. I have an HK AVR8000, it's an excellent piece but, I just use it as a pre-amp and I power my mains and center with Anthem amps. The amps in the 25 I had in my home were at least equal in sound quality to the HK and very close to the quality of the Anthem. The "45" I heard today was better than both. As far as guts are concerned the 45 is overated at 100w/ch and is probably closer to 75w/ch but I'd take that over any 100w/ch receiver out there right now for pure sound quality. And sound quality is what this Louis was asking about.

For the record, I'm not jumping to a conclusion on the panasonic. I heard it, and I didn't think it sounded as good as other setups I have heard from the other brands. Go back and read what I posted. I said, "IMHO (short for "in my humble opinion," if you didn't know) Panasonic doesn't have the guts that the others do." First off, it doesn't have the same amplification technology found in $10,000 equipment. No where near as big of capacitors, power supply, etc. Second off, going back to "my opinion," it doesn't have as much guts, i.e. doesn't push the lows quite as well, especially on demanding speakers and in movies with lots of explosions and rumbling. It's not a bad piece of equipment by any means, just not as good, IMHO, as the others. I also do not think it is the best bang for the buck out there. It's competitive, better than many others, but not the best. May I suggest having a little thicker skin and respect other people posting their opinions? It's not like I said anything like "it's crap" or anything like that, I just said that IN MY OPINION it didn't have the guts of those other premium brands.

 

[dsmith901]

Your list should definitely include the H/K AVR330, which can be had for under $500 according to Froogle. "Sound & Vision" gave it a very good review, and since you say sound quality is important you should definitely have a H/K at the top of your audition list.


Dsmith