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Yamaha CX-A5x00+MX-A5x00, versus RX-A3080

1645 Views 2 Replies 3 Participants Last post by iraweiss, Sep 16, 2019

00derek

Discussion Starter · Sep 15, 2019

I'm building a 300 sq ft addition, new living room, and taking the opportunity to update our home theater from a Yamaha RX-V750 + Sony XBR 52" TV circa 2008.

I know Yamaha makes a good product so I've been researching the CX-A5x00+MX-A5x00 combo, versus RX-A3080. Not really interested in other brands unless there's a compelling case to be made. The Yamahas do it all.

I don't have speakers in mind yet, but I know there's some homework to do to find the right ones. My goal here is the best possible sound, with a total budget of about $10k; preamp/amp/cables/AV cabinet/speakers as well as acoustic treatments for the room.

I'm looking for informed opinions to help me choose either the CX-A5x00+MX-A5x00 combo, or the RX-A3080 AVR. And when I say "informed" I'm hoping someone reading has direct experience of this scenario. At this point, feel free to respond with any threads that have already answered this question, otherwise read on.

So here's the list;

power conditioner
turntable
udp
cx-a5100 +mx-a5000 OR rx-A3080
AV cabinet
XLR cables
acoustic treatments
speaker wire
speakers (7.1.4 Dolby Atmos, but the bulk of the $ going to front L/R for 2-ch listening)

A rough swag gives me $2k to spend on speakers if I get the cx-a5100 +mx-a5000 combo, or $3500 if I get the RX-A3080. Or just get the same speakers and save $1500 overall, or spend that somewhere else, e.g. a nicer AV cabinet.

Does the combo really sound better than the integrated AVR, all else being equal? Or does it require speakers outside my budget to achieve that improvement?

Will the AVR + $3500 speakers equal the sound quality of the combo + $2k speakers?

Am I even being realistic here; does the combo justify $10k speakers to get close to peak sound quality?

Thanks in advance

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Knucklehead90

· #2 · Sep 15, 2019

More money on speakers is what I'd do. Instead of that RX-A3080 why not the A2080? Or even better, the RX-V2085, which is identical to the 2080 but with one less year of warranty, and 'only 4 rubber feet' instead of 5 for the Aventage line! Big deal, eh? For a lot less. Over the years I've compared the 30x0 to the 20x0 line, the 20x0 is nearly the equal of the 30x0, with a few less wpc, if you believe Yamaha actually does install different amps in these two lines. If you already had external amps I'd say the RX-A1080 might be something to consider.

For the record, I've owned the Yamaha CX-A5000, and a few other Yamaha AVRs as well, including my current AVR, the RX-A2070. They just work, and are as tough as they come. I haven't missed the CX-A5000 at all. Great preamp/processor, but it did nothing that the 2070 can't do, and the 2070 has Atmos. For myself, having way less cabling, and more space in the audio rack is well worth it. Sound quality is very similar. For two channel music, I do have an integrated amp, yep, a Yamaha.

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iraweiss

· #3 · Sep 16, 2019

Knucklehead90 said:
More money on speakers is what I'd do. Instead of that RX-A3080 why not the A2080? Or even better, the RX-V2085, which is identical to the 2080 but with one less year of warranty, and 'only 4 rubber feet' instead of 5 for the Aventage line! Big deal, eh? For a lot less. Over the years I've compared the 30x0 to the 20x0 line, the 20x0 is nearly the equal of the 30x0, with a few less wpc, if you believe Yamaha actually does install different amps in these two lines. If you already had external amps I'd say the RX-A1080 might be something to consider.

For the record, I've owned the Yamaha CX-A5000, and a few other Yamaha AVRs as well, including my current AVR, the RX-A2070. They just work, and are as tough as they come. I haven't missed the CX-A5000 at all. Great preamp/processor, but it did nothing that the 2070 can't do, and the 2070 has Atmos. For myself, having way less cabling, and more space in the audio rack is well worth it. Sound quality is very similar. For two channel music, I do have an integrated amp, yep, a Yamaha.

I don't believe the 2080 can do 7.1.4 Atmos. Only the 3080 and Yamaha processors can do 7.4.1.

Read The Audioholics comments about both the 3080 and processors using the balanced outputs.

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