Receiver to power Rti A7's

BtrSound

I am getting the Rti A7's for my front two speakers with the intention of doing the same for the rear and updating to the A6 center. I want a reciever that will powert hem decently until I can upgrade to an external amplifier (aka I do not want my wife to kill me for spending another $3K on my stereo system at once when my current one is more than sufficient for her).

I was considering the Denon 3311 or the Onkyo 808 or 1008. I like the features of the Panasonic 1120 and 1020, but have read that they do not run close to their power ratings. What do you think of these, or do you have any other recomendations. I guess I want the most bang for the buck, 1.4a, great sound quality, great video picture, HD radio, and obviously pre amp outputs.

Can I get some feedback from people that have these receivers and hopefully even better people with the receivers as well as the Rti a7's. I know a lot of it comes down to personal preference, but because I am going to power them from the receiver in the interim, I would like something with clear, consistend higher power to at least justify to my wife why I am spending so much freaking money on my new addiction.

tonyb

Everyone of your choices would work but the 1020. Allways look for a receiver with preouts to add an amp down the road.
Ask the wife if she buys cheap makeup, or cheap shoes. Quality costs more.
On the power question, most receivers do not run up to their quoted power specs in 7 channel surround. There are exceptions but most mid line receivers don't. This is why preouts is a must for adding amps down the road if more power is needed.

nguyendot

I'd suggest Pioneer over Panasonic, just sayin'.

Also, no receivers run their quoted power specs - none within the realm of reasonable. My Onkyo 807, rated 5 stars on almost every category by Home Theater Magazine only puts out about 38w/channel x 7 all channels driven. The thing is though, you'll never need all channels driven at once, 99% of the time you'll be getting almost all your sound through the center channel anyways.

Get the best receiver you can afford now, with the bells and whistles you want and preouts. When you have more money - buy an amplifier.

BtrSound

Does it matter if I run Multi Channel when listening to music? Wouldn
that drive all channels? Also, why is it so hard to find good lab tests on newer receivers. With all the money spent in the industry and all the publications out there, you would think they would test at least the most popular receivers in each price point.

tonyb

HT magazine gives a good run down on power specs when they review a receiver. They break it down into 2,5,and 7 channel and at .01 and .1 distortion levels. Don't fret so much about power if your receiver has preouts to add an amp because eventually, you will add an amp and you'll see what the difference is.

You should have no problem running all channels for music. All we are saying is, the more channels you run off a receiver, the less power each channel gets. Some it may only be 10 watts less,some it can be 50 watts less,depends.

mdaudioguy

BtrSound wrote: »

Does it matter if I run Multi Channel when listening to music? Wouldn
that drive all channels?

Yes, multi runs all channels. Personally, I like it for a party atmosphere, but when listening to stereo sources, those RTiA7s will sound great with just a pair running, especially with some external amplification. Music the way it should be.

BtrSound wrote: »

Also, why is it so hard to find good lab tests on newer receivers. With all the money spent in the industry and all the publications out there, you would think they would test at least the most popular receivers in each price point.

Because they don't want you to know?

tonyb

mdaudioguy wrote: »

Because they don't want you to know?

Yep, kinda like the way auto manufacturers rate MPG. You buy a car rated at 30 mpg and you get it home under real world driving conditions and you get 25 mpg. Soon you say WTF ? Audio is no different. Though seperate amp ratings are more accurate, but receivers, pfft !

MADGSF

My original Pioneer powered my RTi10s well until I added my amp. I would also recommend a newer Harmon Kardon.

BtrSound

I had not considered only running two channels for music, but I can see the advantage of that. I kink of like being emersed in the music, but dividing the power by all speakers vs running it through just two aslo has advantages.

Is anyone familiar with the integra receivers. They are Onkyo's premium brand. I was told that they have independent amplifiers for each channel for more consistent power. is this accurate, and are there other recievers around this price range that do that as well.

BluBitRates

Yeah i believe he meant pioneer not panasonic. I love pioneer receivers, i have two of them. I am sort of surprised the 1020 does not have pre-outs. Anyways i personally would go with a cheap receiver that handles high def sound through hdmi and has pre-outs. You will find yamahas can be very reasonably priced. Personally i would get a pioneer. The cheapest pioneer elite may be an option. Then of course you need to add some amps. Although alot of people prefer something different can you really argue with emotivas price/performance/warranty?

BtrSound

I did mean pioneer, sorry about that.

nguyendot

BluBitRates wrote: »

Yeah i believe he meant pioneer not panasonic. I love pioneer receivers, i have two of them. I am sort of surprised the 1020 does not have pre-outs. Anyways i personally would go with a cheap receiver that handles high def sound through hdmi and has pre-outs. You will find yamahas can be very reasonably priced. Personally i would get a pioneer. The cheapest pioneer elite may be an option. Then of course you need to add some amps. Although alot of people prefer something different can you really argue with emotivas price/performance/warranty?

Remember however, the DACs used can make a big difference, as much as an external amp.

Wolfson or Burr Brown.... Go with Pioneer elite. Even Onkyo uses Burr Brown in some models.

BtrSound

What about the HK 3600. Is that a good receiver?

mdaudioguy

MADGSF wrote: »

My original Pioneer powered my RTi10s well until I added my amp. I would also recommend a newer Harmon Kardon.

+1 on the HK. Personally, high-end AVRs don't do anything for me. I went with the lowest priced HK that had pre-outs (still all the features I needed - HDMI, 7.1 decoders, etc...) and a well-kept, used Adcom 5.1 channel. The AVR powers the back surrounds. IMO, there's no use spending $$ on high-end receivers with built-in amps that I was basically planning on bypassing anyhow. My two cents.

Also, this is the 4th AVR and 3rd amp I had in the house, and I settled on this combo as the most pleasing to my ears - both musically (especially) and for HT. For reference, the RTi10 are equivalent to the RTiA7 speakers you're buying. I noticed very little difference in HT from one combo to another.

mdaudioguy

BtrSound wrote: »

What about the HK 3600. Is that a good receiver?

You can get an excellent deal on a refurb model with warranty here: http://stores.ebay.com/Harman-Audio

Mine looked and functioned like new when I got it. Couldn't tell one difference coming out of the box.