Receiver replacement plus amp

yale006

I added the RTiA9's a years or two ago after finding them for a steal at Fry's and know they have never even been close to there full potential, but due to certain circumstances at the time (GF wanted some bling) I didn't upgrade to a receiver amp combo. Things have changed married and am working some wicked overtime and have spare $$$ to spend. The system has actually been off due to an issues with the HK receiver I haven't had time to diagnose. Been working a plant start up for almost a year and got married.

Been looking at accessories for less at the Denon receivers and an Emotiva XPA-3/5, but not sure what Denon receiver to pair with the below system or if Emotiva is even still the way to go.

http://emotiva.com/whats-new/emotiva-holiday-sale-here
XPA-3 639.00 and XPA-5 799.00

Budget would like to be around 1k but could go over, but staying under isn't bad either. Pretty much means the wife is going to get to spend the same amount on whatever she wants to add to the house.

System:
Reciever - HK AVR225 - last legs
Front- RTiA9s
Center - CSi40
Rear - RTi38's
Sub – SVS 20-39 PCi
TV - 63" Samsung Plasma
Banana clip connections with monoprice cable throughout and HDMI for all components hocked to TV.
Roku 3

Used for all kinds of movies, rock/alternative and Country (wife) music.

EndersShadow

I just bought the X4100 to go with my LSI setup and love it. I'm using a used B&K amp to drive the speakers.

Couple other folks here are using the same Denon and a Emotiva amp with LSis with no problems...


However I've heard RTi with Emotiva sounds VERY Bright and harsh at times... So I'd see what other amps are in your budget. Maybe look at the used market...

tonyb

1000 Bucks as your budget won't go a long way. Considering your in need of a new receiver, an amplifier, and some decent speaker cables and rca cables to hook up the amp.

Start with the receiver. Buy one that has pre-outs, without them you can't hook up an external amp when the time comes. Next, dump the Monoprice cables and look for some Kimber 8TC used, MIT exp, Reality cables, Analysis Plus 12's, etc., lots of choices on the used markets that won't break the bank.

Then save for a decent amp like a Parasound 1500, used, which there is one for sale here for 400 bucks. The 1200 series or 1500 series are the most economical and sound great with Polk speakers. Same goes for B&k amps.

chumlie

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/170069/parasound-hca-1500a#latest

cstmar01

EndersShadow wrote: »

I just bought the X4100 to go with my LSI setup and love it. I'm using a used B&K amp to drive the speakers.

Couple other folks here are using the same Denon and a Emotiva amp with LSis with no problems...


However I've heard RTi with Emotiva sounds VERY Bright and harsh at times... So I'd see what other amps are in your budget. Maybe look at the used market...

agreed on the RTi and Emotiva being bright. I ran the XPA-1s and XPA-2 and some other Emo amps and all had a brighter more forward sound to them on music. If you do mostly HT then not as much of an issue, but music wise I wasn't that happy with it.

You could look on the used market too for some Adcom or Parasound amps that are warmer and IMO a better mate with the RTis. I'm personally running Anthem with mine and love the set up.

yale006

So based on the feedback I should get a receiver first which was kind of a no brainier since mine isn't working properly and doesn't have pre-outs.

chumlie wrote: »

http://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/170069/parasound-hca-1500a#latest

Thanks Chumlie for the forward, but was going from a night to day shift and sleep was all messed up this weekend. Didn't see till this morning and is sold.

And I actually have the RTi12, but that shouldn't make much difference

The 4100 is nice but $750 that's putting my over what I was planning to spend on a receiver.

What are some other options in the $450-600 range or am I being unrealistic on how much cheeder to spend on a new receiver.

Nightfall

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/marsr7007/marantz-sr7007-7.2-125wpc-4k-airplay-a/v-receiver/1.html