Reciever

jdeal

I am looking to upgrade my reciever. I am down to three choices. Yamaha rxv-3000, Harman Kardon 520, or Dennon 3802.
I have rt200i, cs400 andf/x 500 set up. Any comments? Other s that I should consider?

STUFFMD

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED ONKYO AT ALL????? JUST BOUGHT THE 795 FOR $850, CHEAPEST I HAVE SEEN IT ON LINE IS $999 THROUGH CRUTHCFIELD. SEEMED TO HAVE SUPERIOR FEATURES AND JUST AS QUALITY A UNIT AS THE OTHERS. I WAS CONSIRERING HK,AND YAMAHA, UNTIL I WAS SWAYED BY A COUPLE OF AUDIOPHILE FRIENDS OF MINE. I HAVE NOT REGRETTED IT. I RECENTLY PURCHASED A PAIR OF POLK 800I'S, AND THE AMP ON THIS UNIT DELIVERS. JUST SAYING FOR THE MONEY AND THE FEATURES, I WOULD CONSIDER.....
STUFF MD.

nascarmann

I like Yamaha myself. I don't think there are many on this forum that does though. Can't remember if the 3000 has 5 channel stereo, if it doesn't pick one that does. You will be glad you did!:) You go listen to them and decide what sound the best to you. I am not familiar with the RT200i, but I think it was a typo.

shack

DENON...DENON...DENON

Opinions are like receivers.....everybody has one!

jdeal

Yep, rt200i is a typo, rt2000i. Sorry, I may be a rocket scientist, but I cant spell - or type well. I have tried to compare these at the store, but they do not have my speakers on display at cc or good guys. I have a pioneer now, and do not have a 5 speaker stereo option. The sales people are hit and miss. Here is what I want. I want to use all my speakers, regardless of source. From what I know so far dvd's are the only true way to use the rears. I want to watch direct tv, listen to the radio or a cd and hear sound from all speakers. I have been told that pro logic II can do this, but am not shure that is true. I understand that there are receivers that have 5 or 7 channel stereo, but does this work for cd's and t.v? Yes, I am confused, but gettin there.

shack

My Denon is a 5.1. It has PLII and 5 channel stereo. PLII is good for taking non 5.1 source TV, VHS etc.. and decoding it to give a simulated 5.1 surround sound and does it pretty well. There is also a PLII for music where it will decode a CD and do the same thing. 5 channel stereo will take a CD and sort of fill your whole room with stereo. If you go close to the rears you will get stereo coming from them. This is the main reason that i used a direct firing rear surround speaker. I think other brands have the PLII and their version of surround stereo.

jdeal

Shack
what model denon rdo you have?

shack

1802

arnoldz

I just got a Denon 3802 in December and it has made a tremendous improvement in the sound of the Polks. I was using a Yamaha before and that combined with the hard edged sound of the Polks caused a lot of listening fatigue. I even tried using the Yam pre-amp with a Rotel amp and that didn't help very much. The Denon makes the sound a lot more tolerable. I keep the cinema EQ on at all times.

I bought the Denon on the recommendation of two friends; one has a 3802, the other 4800. We all really like these receivers.

The Old Gaffer

With the SACD and DVD audio gaining popularity and player prices will eventualy come down. Even if you listen to music more than movies this alone is reason enough to go with a multichannel reciever. also if you like conventional stereo many av recievers come with a remote zone for stereo listening in a seperate room. My Onkyo txds696 has this feature.

nascarmann

I was using a Yamaha before and that combined with the hard edged sound of the Polks caused a lot of listening fatigue.

Is that right?

I even tried using the Yam pre-amp with a Rotel amp and that didn't help very much.

No kidding?

tortfsr24

I have owned 3 denon receivers and have never had the slightest problem with any of them. I love my new 3802. I love the 7 channel stereo feature and am actually about to hook up 9 speakers to this unit in addition to my 2 powered subs. The ability to select between 2 sets of surrounds (or all 4 at once) and the ability to assign the amplifier channels offers the best flexibility I have seen on a receiver in this price range. I too like the ability to run full range surrounds for music while running bipoles for movies. Or, Hell, you can even power all of them at once if you want to. Just my 2 cents.

At any rate, you are on the right track by going ahead and putting your money in a higher quality receiver. Have fun shopping!

Brent

goingganzo

i have a last years onkyo and it is great it is ro bust and has alot of features i have the 787 witch is allmost the same as the 797 but dont have the upgrades like a nother digital input but the 787 has a cooling fan witch the 797 dont but onkyo is solid. i would eather go with onkyo or denon i would have gone with denon but their models dident have what i wanted so i got the onkyo i would not get a sony or junk like that it is good for a lay person but if you like you ht or music they are just not as good i had my setup hooked to a 7 year old sony snd when i got my onkyo it was like nite and day.

gidrah

I bought a JVC RX9010-VBK months ago that I'm still pleased with. It's dual zone (CD in living room & FM in kitchen etc.) RF remote (through wall, outside, etc). High current. And it makes my 10Bs sing to their fullest. At less than $400, I'd put it up against any other receiver at $600 hands down. It has 5ch stereo ability, which is an oxymoron in my opinion. 4 digital ins and a digital out capable of 5.1 out. It has a USB port on the front for all you Napster (now Morpheus) pirates.

It doesn't have DPLII:( , and it only has pre-outs for the sub-room:( which an amp to sub-room pre-out is needed to listen to 5.1 in main room and CD (eg.) in sub-room. But this adds the versatility of a HT and Stereo only set-up. I'm thinking about using the sub-room out as a preamp for a tube/high efficiency thing.

ChrisDurano

I have the 5 channel stereo option on my Yamaha and I like it.....when I'm in another room. Music was made to have a left and a right channel...and that's it. I've never been to a concert with the band and singers behind me. Stereo means left and right channels. Keep the surround for the movies

arnoldz

tortfsr24,
Do you often kick in all four surrounds when watching movies? I am considering some Polk bipole/dipole surrounds to place to the sides and slightly to the rear of my listening position. I have 2 RTa8 about 8 feet behind my listening position. My mains, RT16, are about 11 feet to the front. There seems to be a dead spot between the front and the rears therefore I am thinking about side surrounds to fill it in and I would be running 4 speakers in the surround channel. Do you think this is a viable option?

tortfsr24

arnoldz:

Currently I am running a pair of my RT 12s as the L/R surround effect rear channels and running my LS/FXs as surround channel "A." On my previous AVR-3300 that did not have 6.1 capability, I did run both A and B surround channels while watching movies in 5.1. The RT 12s were positioned closer to the listening position, so I turned them down so that they did not overpower the listening field. I kept the LS/FX at standard levels (they were mounted on the sides and set to dipole mode.) It did "fill in" nicely, you just have to play with the volume levels to get it just right.

In my new setup, I will be connecting the LS/FXs to surround channel "A", a pair of RT 12s as surround channel "B", and another pair of RT 12s as the rear effects surrounds. I have not been able to test the results of running all of these at once during movies or music. However, I have been told by another member of the forum that running both sets of surrounds as well as the rear effects channel may alter the output power and Ohm load of one or more of these channels.

I'll let you know, but I definately think you should give it a try, especially if you have a large room and are experiencing "dead" spots in your rear surround field.

Brent

jdeal

I understand that stereo means L andRr channel, 2 speakers, but I would still like to hear music out of all speakers if possible. My analogy is based on my car: It has four speakers (six if you count the seperates up front) and it sounds great, why cant my home system do the same?:D How do most of you watch t.v., center only? Maybee I am expecting too much.

Jason

shack

jdeal - in your car the same signal is being sent to all the speakers on the left and on the right. A surround receiver is designed to send different information to the various speakers to provide the surround experience. As someone said in another post, music when performed comes from in front of you and that is why many people prefer 2 channel stereo for music. All of the DSPs try to use their surround abilities to create an environment like a music hall or stadium to "add" to the musical experience. For the most part I think they suck! However...The 5 channel stereo on my Denon is nice when I am not just sitting and listening to music. I prefer 2 channel stereo for that (old habits are hard to break!). But if I am moving around or playing music as background the 5 channel stereo is great because I am getting stereo sound as I move around. Who knows...you might enjoy 5 channel for serious listening.

My point is...to get good stereo from all of your speakers you will need to get a receiver with some sort of 5 channel stereo processing. Most of the new ones have it. Go out and listen to a few and see what you like.

The Old Gaffer

I use both the "All Channel Stereo" and the Standard Stereo on my Onkyo Reciever. In all channel you get a stereo signal sent to all speakers, bass to the lfe, stereo front left and right, stereo rear left and right and mono to the center. It sounds real full and spacious kind of like listening to headphones. sometimes I like to listen to just the 800i's in stereo (more often than not) this is the way that stereo was intended to be listened to and you get a real representation from the 800i's.

Now having said that, Sony and Phillips are producing Super-Audio-Compact-Disk or SACD and that format is fighting toe to toe with DVD Audio both of which are remastered music (or new stuff done that way from the get go) in full 5.1 audio. in the case of SACD they also have just stereo stuff but it is supposed to be vastly superior to standard CD digital music. Sony has a website explaining SACD very well. The bad news is you need a player for these new formats, the good news is this year manufacturers will be coming out with players that will play both formats as well as DVD video. The prices will begin to fall as new units come on the market. Hopefully both formats will survive if we have players that can do both. we do not want another BETAMAX/VHS thing!

So I repeat! Buy an AV Reciever you won't regret it.

egk

I also had a difficult time deciding which receiver to buy. Since I was using an old Akai AAR-42 receiver any HT receiver would be a considerable improvement. I was down to two receivers. They were the Onkyo 898 and the Denon 3802. I finally selected the 3802 and never regretted my choice. I believe price wise, the 3802 offers the best bang for the buck since the next step up for Denon is the 4800 at over $1000 more.

Ed

goingganzo

sacd and dvd a both use a dvd for the disk

jdeal

Sounds like the Denon 3802 is a very popular choice. Thanks for all your help. I just calle Fry's in sacramento and they have the new Harman/kardon avr8000 for $1799 on sale. Retail is $2799. Out of my price range, but if anyone else has been eyeing this, now looks like the time.

Jason

danger boy

I just recently bought a DVD audio player. I have to say the increased depth in the music is great to listen to. I can hardly stand to listen to CD's anymore. After listening to DVD audio in full 6 channels.. any other music sounds dull and narrow.

I have a question though. I have some DTS music disks. Are they DVD or are they CD's? The disk says it's 5.1 channel DTS music. but no where on the disk does it say it's a CD or a DVD. It does not sound a good as DVD audio. SO i think it's what's called a DTS CD.

Only problem is DVD audio discs are slow to be released. SACD has better titles out right now... maybe because Sony and Phillips are behind SACD. who knows.

tortfsr24

Danger Boy:

What DVD-Audio player did you buy? Are you happy with it?

Brent

EJ

jdeal, I have the Denon 3801 which is the preceded the 3802, without Dolby2. This is a great receiver and matches with my rt2000p's very well. I use a six speaker setup for 6.1 and am very happy with the result. The Denon matches the Polks better in my opinion as was mentioned earliar by another poster. Enjoy your system whichever receiver you decide on.

Regards
EJ