receiver considerations

Midnite Mick

I was previously torn between the rti12's and lsi15's. I was lucky enough to hear the lsi15's auditioned for me. Those mids, the sound realism, and projection just blew me away. The manager auditioned an Eric Clapton concert video, it was phenomenal. He came back with a great price and I had no choice. However, the bottoms were lacking for my tastes. But figured I could fill those in later and tweek the frequencies on the receiver.

I previously had a Denon avr3805 on order online but cancelled due to the advice of those on the forum. Thanks to those! Now I am looking for a receiver and would like your advice. The manager at the store said that they seem to work well with HK as this is what he used in the audition. Like most I want home theatre as well. I was thinking of getting the hk avr7300 or the hk Dpr2005. Not sure about the latter DPR? Will this work well with home theatre. I am also willing later to preamp the fronts and get an amplifier to juice it up. I keep an eye on used stuff as well. Looking for advice on a reciever from those way more in the know than myself. I am open to recommendations. WHAT A GREAT FORUM!

Ps does anybody know anything about SAE 2500 power amplifier. I think this is a company that isn't around anymore. Unsure. Showing my ignorance. Opinions appreciated!

cmy330go

If you are willing to later add a separate amp I would not worry too much about what receiver will best drive the speakers. Just pick a quality receiver that has the connections and features you prefer and a set of preouts. Then when you can just add a good power amp of your choice and you will have a great system.

Congrats on the speakers and have fun building your new system!

audiobliss

Forgive me for being so ignorant, but is the DPR2005 an external amplifer you're going to hook up to the AVR7300 via the preouts? You will definitely need an external amp to power those LSi15's - no receiver alone is going to cut it. If that DPR2005 is accurately (or better yet under) rated at the 7x120watts, then it'll move the LSi15's cones and make some pretty decent noise. Would probably be a pretty nice starter rig, too. But it wouldn't by any means be ideal. I would personally want to give an LSi7 more power than that, not to mention an LSi15.

Considering that and the fact that the 7300 and 2005 together are going to run you close to, if not more than (going by onecall's prices here) $2,000, you can and should do better than that. Try looking into a lesser receiver, basing your search on processing and decoding features, inputs and outputs, and preouts, and mate that with a good external amplifier.

For instance, something like this AVR435 for $540 or this AVR340 for $525 paired with two Outlaw M2200 monoblocks. That'd give you 300watts for your LSi15's and high-current HK amplification for the rest of your channels all for less than $1200. And that set-up would be, in my opinion, substantially better than the 7300 and 2005 used in unison.

You could also go ahead and get an Outlaw 7500 instead of the monoblocks and use it to give all your channels 300watts (at 4ohms) for the same price as the 7300 and 2005 (about $2000).

Those are just more ideas. Hope you find them helpful.

audiobliss

aaharvel

go for the cheapest 7.1 H/K you can get with pre-outs. The 235 or 240. Use the extra dough left over from the woulda coulda but didn't 7300 purchase towards external amplification.

cmy330go

audiobliss wrote:

Forgive me for being so ignorant, but is the DPR2005 an external amplifer you're going to hook up to the AVR7300 via the preouts? .....

I think he was considering one or the other. The DPR is simply a receiver that uses digital amplification instead of standard solid state.

audiobliss

Woops. You're right. He does have a nice little 'or' between the two. :rolleyes: How could I have missed that? Well, that blows the $2000 budget, then.

Well then...
The LSi15's are going to require mega power behind them to make them sing beautifully. Do as aaharvel said and get the cheapest receiver you can (that still has preouts!...or maybe look into a used HT preamp) and mate that with some external amplification.

This AVR240 mated with two Outlaw M2200 monoblocks would still get you in right at $1000 and still give you that awesome 300 wpc for your LSi15's.

Midnite Mick

Are those Outlaw monoblocks identical to their 7700 amplifiers, just as singles?. I researched the 7700 and it gets great reviews. I could go with a hk 635 to give me adequate power to the peripherals and get 2 monoblocks for the front. I was seriously contemplating getting their 990/7700 preamp- amp compilation. A little over-budget for me however (approaching 4k Canadian by the time it gets here). Tonight was the first time I have ever looked at outlaw. Thank you for the input it is appreciated!

cmy330go

Midnite Mick wrote:

Are those Outlaw monoblocks identical to their 7700 amplifiers, just as singles?. I researched the 7700 and it gets great reviews. I could go with a hk 635 to give me adequate power to the peripherals and get 2 monoblocks for the front. I was seriously contemplating getting their 990/7700 preamp- amp compilation. A little over-budget for me however (approaching 4k Canadian by the time it gets here). Tonight was the first time I have ever looked at outlaw. Thank you for the input it is appreciated!

The 990/7700 combo would be great if you can swing it. However the HK and the 7700 (or the monoblocks) are by no means anything to laugh at. Any of those combos would do a fine job.

Midnite Mick

Do you think that the hk635 and the outlaw 7500(5 channels) would work or would that be kind of wacky?

Midnite Mick

Midnite Mick wrote:

Do you think that the hk635 and the outlaw 7500(5 channels) would work or would that be kind of wacky?

or better yet a cheaper receiver with all the great bells and whistles of home theatre but with poor power. Would this work. Any suggestions

audiobliss

Midnite Mick wrote:

or better yet a cheaper receiver with all the great bells and whistles of home theatre but with poor power. Would this work. Any suggestions

Sure would. All you need the receiver to do is act like a switiching box (with all the inputs and outputs), process the signal (DTS, ProLogic, etc.), and then send it to an amp. So long as it has the features you want/need and has preouts, it'll be just fine. And the 7500 should work marvelously well with it all.

AndyGwis

I decided to get the HK635 on sale for around $600. I think it has enough power to open up my Monitor 60's (I'm not in the same class as your LSis and RTis, but nice speakers for me . Is there any danger of clipping (Monitor 60's are rated to 200W, 90db sensitivity, 8ohms)?

I was hoping to bi-amp the fronts but overlooked the 635 not offering that feature. I'm going to step up and buy a pro-amp (maybe HK pa2000 if in $200 range). Would that be a good, logical step? Is that overkill for Monitor 60's? Is 75WPC enough to feed them?

Also, I am currently bi-wiring both my front and rear speakers. I took the gold bridges off before doing this. . . is that correct?

Sorry for all the questions. As you can probably tell, I am a noob. I can't stop feeding for more power, more knowledge. . . I've already upgraded my package twice in three weeks!

cmy330go

AndyGwis wrote:

I decided to get the HK635 on sale for around $600. I think it has enough power to open up my Monitor 60's (I'm not in the same class as your LSis and RTis, but nice speakers for me . Is there any danger of clipping (Monitor 60's are rated to 200W, 90db sensitivity, 8ohms)?

I was hoping to bi-amp the fronts but overlooked the 635 not offering that feature. I'm going to step up and buy a pro-amp (maybe HK pa2000 if in $200 range). Would that be a good, logical step? Is that overkill for Monitor 60's? Is 75WPC enough to feed them?

Also, I am currently bi-wiring both my front and rear speakers. I took the gold bridges off before doing this. . . is that correct?

Sorry for all the questions. As you can probably tell, I am a noob. I can't stop feeding for more power, more knowledge. . . I've already upgraded my package twice in three weeks!

The 635 is plenty of power for the monitor series as long as you are not listening at insane levels. Now that's not to say that they couldn't benefit from more power. Any decent speaker will sound better on good seperate power amps. But as is I think you have a REALLY good start. At a later date if cash allows try out some amps and see what you like.

Congrats on the new system!!!

Enjoy!!!
Dave

AndyGwis

If you were running a Monitor 5.1 setup, would you rather have an AVR635 or DPR2005?

I can get them at equal cost.

cmy330go

Me personally? I would rather have the 635. I'm not entirely sold on digital amplification as of yet.

Just my opinion.