final upgrade needed (for now)

krabby5

I have RT800i's in the front...a cs400i center and a SVS 25-31 sub...surrounds are Bose wall mounted (wife has daycare and I need them on the wall and I dont care if they fall)

I'll get better surrounds eventually'

But I am looking at AV receivers..I currently have a Kenwood vr6070 which is pretty decent in DTS and Dolby but just ok when paired with digital cable broadcasts (which is most of the time)

I am looking at receivers with msrp's of $1000-$1200

so far I am looking at the Denon 3805/6, Pioneer Elite (which are pretty cheap at Ultimate Electronics right now), NAD, HK avr635 (nice refurb prices), and the Outlaw 1070 (internet only?..heard good reviews)

I want the best sound I can get...Im not all that into 50 different sound presets or other fluff...when i have all the fluff, I just end up playing with them all the time and never feel satisfied with the sound :rolleyes:

Since most of you probably have one of these, I'm not so much asking which to choose (we're all different), but which NOT to choose..what may not be the best for me

thanks!

millerman 3732

hk:)

shack

The Outlaw 1070 or a NAD T763/T753 (depending on budget)

Both of these companies are more about the quality of the sound vs the number of bells and whistles. Both deliver good high current power with conservative ratings. The Outlaw is the bargain but NAD makes really good gear IMO.

drew spelts

Whoooo, HK is very good and you can set it to not have all the fluff very easily.

Early B.

All of those you mentioned are good. Just pick one.

Pablo

I love me denon. (but haven't really compared it to the others).

*Seby*-Polk-

Consider Yamaha RX-V2600 (new model) ... looks great and sounds better.

adam2434

I don't think a new receiver will solve the digital cable sound issue too much - that's inherent to digital cable.

I agree that all your options are good choices and would be a good upgrade.

My last 2 have been Pioneer Elites, but I had problems with my 1st one so Pioneer gave me credit towards a new one. I've had no problems with the newer one, but the problems with the 1st one left me wary of Pioneer Elite. That's the only amp or receiver I've owned that had issues.

For $700 I'd personally be looking at the HK refurb. For $1,200 max, these soon-to-be-released separates look interesting and seem to offer a lot more power than a receiver in that price range:
http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=processors&product=30.1

krabby5

I ended up getting the Elite 54tx at Ultimate Electronics...They had it for $699 (but were completely out at all the stores)....but they had an open box special for $629....and since it was a display model, I got them to take an additional 10% off...plus they didn't have the 54tx remote, so they gave me an upgraded one from the higher model..

so I walked out with the Elite and better remote for less than $600 tax included....sweet

adam2434

Cool, enjoy. I think the Elites are very physically attractive too.

Hope it had the set-up mic included.

krabby5

adam2434 wrote:

Cool, enjoy. I think the Elites are very physically attractive too.

Hope it had the set-up mic included.

funny you say that....As I was driving home I thought of that :rolleyes:

I will go back tomorrow...I bet they give me one, though

Dennis Gardner

adam2434 wrote:

Cool, enjoy. I think the Elites are very physically attractive too.

Urushi..........dust collector extraordinaire.

adam2434

Never had a problem with dust, no more than any other component, but they show fingerprints big time - nothing a little windex on a soft rag won't handle though.

adam2434

A couple considerations on the Elite's auto-calibration:

1) You may or may not like the auto-eq. I turn it off on mine because I don't like the way it thins the midbass with the settings it created.

2) It will probably set your front L/R/C to "large" and surrounds to "small". You may want to go back and set them all to small manually and set the crossover to 80 Hz. You may want to give the 50 Hz crossover a listen too (50 and 80 Hz are the 2 lowest settings on mine).

krabby5

Adam,

Do you bi-amp your front speakers using the surround back channels?

I wonder if that improves anything?

adam2434

No, I don't biamp. In fact, I don't even use the Pioneer to power my front 3 channels - I have separate amps for them. From what I understand, biamping with a receiver is not an improvement because you are still limited by the power supply in the receiver, so you don't get any extra power by biamping.

krabby5

adam2434 wrote:

No, I don't biamp. In fact, I don't even use the Pioneer to power my front 3 channels - I have separate amps for them. From what I understand, biamping with a receiver is not an improvement because you are still limited by the power supply in the receiver, so you don't get any extra power by biamping.

I don't know about your model, but the 54tx has the option of switching the 6th and 7th channels to "front bi-amp" in the settings..

Since I only use 5.1 channels, I figure it's worth a shot...I have plenty of speaker wire and connectors..

adam2434

What the heck, give it a shot, it's easy enough to try. Take your jumpers back out, of course.

However, since all channels probably share the same power supply, you will probably not benefit that much, if at all. It's more like biwiring than true biamping.