which receiver is better? denon, onkyo, HK or yamaha

moviefan

Hi,
i`m new in this forum, i want to build my home theater, but i don`t know which receivers to choose for polk or infinity speaker system, so many in the market i can`t decide which one is better.
I want a receiver that sounds good for movies, i love watching movies, i`m a movie fan hehe.
I want to spend aprox. $500, so can someone give me advice which one to pick.

Any advice

thnx

opus

Welcome to the forum.



Not to sound like a broken record here but it would be best for you if listened for yourself to those brands that you listed and best for us if you told us what you thought about them. See if you can find a store that has all of them and demo them on the same set of speakers in the same room. Thats what I did and I chose one of those that you listed.

I also suggest the used market once you find a brand you like:)

kevin

Drumingman

A lot of choices to make, I've had Denon, Onkyo and Harman Kardon.

For my HT setup I use the HK as it is a lot better sounding than my Onkyo was. But it's a matter of opinion and taste. The Onkyo was easier to use but didn't have the sound quality of the HK IMHO.

OF course I drive 8 ohm Polk speakers too and so I don't need to worry about low ohm impedence in an Amp untill I upgrade.

It's gonna depend on what you buy for speakers that will help determine what kind of reciever you will need. Even though I have entry level Polks,
they still sound very good with what I'm running them with.

Hk has a web direct store and you can find refurbs there at VG Prices.
I don't know the web address, maybe some can supply it.

Lowell_M

Make sure you give the Polks and Infinitys some serious listening time. Your own ears will tell you what to buy, but there isn't much mention of infinity speaks around this forum and there are some pretty unbiased opinions here.

Now for my biased opinion... I just bought an HK AVR-635 refurb from Harman Audio on ebay for $500. I haven't heard many of the other brands, but am extremely happy with this receiver, especially considering what I paid for it. Give one a listen somewhere.

labrat

Moviefan,

I happen to have similar HT setups from both Infinity and Polk. The Infinity is a pair of Entra 3 (dual 6.5" woofers) with the entra center 2 (dual 5?" woofers). The Polk is RT800 (dual 6.5" woofers) with the CS400 (dual 6.5" woofers).

That said when listening for short (10 minutes) time periods the Infinity rocks - and that is what probably made me foolish enough to buy it. When listening for longer time periods it is way too bottom heavy (boomy) that quickly drives me crazy.

The Polks are just plain smooth and flat. Not nearly as impressive in the listening room, but they are something that brings me back time and again without fatigue.

Keep in mind that all of the above have long been discontinued and the current models may behave differently. Give your possibilities a good long listen and see what you think.

Scott

ND13

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40562

dagame27

I currently own a HK and have listened to Denon and they are both great. One recomendation I will make is to buy a reciever with pre-outs for future upgrades. If you are planning to go to a seperate amp as well, you can buy a cheaper reciever with less wattage as a pre-amp.

Mike682

I recommend giving all of them a listen and decide which one sounds the best. Also, look for a receiver that has pre-outs. Pre-outs give you the ability to upgrade to a seperate amp in the future: this is a common upgrade as you get deeper into the hobby and will save you money in the long run.


Oh yeah..I'm a fan of HK.

*Seby*-Polk-

Mmmm.....anybody remember Marantz ??? This is a great option...better than HK (IMHO) in the same prices levels.

500 bucks...mi RX-V657 works great. Better than Onkyos and same level of Denon AVR-1906 (Denon bit better for music, Yamaha better for movies)

You must decide for your ears. Consider Marantz

FicmanS

You've got to get out there and listen to a bunch of them, I love my Denon. But there are folks out there that don't care for Denon too, it's your ears... I know I was out for 6 months listnening to everything I could before I bought something...

jakelm

Preouts, preouts and more preouts.

I have another thread right now where I'm fighting the solution to hook my Hafler amp to my Polk 7's. I could shoot myself for buying an AVR with no preouts. Dont get me wrong I love my little Onkyo 502, I think the sound quality is excellent, but as "tweaker", I cant add or do anything with it.

danger boy

moviefan wrote:

Hi,
i`m new in this forum, i want to build my home theater, but i don`t know which receivers to choose for polk or infinity speaker system, so many in the market i can`t decide which one is better.
I want a receiver that sounds good for movies, i love watching movies, i`m a movie fan hehe.
I want to spend aprox. $500, so can someone give me advice which one to pick.

Any advice

thnx

all the brands you listed have their loyal customers.. really comes down to what features are important to you. Do some homework- (make sure your receiver of choice has PRE OUTS). and go demo some or all of them. The brands you mention are all available most everywhere.

Demo's are fun. go out and spend some time listening to them. Take several CD's of your most favorite music with you. Nice way to spend a saturday I think.

moviefan

Thnx for the replies and advices, i think the Denon and HK are the better ones. The room where i`m going to install my HT is not big so i don`t need a loudspeaker, i just want to sound good for movies feel all the action efects hehe.

Do you guys think a satellite speaker is enough to shake my room? i like the satellite speaker because i can hide it.

How do you think the Bose Acoustimass 3 Speaker System? i bought one because i thought is a good speaker system but have a lot of bad reviews i don`t know if is true.

I think i will buy a polk speaker and i will choose Denon or HK, i like litle more the MK because have ipod ready almost in all the models, i can connect my ipod to play music with the HT.
My budget is $500, can i get with pre out witch that price? How is the HK AVR 340?

eagertrader

B&K manufactures entry level High-End electronics (Hi-Fi) in Buffalo, NY.
Their surround receivers are a breed apart in terms of detail, soundstage, presence, impact. dynamics and accuracy.
I owned Onkyo and Yamaha, both very fine products at their price points. Yet, for musicality they both fall short to the B&K, as their mass production costs consideration, can only reproduce music at a Mid-Fi level. At the lower end you have Technics, Aiwa, Akai, etc., considered to be Low-Fi.
If music is important as well as superior surround sound, then receivers from B&K or Arcam (british) are worth your consideration.
They are not cheap, since they start at over $2000+, but you can go to www.Audiogon.com, and find a good used one for under $1K, and maybe a 5.1 for under $500, if you don't need 7.1.
If movies is all you do, any of the brands you mention will do a fine job.
B&K's can be auditioned at any Tweeter store.
Arcam may be a little more difficult to find, but you can web-search for a dealer in your area.

Best luck.

PS: I use a B&K 505 surround receiver (100W x 5) for my movies and music DVD's. For more serious listening in 2 channel stereo, I use an Antique Sound Labs AQ-1001-DT tube integrated amp @ 29W x 2 in triode mode.

tonyb

Second on the B&K.Sound quality is a notch above,and the level of adj.
to taylor the sound to your room is better than most processor's.Do they even make AVR's without pre-out's today?As others have said,listen to all and decide.Bring your own demo cd's.You are the best judge on what you can afford and what your ears tell you.:)

read-alot

I found this one to be what the doctor ordered for my HTS.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=9715393093&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Maybe eager or tony can say if the price is in line for a used 505. If we ever get the setup done I think we will be extremely happy with it.

PolkThug

http://ecomdepot.com/website/ItemDetail.asp?ItemId=43084&cID=111