Just got a new AVR today...

tommyboy

I have the onkyo 603x but since it didn't have pre-outs, I wanted to get a new reciever with them so when I decide to upgrade a couple years down the road, I won't have to buy a new reciever. So I decided to buy the HK 240 for $300 (at 6ave.com) because it has pre-outs and you guys recomend H/k. Just got it hooked up, put some music in, and immediatly noticed a big improvement. With the onkyo, my speakers were very bright but with the H/k, the speakers were clearer, warmer, and more realistic. I also always heard hissing sound out of all my speaks but now is gone. My monitor 50s don't sound "cheap" anymore. I know my speaks are entry level but now I feel I could be happy with these for at least a couple years.

Now I'm mad because when I worked at CC, we were told that onkyo was the reciever to buy and that since H/k and Infinity were the same company, they should be sold together. While Polk and onkyo (I know they aren't the same company) should be sold together. Well, here is my advise. Don't go by what you heard at a store(I could barely notice a difference between H/k and onkyo), and second, DON'T BUY ONKYO;) .

I just wrote this to say thank you guys for leaning me towards the H/k...

So after reading this post, does anyone want to buy my onkyo 603:p

Willow

Glad to hear you are enjoying your new AVR. You didn't make a bad choice. !

I love my HK

zombie boy 2000

I love my HK240 as well.... though it's been regulated to pre/pro status.

Good purchase and even better price.

aaharvel

another convert..

AndyGwis

I'm running a HK 635 (also from 6th Ave). Great AVR / Pre-Pro and 6th avenue was pretty awesome as well. No shipping fee, fast delivery, good prices.

danger boy

tommyboy, congrats on your new HK, enjoy.

Shizelbs

Preouts are rad. I am jealous.

tommyboy

thanks guys,

now I'm not sure what to do. I would like to buy a seperate amp (not now, maybe about a year) before I upgrade my speakers but I'm not sure if thats a good idea because I would like to use that amp when I upgrade my speakers. It all matters how the money situation works out, I might go as low as the rti10 up to lsi 15 and beyond. So my question to you guys is... is it worth it to get seperate amplication with the monitor 50s when I'll upgrade in 2-5 years?

thanks
tommyboy

zombie boy 2000

Personally, I would wait to make an amp purchase until I know for certain what speakers I'll be moving into. Yeah, the monitor 50's would sound better with the right external amplification, but I'm sure you're finding out right now that the HK240 is enough to make 'em sing. Depending on such factors as speaker sensitivity, impendance, and tonal characteristics, you may go in a variety of directions when searching for an amp for your next speakers.

Quite simply, you don't want to find yourself in an oil and water scenario -- and having to hunt down another amp.

danger boy

i'd buy an amp now... give your current speakers some extra umph.. and of course you'd already have it for when you upgrade your speakers.

bert26

Keep an eye on the flea market - you'd be surprised at some of the inexpensive deals you'll find there. I think Doro just sold an Adcom 545 for less than $175 shipped (I can't remember the actual amount but I think it was $160). You can always re-sell or use it for the centers/surrounds once you decide to upgrade the speakers. In any event, you won't be disappointed on separates.

Congrats on your new purchase!

Cheers!
Chris

faster100

if you get a good enough amp, it will power most any speakers... even the lsi's.. now if you want 300 watts or better your gonna pay.. I say the avr is plenty for the m50's.. getting am amp is just another piece to turn on, use electric and personally id either buy big or wait.. dont get a 60 watt adcom only to get lsi15's later and want 200 -300 watts for em..

schwarcw

Congrats Tommyboy! The HK should serve you nicely. A bigger amp using your preouts would be the next big step. Like someone said there are a lot of good amps out there that would suit a student's budget. Adcom is a good one and there are a lot of these around. Good luck with your HK!

Did you start back to school at Pitt?

Ern Dog

I also transitioned from an Onkyo to an HK recently because of wanting pre-outs. I agree with you about the huge sound improvement. The HK is awesome and runs Hot.

cfrizz

Tommy I fall in with Danger on this one.

Figure out how many channels of amplification you will ultimately want to have, how much wattage you want, & purchase the amp now. Your current speakers will benefit now & you will be all set for future purchases.

If you're thinking along the lines of the RTI 10's or LSI's than start thinking of no less than 200wpc amps.

tommyboy

cfrizz wrote:

If you're thinking along the lines of the RTI 10's or LSI's than start thinking of no less than 200wpc amps.

and getting an amp with 200 wpc won't damage my monitor 50s right, as long as I keep it at the level I listen to them now?

(Im sorry guys, I just don't know that much about seperate amps, thats why I'm going to wait a little while to get an amp so I can do some research and make sure I get the right one)

danger boy

good idea.. always do your homework.. I do that whenever i'm about to consider a purchase... i don't have the funds available for a "wrong" purchase... so i usually proceed slowly. so far for the most part, i've made good decisions.

cfrizz

No Tommy, you won't hurt your current speakers. Your ears will demand that you lower the volume before your speakers do!:D

Research is always a good thing!:) Do a search here on the forum about separate amplification. There is a ton of info on it!

tommyboy wrote:

and getting an amp with 200 wpc won't damage my monitor 50s right, as long as I keep it at the level I listen to them now?

(Im sorry guys, I just don't know that much about seperate amps, thats why I'm going to wait a little while to get an amp so I can do some research and make sure I get the right one)

frreo1

Good choice on the HK AVR. You should be quite happy with it. More power will actually protect your speakers, as opposed to "blowing them up" Speakers usually fail when they are forced to reproduce "square waves" (meaning the amp goes into clipping). There are a lot of good choices for amps out there. You simply need to figure out if you just want high power for 2 channel music, or if you are going to use it for a lot of action movies (in which case, you would most likely opt for a mulit channel amp).

Happy Listening!

disneyjoe7

Well I own an Onkyo 898 very happy with it, and yes was recommend by CC also. It as the Pure Audio mode which I love for 2 channels music, so this makes a fine HT pre / pro and 2 channel pre. I love this Onkyo so much I don't know if an upgrade will sound as good, I'm stuck due to the fact this is used for HT also. And again 2 channel Pure Audio mode was with CC said was cool with this model and I do love it. Switching to Stereo mode vs. PA sounds night and day or FINE vs ****. So I'm not putting Onkyo under the bus just yet.

Holydoc

disneyjoe7 wrote:

Well I own an Onkyo 898 very happy with it, and yes was recommend by CC also. It as the Pure Audio mode which I love for 2 channels music, so this makes a fine HT pre / pro and 2 channel pre. I love this Onkyo so much I don't know if an upgrade will sound as good, I'm stuck due to the fact this is used for HT also. And again 2 channel Pure Audio mode was with CC said was cool with this model and I do love it. Switching to Stereo mode vs. PA sounds night and day or FINE vs ****. So I'm not putting Onkyo under the bus just yet.

I feel the same about my onkyo. There are some things it could do better but currently the good way out-weighs the bads. I was on the upgrade path for a while and even tested it against an ARCAM AVP-700 pre/pro.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40941&highlight=arcam

Though the ARCAM was beautiful with 2-channel, the Onkyo gave you the presence you want in HT production. My conclusion was that the weak spot in my current set-up was not my Onkyo. The higher end Onkyo's compare very well with the current offerings out there.

Now I need to concentrate on either my speakers or my transport to get the ultimate sound. After all, the fun part (and expensive part) of this hobby is determining where the best bang for the buck is.

disneyjoe7

Holydoc,

Your TX-NR901 is very much like my 898, it's the older version and your has net-radio input I believe. But all in all the same works nice.

disneyjoe7

Holydoc,

After reading your ARCAM write up, I convince we need a tube pre-amp with HT bypass. So we can keep the Onk's as for HT.

scottvamp

I have two flagship Onkyo's and they have performed very well. Could not even let one go for a Outlaw pre-amp. Too many awesome bells and whistles.
An entry level Onk is not going to have pre-outs and would not make a good mid-fi preamp any way. HT mag just rated an entry level Onk with a 93%. Congrats on the HK purchase.................

tommyboy

I wasn't trying to rip on you guys for having Onkyo. It just seems that their newer products don't have the quality it once had. The ONLY thing I don't like about the h/k is it doesn't even have A/B switching.

One more question... What makes your speakers hiss(no bigbluelight, Im not talking about cats:D)? When I had my 603, my speakers always hissed even when I turned the volume all the way down. With my H/K, my speakers don't hiss at all...

disneyjoe7

Tommy,

I didn't think you where picking on us who have Onk's but I wouldn't kick all Onk's out that's all. Hiss is noise or a cheap amp / AVR. H/K seems to make entry AVR better then anyone other company IMHO

wingnut4772

Congrats Tommy. I also say get an amp. Look into the Outlaws and get something in the 200w range. That should future proof you for a while with a lot of speakers.

peteran

disneyjoe7 wrote:

Well I own an Onkyo 898 very happy with it,

I was a proud Onkyo owner (797, still have it). I was using it's pre-outs for my amp. Then the Denon 2307CI got released, I always thought I was going to wait until trueHD & DTSHD was implemented on the receivers, then tought again, it might take couple years and prices might be high.
So I ordered it to see if it made a difference, well it did. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, the dialogue crisp and clear the surrounds active and enveloping.
I couln't believe a few years of technology would make that big of difference. Even my wife noticed a huge improvement, that says a lot.
Now I can sit and wait until the 2nd generation of HD capable receivers come around.

disneyjoe7

The 898 was a $1500 receiver where that Denon 2307CI is a $800 receiver and the Onk 797 was a $1000 receiver. I'm interested by this talk, but I'm not sure we're talking apples to apples.

peteran

disneyjoe7 wrote:

The 898 was a $1500 receiver where that Denon 2307CI is a $800 receiver and the Onk 797 was a $1000 receiver. I'm interested by this talk, but I'm not sure we're talking apples to apples.

I remember from years ago when the battle was raging between Onkyo & Denon in the forums, I stuck to Onkyo until I heard the,2307. Believe me if it wasn't worth it, I would send it back and get refunded (Crutchfield).

scottvamp

The point i was making was that an entry level reciever that on the used market is worth maybe $150. Was not going to make a giantkiller "mid-fi" preamp in the first place. HK and Onk ARE Apples and Oranges. HK does not really sell entry level units to the masses like Onk does.
MY flagship Onk's ROCK. Like i stated earlier, HT mag just reviewed an entry level Onk and it got a 93%. That says alot in itself............. More so "bang for the buck" over most of that market.