Viewing 21 posts - 1 through 21 (of 21 total)
  • Av Receivers
  • nosherduke996
    Free Member

    My home cinema box is on the blink. I am looking at keeping the original 5 speakers and just getting a new Av receiver.
    So come on Singletrack talk Av receivers and will I notice a better sound?

    muddydwarf
    Free Member

    I have an Onkyo TX-SR309 receiver, its not an expensive model by any means but I’m happy with the sound I can fill the room with.

    cloudnine
    Free Member

    Its a slippery slope of expensive upgrades and new speakers..

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    craigxxl
    Free Member

    At budget/mid price Denon or Onkyo would get my vote both have great sound with AirPlay and network streaming but more crucially apps that work well for these features. Sony has slightly better sound but the apps are cumbersome.
    Higher up the price bracket then Pioneer or Yamaha.

    squirrelking
    Free Member

    One word of caution, unless the sub is an independent unit you will need a new one. Ie. if it’s powered off the receiver and connects with anything other than a standard cable chances are its very specialised and will only work with the receiver it was paired with. As I found with an old Panasonic sub I had.

    As for apps and stuff, what do they control? I’d be happy enough with passthrough to eliminate my cable monster, is that just taken for granted now?

    craigxxl
    Free Member

    The apps are mainly a remote control but also for streaming the music. Usng the remote for browsing your music which is done through the AV display or TV is usually quite slow. Using an amp turns the AV into a virtual jukebox getting to the musc you want quickly without having to see the AV amp or TV. Most AV amps are also coming with Internet radio too so DAB isn’t so common. Again with so many stations available finding particular news and saving them favourites is easier using an app. The Sony app was painful to use and not mch better than a remote control.

    I have little to contribute, other than I’ve been happy with my Yamaha for the past 7 years. I bought it at a a decent price at the time, it came well reviewed and seemed to have more features than others at the price point, namely HD sound decoding and 7.1, rather than 5.1 – nothing special now, but at the time, put it a little ahead.

    I always remember reading at the time, that Onkyo’s were known to fill a room with huge sound, at the expense of being less refined than the competition. Of course this may well be a different playing field now.

    Oh and mine is an AV Amp, rather than a receiver – I had no desire to have an FM radio on my AV Amp

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    Onkyo is my current choice and best I’ve had so far. TX-NR525.

    I’ve gone through loads of AV amps. Most of them have died by losing the front channel intermittently. Entirely different (and big name) brands. Would suggest issue with my speaker but some turn out to be known issues. It seems very common and generally down to dry joint issues.

    The Onkyo has the best sound out of all I’ve had and the most features for a decent price. It’ll probably still die within a few years though, but I find that with all modern technology.

    craigxxl
    Free Member

    I’ve never had an amp die on me and only changed them for the want of new features. Normally keep them for around 5-6 years before changing them. Three of the five amps I’ve had I know are still working as they went to family or friends. They’ve all been Yamaha, Pioneer or Denon although I was tempted by Onkyo last time. Are sure your issue with amps isn’t down to poor ventilation or dust?

    ampthill
    Full Member

    I have an Onkyo TX-SR309 receiver, its not an expensive model by any means but I’m happy with the sound I can fill the room with

    +1

    squirrelking
    Free Member

    Now coveting an STR DN1050, HDMI zoning sounds very tempting but not honestly sure why.

    Still utterly loath to retire my Azur 540 though, despite it showing its age. Even putting it in the kitchen (on top of cupboards where grease inevitably ends up) seems sacrilegious.

    I really need to sit down and work all this out sooner rather than later…

    2unfit2ride
    Free Member

    I’m currently running an Onkyo after a very brief encounter with a really shitty award winning Sony POS that was awful, personally the best I had was a basic 5 channel Denon, but that fell out of the loft when we were having work done & the Onkyo was cheaper than a new Denon, the NAD I had before it was better with music but worse for films.
    HTH.

    squirrelking
    Free Member

    Wasn’t a 1050 was it? 😮

    Cougar
    Full Member

    I have little to contribute, other than I’ve been happy with my Yamaha for the past 7 years.

    Some time around 2000 I spent nearly a full day in Richer Sounds back when they had audition rooms, trying every speaker / amp / DVD combination they could muster. Ended up with a Sony player, Yamaha receiver and Paradigm speakers.

    It served me well for, what, a decade maybe? I replaced the DVD with a ‘smart’ Sony BD player when it died, but it was the rise of HDMI which finally forced my hand to replace the amp a couple of years ago. After an amount of digging I replaced it with another Yamaha. They really are hard to beat.

    The only problem I have now is, what to do with an older non-HDMI AV receiver (and twin cassette deck, VCR, Laserdisc player…)

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    One of mine that died… was a Yamaha 🙁

    I’ve had bad luck with Sony also, and more than just the AV amps. Sony quality seemed to take a dive after 2000.

    dingabell
    Free Member

    Another very happy Onkyo owner here.

    wobbliscott
    Free Member

    I’ve had a Denon which was brilliant, but expensive, and two cheaper Onkyo’s which have both been brilliant. I got my second Onkyo fairly recently and was very tempted/wanted to get a Yamaha as they have a superb reputation and have been very well established in the industry from the early days of home cinema, and my dad had a Yamaha back in the early days before 5.1, when it was jus Pro-Logic, and that was a very good amp. But unfortunately at the budget I had available to me the Onkyo had more features and some specific features I was after. So i’d say Denon, Onkyo or Yamaha and you will not go wrong.

    it does not have to be too expensive. A few hundred quid will get you a very good receiver, and if you are happy to go the used route these things seem to be virtually worthless on eBay and you can pick up some crackers on eBay.

    A mate of mine went from an Onkyo to a Sony unit that won loads of awards a few years ago. It was very good too, on balance he preferred his Onkyo, but not for any specific reason just a personal preference so nowt wrong with Sony units apparently.

    cloudnine
    Free Member

    Had Onkyo and Yamaha amps…
    Onkyo are generally brighter bit harsher.
    Yamaha are generally warmer and mellower.

    I went down this slippery slope. Bought Onkyo amp. Bought some cheap speakers.
    Bought 2 nice Dali Bookshelf speakers. Bought Dali centre speaker.
    Sold onkyo amp and bought a £700 Yamaha amp.
    Bought Dali Floorstanding speakers… moved bookshelf speakers to rears.
    Bought BKXXLS400 sub.

    Now have rather nice setup and cannot afford to go down the diminishing returns route any further. Its quite similar to MTBs. You can have a BSO and in principal it works sort of OK. Then you check out what a proper HT mtb does and then before you know it youve got yourself a FS gnarpoon.

    It all depends on how much you value the sound and experience of watching TV / Films. If i watch a film i like to feel the explosions and hear the raindrops. As i said.. it can be a slippery slope. Head over to AVforums…

    Klunk
    Free Member

    got a denon, when the yamaha decided to die, it’s fab, the integration with everything else is just superb (hardly ever have to use it’s remote) and the sound is pretty decent too.

    wobbliscott
    Free Member

    Well like with MTB’s there is alot of BS out there – you’ll find most of it in the mag’s and on the forums. You can easily get yourself set up for sub £1k with a system that, to the vast majority of us, will sound almost as good as a top spec multi-thousand pound system. Placement of speakers is more important than anything – if you can’t really place speakers in a near-optimal position, then maybe consider 2.1 or a decent soundbar/sub setup. You can spend many thousands on a top system, but if you can’t set it up optimally it will never sound that great, or any better than a budget setup.

    Also decide if you want a dual system that plays music as well as movies. If the former then you’ve got a more complex problem on your hands, but if the latter then invest in a decent sub and centre speaker as these are the heart of the system where most of your sound comes from, you can get away with cheaper front and rear speakers as these are the effect speakers.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    I don’t know as I’d agree with that last point. IIRC that was the case more or less in the Pro Logic era, but unless times have changed again since Dolby Digital you’re supposed to have similar capabilities on all five speakers.

    Moot anyway if the OP wants to keep their existing speakers.

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