My 14 year old Yamaha RX-V550 has died so on the lookout for a replacement.
Only got a max of about £350. Needs to run my 5.1 Mordaunt Short speakers, HDMI for TV, PS4 and Youview box.
Any recommendations?

smidge over budget

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/denon/avrx2200w/deno-avrx2200-blk

and well inside

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/denon/avrx520bt/deno-avrx520bt-blk

have an older model, and very happy with it

If you liked your Yamaha get another Yamaha.

I’ve got one with a DAB tuner in it that looks very much like this one.

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/yamaha/rxv579/yama-rxv579-blk (which claims to be £200 off and in your budget)

The front ‘short cut’ buttons are useful (if you’re not using a Logitech Harmony remote) as they make it quick to fire up a particular input/audio setting. The “network” functionality gives you inbuilt internet radio, support for Spotify and Apple Airplay compatibility (for music from iTunes or an Apple device). There’s also a Yamaha app remote control.

The downsides are build quality – to knock out kit at this price with all that functionality you get a lightweight case, plastic front and knobs. I suspect your old Yamaha amp had a nice solid metal face. They do have near identical models with old fashioned build quality but you’ll spend chunk more.

If you liked your Yamaha get another Yamaha.

Precisely what I was going to say.

If you liked your Yamaha get another Yamaha.

+1

I got the Yamaha above and works well.

I have an old Yamaha (15 years old!). It’s so good than when it dies (or I get fed up of no HDMI pass through), I will get another Yamaha.

I’d normally agree with the Yamaha suggestiobsbut at that price point I think Onkyo is hard to beat. I recently replaced my am pans was wanting a Yamaha but went with Onkyo as it beat the Equivalent Yamaha unit hands down on features. If my budget was another £100 to £150 I’d have got the Yamaha as the next model up caught up with the competition at that price point. But there are always deals around.

I was looking at the 579 on Richer as it seems the (updated) equivalent of my dead one.
Might have to get myself to the local RS and have a look..
Thanks for the info all

I picked up one of the Dennon AVRX-2200’s for £325 in the sale and it is excellent. I don’t mind Yamaha but prefer something a bit crisper and had a Sony ES before this which was on it’s last legs. Only thing I would like is the ability to cast from android to the amp (will do Apple Airplay) and I have fitted a cheap Chromecast audio but wish I had fitted a proper chromcast for better yourtube streaming (have to have the video on screen on your phone) but my Sony TV does that anyway so it’s not a big deal.

Another one to look as is the comparable Pioneer.

Mate just bought the onkyo. I was seriously impressed by sound quality and features like internet radio and 2 room sound. Its a bit buttonny(2many) but overall great.

I’m potentially looking for something in the same price range soon if I, again, get sick of lack of HDMI and passthrough. I currently have a Cambridge Audio Azur 540R but seeing as they seem to have got up their own arse and abandoned affordable stuff I’m not really sure what to look at.

To be honest beyond internet radio I’m not that bothered about feaures (and even that is a nice to have) so would rather have less features and more build quality if that makes sense? All this talk about things being bright, crisp etc. means bugger all to me, my living room won’t support anything above 5.1 (and even that will be a push) and I don’t give a toss what something sounds like in a demo room that bears no resemblance to mine.

Have a word with Wilkinson’s in Colne.

Link.

Very helpful, they’d probably be able to fix it for a fraction of that.
If not, they offer very good trade ins.
They also have a lot of s/h stock, not all on the website.

Worth a call.

No connection, just a very happy customer.

Another Onkyo here; can’t fault it. The TX-NR-646 is about £340 at the moment; not so intuitive to set up; but I’ve got it paired with a Logitech Harmony remote so it’s single button operation all the way now it’s in 🙂

To be honest beyond internet radio I’m not that bothered about features (and even that is a nice to have) so would rather have less features and more build quality if that makes sense

I’ve finally got my AV kit set up properly again after a few years of using my old Sony amp as 3.0. Even when it was 5.1 in the last permanent house the speaker positioning wasn’t ideal. In the new place the positioning is pretty much spot on based on where we sit (though the surrounds are ceiling speakers rather than wall mounted). The difference is phenomenal – speaker positioning really is key for even stereo to work properly, let alone surround. With our sofa against the back wall there just isn’t any space for the rear speakers for 6.1 or 7.1 Very few movies are coded for more than 5.1 either.

In another room I’ve got a Yamaha linked to 5 ceiling speakers

My Sony amp must be 5 years older than my Yamaha and, other than the network stuff, nothing seems to have changed on the other ‘features’. The new codecs are designed for more speakers, I never use any of the simulated rooms on either amp (the Sony supposedly has EQ’s matched to 3 cinemas, the Yamaha a stack of EQs aimed at movies and another stack for audio – hall/stadium/jazz club etc.

However, there’s no harm in having an amp designed for more channels than you actually connect as you get the benefit of the amp power on the channels you do use (the manf’s quote a power per channel but it’s always for the amp powering just one channel – the power supply is the limiting factor and that’s shared).

Have a word with Wilkinson’s in Colne.

Ah, my f-in-law lives near there so I’ll see if he’ll drop it in for an inspection.

Hmm, never even thought of ceiling speakers, that would actually be ideal!

Well done that man, you’ve solved a nit insignificant problem. Just need to convince the missus that having speakers under our daughters floor is a good plan, hmm…

I’ve got a Mordaunt Short Alumni 5.1 set up with an Onkyo amp. The amp’s a few years old now and was only £250 when I bought it, but I really can’t praise it enough.

I quite like the 540r, and bizarrely now have two, a v1 and a v2, the first powering the standmounters and the subwoofer out looped to another one to drive the sub. That’s 12 channels hanging around to drive 2.1, lol.

At this point I am beginning to suspect a crossover will pay for itself in electricity.

Ceiling speakers – have a look at
http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/products/controlled-performance

Have sealed backs so meant to leak much less sound. Add acoustic hoods as well.

what happens with the depth charges and explosion effects when you have ceiling speakers – do they go off above your head ?

And when panning around do the sounds move from the same plane as you to above you and then back down ?

re – surround sound – try this with decent headphones on :

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUDTlvagjJA[/video]

what happens with the depth charges and explosion effects when you have ceiling speakers – do they go off above your head ?

And when panning around do the sounds move from the same plane as you to above you and then back down ?

The living room set up has conventional speakers at the front and ceiling surrounds. Previously I had the same front speakers with conventional surround speakers mounted high on the walls to either side of the listening position facing in (ie facing each other). Usual advice for surround speakers is to place them about 1m above ear level as most of the time they’re used to create ambience and you want some of the sound reflected off the walls before you hear it. With the ceiling mounted surrounds there aren’t so many reflections so it’s a bit more localised. The overall experience is good though – again, better in a good position on the ceiling than a bad one on the walls.

I’ve also got 5.0 speakers in the kitchen – the centre is in-wall directly below the TV, the other 4 ceiling mounted. It’s not used for ‘critical’ viewing and always usually well off axis. Stereo panning is noticeable and not strange (ie it works).

I’ve actually reversed the rear pair of speakers so that there’s a stereo effect at both the dining table and the preparation/cooking area (rather than one having 2x left channel and the other 2x right)
Front:
Left – Right
cook eat
Right – Left

Music is on ‘multi-stereo’ or whatever the setting is called. TV we watch in the kitchen is unlikely to be 5.1 coded and the pro-logic just adds a bit of ambience generally so I’ve not noticed any weird effects.

Narrowed the search down to 3 (4 if I include a Yam) so which would you go for?

Pioneer VSX-930
Denon AVR-X2200W
Onkyo TX-SR444

Still looking at a Yamaha Rx-V679 but it doesn’t have Atmos, which seems to be the way to go..

Denon link doesn’t seem to work…

Is it this one…..

http://www.whathifi.com/denon/avr-x2200w/review

??

If so, then I’d be going for that, based on:

The Onkyo doesn’t appear to have Wi-Fi which I’d want for connecting up a NAS drive
Pioneer stuff in the past has always seemed a bit ‘bright’ and that remote looks like a horrendous mash of buttons.
The Denon has Wi-Fi, doesn’t look overly complicated to use & gets good reviews……

Yeah, that’s the Denon. Does seem to tick all the boxes and do think WhatHiFi seem to get things right a lot of the time.