AVR355 replacement

[mlsds]

Hello everybody. Long time silent reader of the forum here. Sorry to bother you but I need your enlightment as I am frustrated. As I stated in Denon 3900 thread, my old HK AVR355 has died. And this time for sure, as it had almost died twice in the past but it turned out it was only fuse problem.
This time nothing besides the FM tuner is respondin, no AV part, nothing. Only radio, which as you will soon understand is kind of life saving.
The speaker set up is rather easy. Dali Lektors, 5,3 and LCR. No sub. I use them mostly for music on 5 channel stereo mode and far less for movies and PS5. (70-30).An ther is a Alteco C1 upgrade on schedule, for Atmos. I always felt that the speakers needed a little more power and now it's time to see if I was right or wrong.
I am looking for an alternative, but my main concern apart from the sound quality, is the FM tuner as my wife, is a radio girl and she is listening to the radio a little less than 24/7. No radio means no passaran, or else forever grumbling.
I live in Greece and Digital Radio is a joke. Regarding TuneIn, on one hand I don't want to rely on internet and on the other I don't want to pay 80Euros/year either. I'ts not a matter of cost but I just refuse to pay for a company for this feature. I hate it as an app as well.
Any quality suggestions? There is a frustration with Denon AVCs that say they offer FM tuner but in EU versions they don't. Is there any quality difference between between the HEOS stored radio stations and the ones using the old school antenna?
Any other suggestions? I looked for Integra DRX 5.4 but no one in Greece can assure me that it uses FM Tuner.
Thank you for your time.

 

[LTig]

What about getting a good AV amp and a cheap used FM tuner as separate? Usually they go for very little money. You may also use the tuner part of the broken HK.

 

[mlsds]

What about getting a good AV amp and a cheap used FM tuner as separate? Usually they go for very little money. You may also use the tuner part of the broken HK.

The first part is what I think will eventually happen, but the second part is a challenge that I find extremely intriguing. We'll see.
If I end up in this way I think I'll choose 4800. I want it to last. Made in Japan and the monolithic board is something that makes me think that will do the job

 

[LTig]

The first part is what I think will eventually happen, but the second part is a challenge that I find extremely intriguing. We'll see.

Try Analog 2 out or Analog 4 out, or the preamp outputs FR and FL of the HK. Or the headphone output, but for this you need an adapter cable.

 

[Redacted]

Buy your wife her own system for radio?
I'm pretty sure stereo is enough for that, if it's broadcast or internet radio. And what is so good but cannot be listened to via internet radio?

You seem keen on listening to multichannel audio (you say mostly music) - I assume you have found a good source for multichannel recordings!

 

[mlsds]

My main source by popularity is Radio, Tidal, Spotify, SACD. I use 5 channel audio because the living room is rather long and I use the two surround speakers when we are sitting at the dinning table. The problem is that Greek radio stations are streaming in awful 128kbps (if not less). And only 5 radio stations are streaming digitally. We are still on Medieval eras.

 

[Redacted]

Aha! So it's not so about multichannel, but really more about having nearby speakers when at the other end of the lounge....

There are ways round that. You could look at systems that can synchronize playing in multiple rooms, maybe Wiim or something that uses Roon, maybe powered speakers, I'm not sure what's best. Another way is an amp that lets you switch between speakers A or B or both A&B. I know the Cambridge Audio Evo 150SE can do this (and internet radio) and you can control speaker output choice from a phone and maybe the remote too, but there may be better value choices for streamer amps these days. For broadcast radio you can plug a tuner into almost any amp.

 

[mlsds]

Does Integra DRX 5.4 offer FM tuner in Europe? Can anyone confirm that?

 

[Redacted]

If you can find one for sale, it does not look like there is an FM tuner on that AVR (nor on most other AVRs).

I think your usage case is unusual, and you are trying to find a product that fits in, but really, you'll find it easier and get better value by adapting your usage-case around commonly available equipment.

 

[mlsds]

Yes indeed. You are absolutely right. I guess I won't avoid extra stand alone FM tuner.

 

[LTig]

Yes indeed. You are absolutely right. I guess I won't avoid extra stand alone FM tuner.

Yep. Chances are that an old used tuner is better (both regarding reception as soundwise) than the tuner in the HK.

 

[Redacted]

You may even find a very cheap radio that does FM, and DAB too, and maybe internet (which you said is limited for Greek stations) on Amazon etc that has RCA outputs to feed a normal stereo amp. Or as said, a proper 'tuner' unit would do. These days, I would think most FM tuners or radios use one of a small number of standard chips, so they are probably all quite similar if they can be played through amp & good speakers. It's probably cheap built-in amp & speakers that let down a lot of radios....

 

[Ruediger]

Def. some external tuner.

Cheap, easy, one scene button on the AVR remote.

 

[mlsds]

Now that I'm thinking. What about Yamahas? They do have FM Tuner right? But will they fit Dalis? I've read somewhere that they don't pair well together.

 

[Redacted]

Which Yamahas?
Anything with a half decent amp will probably be OK with Dalis - don't believe all you read (it's usually either a sales pitch or tactic, or a "look what I bought" smug comment, IMHO)
Anyway, why get stuck on Yamaha?
Is the need for multi-channel a fixed idea?

 

[mlsds]

I guess RX A4A

 

[Timcognito]

You can stream most FM stations for free and there are 10's if not 100's of thousands of them. A inexpensive WiiM streamer should give you more FM than you could handle with much higher quality than broadcast FM.

 

[mlsds]

Alea iacta est!
I will go with 3900 and https://amzn.eu/d/00gyGeyN
Unless 4900 is on the loose while waiting.
Is there a way to automate and open radio, without the need to use both remote controls?
What is that trigger option?

 

[Ruediger]

Is there a way to automate and open radio, without the need to use both remote controls?
What is that trigger option?

The Denon can start with last source and/or you make a quickselect button.

The tuner might start with his last source at power on, or not - if it has trigger, the AVR can turn it on/off. If not, trigger add-on for powerchord is a thing. Depends on if it is needed at all.