Help me choose an AVR?

[Chrispy]

(and born before 1965)

I only remember "made in Japan" commonly being a negative in the early 1960's. By the 1970's brands like Sony, Toyota, and Nikon changed that around. Then we picked on Taiwan and Hong Kong, then Korea for a short time, then China for a longer time. Now it's Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand. There is always a place where low labor costs sometimes trumps quality.

We used to say just follow shoe manufacturing for a route to lowest labor .

 

[Zapper]

Am I better just 'KISS' and buying a really good intergrated amp with an optical in from my Shield? And then just running 2.0 or 2.1?

I assume I need an AVR for things like virtual/phantom centres?

Minefield.

Yamaha R-N800A is one of the few integrated stereo amps with bass management and room eq. I can't vouch for the performance of either. Overall quality is high.

 

[rynberg]

One last go at overcomplicating this before I do as I'm told..

So let's say I have £1000ish to spend on an AVR to run my current gear, which is L&R Kef R3, and a PC-2000 sub. And hopefully in the near future adding a 3rd Kef R3 as a centre.

Am I getting more bang for the buck going for:

1. Denon X3700/X3800 (~£1000)
2. Marantz Cinema 70S (£600) + a £400-£600 3 channel power amp (Emotiva BasX A3 / or some Class D amp like Nord NC252)

Even as a former Marantz owner, I would never choose a Marantz over the much cheaper and near identical Denon product. The Cinemas 70S is a far inferior product than the 3700/3800, in terms of audio performance but much more importantly, the EQ functionality.

Separately, the Emotiva products are all very mediocre. It's likely the Denon 3700/3800 will have adequate power with your use of a subwoofer. If you find that you are running out of power, you could add an outboard amp down the road (unlikely).

 

[Fahzz]

So Denon 3700 out of stock - 3800 has a lot of stuff I don't need (four subwoofers???). Anybody have a Denon 2800? Any good 5/7 channel AV preamps that cost less than a gazillion dollars?

 

[Power Pop 23]

So Denon 3700 out of stock - 3800 has a lot of stuff I don't need (four subwoofers???). Anybody have a Denon 2800? Any good 5/7 channel AV preamps that cost less than a gazillion dollars?

The Pioneer Elite VSX-LX505 has preamplifier outputs for all channels - if you have amplification - and comes with license for Dirac

Adorama in NYC is currently selling the Pioneer Elite VSX-LX505 for $649. Perhaps a retailer near you is offering the '505'.

https://www.adorama.com/pivsxlx505.html?sdtid=17409066&emailprice=t&sterm=zTlylsT%3AexyPWCty-6Ww21zPUkHRHyQ9yQiOVo0&utm_source=rflaid62905&utm_medium=affiliate

I perceive greater clarity deploying Dirac Live. The Denon AVR-X3800H AVR allows the option of deploying Dirac Live

Amir reviewed and recommends the $20 Audyssey MultEQ Editor app at the link below - he thought it approached the performance of Dirac

Audyssey Room EQ Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Audyssey Room Equalization. Audyssey is standard technology in a number of Audio/Video Receivers such as the Denon AVR-X3600H I recently reviewed. The standard version in the AVR is mostly all or nothing so I downloaded the Marantz/Denon...

www.audiosciencereview.com

The Audyssey MultEQ Editor app is compatible with select Denon AVR's including the AVR-X2800H

 

[Chrispy]

So Denon 3700 out of stock - 3800 has a lot of stuff I don't need (four subwoofers???). Anybody have a Denon 2800? Any good 5/7 channel AV preamps that cost less than a gazillion dollars?

If you don't like the advantages of the 3800, the 2800 is definitely less expensive. Personally I like having a full set of pre-outs (especially if you want it as an AV preamp), four independent subs, and prefer the Audyssey XT32 as well as the Dirac option the 3800 offers.

 

[zgmf_x10a]

So Denon 3700 out of stock - 3800 has a lot of stuff I don't need (four subwoofers???). Anybody have a Denon 2800? Any good 5/7 channel AV preamps that cost less than a gazillion dollars?

A 5/7 channel preamp will cost WAY more than the 3800 while having less features. Personally unless you want to use active speakers or listen loud even the 1700/1800 are adequate