Problems with mixing pre-out and amplification?

[Evenor]

But with a sighted test knowing price....how much of that difference is your bias?

Yes, who knows. I meant to say the difference was smaller than one might think but it removed the harshness in the treble which was quite audible and annoying.

 

[Chrispy]

I meant to say the difference was smaller than one might think but it removed the harshness in the treble which was quite audible and annoying.

I wouldn't expect much difference except in the fancy box it is in or the price in most cases. If it's a highly audible difference something is broken....

 

[peng]

That makes sense. I've auditioned a speaker once where we changed the amps because of some harshness and went from a 600$ amp to a 20k one. While the difference was significant and removed all harshness, the speaker still sounded similar but just cleaner.

The Denon X3700h is rated at 105 W into 8 ohms with two channels driven. Power no problem when driving 5 modern speakers? 2x 105 W power in my room at the moment is really loud. Are there any considerations when we distribute that power to 5 speakers.

The x3700h can do at least 70 W per channel simultaneously. I don't think there are too many movies that would push more than 2 to 3 channels to the limit anyway. The flagship Anthem MRX1120 actually have much weaker amps for the surround and height channels. In my opinion, that was a smart move.

For speakers, I don't know how much it would cost you to have a pair shipped to Europe. On this side of the pond, you can get the BMR that is far superior than any B&W600 series for the same or less money. Not only they sound great, they also measured much better. Take a look and you may be impressed.

 

[StefaanE]

FWIW, I use my Marantz SR5013 with powered front speakers and passive surrounds, and by switching into ECO mode it seems to use a minimum of power without affecting the surround performance (even when I up the volume to -5dB or higher).

 

[Evenor]

the BMR that is far superior

Philharmonic Audio BMR?

FWIW, I use my Marantz SR5013 with powered front speakers and passive surrounds, and by switching into ECO mode it seems to use a minimum of power without affecting the surround performance (even when I up the volume to -5dB or higher).

Thank you! Very useful information and good to know these are viable options to use with pre-out even without perfect implementation. At the moment I don't even cross -15db on the DAC...

The Denon receivers are out of stock until around October 30 so will have some time to decide.

Thank you all for the useful posts

 

[StefaanE]

Thank you! Very useful information and good to know these are viable options to use with pre-out even without perfect implementation. At the moment I don't even cross -15db on the DAC...

The Denon receivers are out of stock until around October 30 so will have some time to decide.

Thank you all for the useful posts

You’re very welcome. Using the Audyssey app on the Marantz allowed me to equalise the levels of the passive and active speakers so that I had maximum gain in the AVR, to minimise the hiss in the active speakers (it dialed the actives up by 12dB —the maximum — and the passives down by 5dB). I’m quite pleased with the result, even though I use only four speakers.

 

[peng]

the BMR that is far superior

Philharmonic Audio BMR?


Thank you! Very useful information and good to know these are viable options to use with pre-out even without perfect implementation. At the moment I don't even cross -15db on the DAC...

The Denon receivers are out of stock until around October 30 so will have some time to decide.

Thank you all for the useful posts

Yes, I diy'ed a pair, and they sound better than my KEF LS50 and R900. Very comparable to my much more expensive Focal 1028 Be.

 

[StefaanE]

Of course, did you know at volume -5, even -25, ECO auto will effectively = ECO Off? And if you set ECO to On, at -5 you will most likely limit the output to less than 50 W because it would switch to a lower "rail voltage" for the power amps. It doesn't affect the pre-out so if you are using external amp such as your powered front speakers then you are okay (without limiting output) with ECO On, but distortions may increase somewhat (depending on hard your surrounds would be driven) when the power amp output voltage clips, even with no speakers connected.

-5dB is quite loud in my setup, given the rather high sensitivity of the old Infinity Reference 1i I use as surrounds. I haven’t noticed any obvious distortions in the surrounds since going to ECO on, but it seems to have stopped my Marantz using as much power without front speakers as when I had the Primus 360s connected. It’s now only lukewarm.

 

[Evenor]

Stumbled upon a review of Audyssey XT32 here and it seems to be worth close the price of the x3700h alone so it should be a nice upgrade even for stereo music listening.

There seems to be so much value packed into the receiver that isn't apparent to someone new to AVRs.

 

[peng]

-5dB is quite loud in my setup, given the rather high sensitivity of the old Infinity Reference 1i I use as surrounds. I haven’t noticed any obvious distortions in the surrounds since going to ECO on, but it seems to have stopped my Marantz using as much power without front speakers as when I had the Primus 360s connected. It’s now only lukewarm.

The 360 can warm things up with its 4-6 ohm impedance and relatively large phase angle in the upper mid bass range. My main point is simply this, for those who don't know, they may think Eco auto is doing something regardless of volume but it's not true. It is triggered by volume setting only, thought the newer models (from 2018) has an added feature, that is, if there is no signal it will be on regardless of volume.

Since you set Eco to "On", then it is always on regardless of the volume setting, but then again, your power output will be limited to about 35 W when it would start to clip. That's why I thought your -5 volume may have brought you to the clipping point, but it depends also on the media contents and your level trim settings.

https://www.audioholics.com/av-receiver-reviews/marantz-sr8015/conclusion