Upgrade to new AVR?

[Hattrick]

I have a Arcam AVR 850. This AVR has been a bit of a struggle with numerous repairs but after replacing many parts it now seems to be working well and still sounds great. Due to all the reliability issues most being repaired under warranty I am considering maybe it is time to replace with a new AVR. I do not want a processor because I have a Great Room not a dedicated HT. I need 9 speaker outs and do use an external power amp for a rear height channel. The below AVR's are in consideration for a replacement for the AVR 850 as a possible choice.

1.Anthem MRX740
2. NAD T 778
3 Arcam AVR 31

My room is a great room. Not a dedicated HT. I need 9 speaker driven.

Key points of importance. Great sound! Love the sound of the AVR 850 So any replacement needs to be better not just comparable. Also would like to have Direct Ins which bypass the processor for analog inputs like a phono stage, tape deck or external DAC.


Front End Inputs:

Oppo 203
Roku Ultra
Whest 2.2 Phone stage

Future additions:
Sony Play Station
XBox
Possible external DAC.

 

[MLaranjeiras]

About Receiver, seems that you wish to jump from 7.1 to 9.1. If it is the case, in terms of price, check Pioneer AV line. Performance, Denon.

"My room is a great room. ". No idea about the area, but consider that if it is really big, an AV ay not be able to push 9 channels. Mine is 25m². I use four Polk 265RT for surround and four 82C Silver Ticket for ceiling (https://www.amazon.com/82C-Silver-Ticket-Ceiling-Pivoting/dp/B00LGYOU7S). I feed my floorstanding L/R with a vintage Sansui AU-X911DG via Pionner´s pre-out. Center channel is a huge Klipsch.

In my case, both Pioneer and Sansui support phono stage, tape deck or external DAC, but, for sound quality reasons, I suggest to connect them directly on the integrated amplifier.

 

[Hattrick]

About Receiver, seems that you wish to jump from 7.1 to 9.1. If it is the case, in terms of price, check Pioneer AV line. Performance, Denon.

"My room is a great room. ". No idea about the area, but consider that if it is really big, an AV ay not be able to push 9 channels. Mine is 25m². I use four Polk 265RT for surround and four 82C Silver Ticket for ceiling (https://www.amazon.com/82C-Silver-Ticket-Ceiling-Pivoting/dp/B00LGYOU7S). I feed my floorstanding L/R with a vintage Sansui AU-X911DG via Pionner´s pre-out. Center channel is a huge Klipsch.

In my case, both Pioneer and Sansui support phono stage, tape deck or external DAC, but, for sound quality reasons, I suggest to connect them directly on the integrated amplifier.

Actually my current AVR will support 9 speakers. New AVR must support 9 speakers being LCR, R/L surrounds, and a front and rear height. The room is very open but the listening area is 14' x 14' . Presently the AVR 850 provides plenty of sound. I only want one AVR device with maybe an external amp if necessary as I currently am using.

 

[MLaranjeiras]

Arcam AVR 31 seems to be a great receiver. Why do you wish to chance It? Issues? Maybe you can test its performance before spend money with other receiver.

 

[MLaranjeiras]

NAD T 778 was on my radar to reduce from 3 to 2 the items of my set. But seems it is not a mature gear and its perfomance on ASR was disapointing for the price. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...d-t778-audio-video-receiver-avr-review.15643/

 

[Hattrick]

Arcam AVR 31 seems to be a great receiver. Why do you wish to chance It? Issues? Maybe you can test its performance before spend money with other receiver.

I agree the AVR 31 would be my first choice actually but the cost is almost double of the others mentioned. It isn't really so much about risk of failure like my two other Arcam AVR's. Now that Harman/Samsung own Arcam I am thinking the quality assurance of the components and design are to be better going forward. At least I hope so....

 

[MLaranjeiras]

I choosed Pioneer for being 1/3 of a Denon price at the time of the purchase. Once I lost an Yamaha before due PCB (HDMI board) oxidation, I became careful about spending money with this stuff.

 

[Hattrick]

NAD T 778 was on my radar to reduce from 3 to 2 the items of my set. But seems it is not a mature gear and its performance on ASR was disappointing for the price. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...d-t778-audio-video-receiver-avr-review.15643/

I just read this review and it was eye opening for certain. It was nice to see good performance numbers for my old and mostly rebuilt AVR 850. I think I can move the NAD off the list at this time. My thoughts are to purchase and compare the Anthem MRX 740 and a new Arcam AVR 31 to my Arcam AVR 850 and see if the move makes sonic sense per improvement. That is the key for upgrading in my opinion at this time. Features are great but the bottom line is the audio. The other thought would be to go AVR processor invest in a great two channel amp and a 7 channel multi amp for everything else, More expensive route, more gear to deal with for my living room but I am considering building a new console for the living room anyway which I could shelve the amps and processor keeping the look clean in my living room. Thoughts?

 

[Hattrick]

I choosed Pioneer for being 1/3 of a Denon price at the time of the purchase. Once I lost an Yamaha before due PCB (HDMI board) oxidation, I became careful about spending money with this stuff.

I will look at Pioneer thank you...

 

[Beershaun]

I have the anthem mrx1140 and have been very satisfied with it. It's been reliable and performs very well. ARC is excellent and the ability to create virtual inputs and matrix the amplifiers any way you want is a huge benefit.

I replaced an NAD t778 with the anthem and it's been a great upgrade.

 

[Hattrick]

I have the anthem mrx1140 and have been very satisfied with it. It's been reliable and performs very well. ARC is excellent and the ability to create virtual inputs and matrix the amplifiers any way you want is a huge benefit.

I replaced an NAD t778 with the anthem and it's been a great upgrade.

Good to hear! I got my AVR 850 back yesterday and finally and hopefully it won't die on me again. I think I will wait for HDMI 2.2 is available and 8K as well before upgrading. Is the 740/1140 updated already to HDMI 2.2 and 8K?

 

[Beershaun]

Good to hear! I got my AVR 850 back yesterday and finally and hopefully it won't die on me again. I think I will wait for HDMI 2.2 is available and 8K as well before upgrading. Is the 740/1140 updated already to HDMI 2.2 and 8K?

No. The avm90 comes with 8k. There is supposed to be and upgrade board available in the future. Presumably after the avm90 ships for a bit and there is enough of a supply available to offer them.

Here is a great article from audioholics with the measurements and specs on both the 740 and 1140.

Anthem MRX 740 & 1140 AV Receivers Comparison Bench Test Results!

In this bench test report of the Anthem MRX 740 & 1140 AV receivers, preamp & amplifier performance is evaluated and compared. We cover Bass management and amplifier matrixing performance recommendations.

www.audioholics.com

 

[Hattrick]

No. The avm90 comes with 8k. There is supposed to be and upgrade board available in the future. Presumably after the avm90 ships for a bit and there is enough of a supply available to offer them.

Here is a great article from audioholics with the measurements and specs on both the 740 and 1140.

Anthem MRX 740 & 1140 AV Receivers Comparison Bench Test Results!

In this bench test report of the Anthem MRX 740 & 1140 AV receivers, preamp & amplifier performance is evaluated and compared. We cover Bass management and amplifier matrixing performance recommendations.

www.audioholics.com

I did watch those videos. The only issue I have with the AVR's are no DAC bypass for analog direct.

 

[Beershaun]

I did watch those videos. The only issue I have with the AVR's are no DAC bypass for analog direct.

What is your use case for analog direct?

 

[Hattrick]

What is your use case for analog direct?

Vinyl

 

[Beershaun]

Vinyl

In this case, I think the fidelity will be better using the full DSP stack than a pure direct mode through this AVR with your multi-channel layout and subwoofers. A pure direct mode would mean cutting out all the DSP supported features like room correction and subwoofer crossovers/bass management etc. The fidelity would be far worse without these things. Especially in something like a great room. The ADC looks pretty good according to the audioholics review.

"I was pleased to see Anthem employ some pretty good ADC’s with 96kHz sampling rate allowing for full bandwidth frequency response of 50kHz. Distortion was also commendably low (<0.01% THD+N @ 20kHz)."


That said I have never tried to run a record player through a modern AVR. Maybe try out your use case at a dealer to listen for yourself and see if you are okay with the ADC results for playing vinyl.

 

[Hattrick]

In this case, I think the fidelity will be better using the full DSP stack than a pure direct mode through this AVR with your multi-channel layout and subwoofers. A pure direct mode would mean cutting out all the DSP supported features like room correction and subwoofer crossovers/bass management etc. The fidelity would be far worse without these things. Especially in something like a great room. The ADC looks pretty good according to the audioholics review.

"I was pleased to see Anthem employ some pretty good ADC’s with 96kHz sampling rate allowing for full bandwidth frequency response of 50kHz. Distortion was also commendably low (<0.01% THD+N @ 20kHz)."


That said I have never tried to run a record player through a modern AVR. Maybe try out your use case at a dealer to listen for yourself and see if you are okay with the ADC results for playing vinyl.

Good points. My current turntable with and external Whest phono pre connected to my finally fixed for the 5th time AVR 850. It is interesting to listen to vinyl both Direct and through DSP. Both sound good but different. I wouldn't say one sounds better in my room. I think it is fun to compare. Thus why I like that feature.

 

[Head_Unit]

it now seems to be working well and still sounds great. Due to all the reliability issues most being repaired under warranty I am considering maybe it is time to replace with a new AVR.

I don't get it, it is now working well and sounds great but you want to replace it. You realize that sounds contradictory? Or do you have secret desire for upgrade? By the way what speakers are you using?

 

[Hattrick]

I don't get it, it is now working well and sounds great but you want to replace it. You realize that sounds contradictory? Or do you have secret desire for upgrade? By the way what speakers are you using

Well I mentioned that the unit was in repair 5 times in 5 years. So reliability is a huge concern. When fixed and working as designed it sounds great. I have a mix of Ohm, Klipsch, and SVS speakers. Ohms are the L&R, Klipsch for surrounds, SVS are my 2 subs. The reliability is the main reason I am looking to upgrade plus a few other attributes. One, it is out of warranty and I had paid $900 for the last repair. Thus selling off the unit before it fails again and going new with warranty is enticing. In addition there are new features like HDMI 2, 8K and other features which are items of interest.

 

[morpheusX]

Given that the Arcam AVR 850 has Dirac, and assuming it works well (i don't know if all the bugs were addressed), if it has all the functionalities you want, changing to a new AVR won't take you anywhere.

What speakers and subwoofer(s) do you have?