Which AV receiver Would you Recommend.

[DMill]

I'd take either depending on the deal I got, but generally Denon is priced a bit better for similar feature set (at least in US).

I guess my ”coin flip” might be a do-over if it weren’t the Denon. I’m not a big fan of the port display on the Marantz, but now we are in the land of completely subjective. Marantz probably has a leg up on Denon for being an audiophile brand. So maybe it’s resale is better? I kinda lean Denon just cause they’ve made a few tweaks. I have a good friend who swears Yamaha is better than both. AVRs are really hard to tell apart like most front end gear. Differences are small with most higher end gear. I mostly think AVRs are pretty disposable. You will be upgrading your amp every time a new better streaming solution comes along. Or just chill and let it play out.

 

[Chrispy]

I guess my ”coin flip” might be a do-over if it weren’t the Denon. I’m not a big fan of the port display on the Marantz, but now we are in the land of completely subjective. Marantz probably has a leg up on Denon for being an audiophile brand. So maybe it’s resale is better? I kinda lean Denon just cause they’ve made a few tweaks. I have a good friend who swears Yamaha is better than both. AVRs are really hard to tell apart like most front end gear. Differences are small with most higher end gear. I mostly think AVRs are pretty disposable. You will be upgrading your amp every time a new better streaming solution comes along. Or just chill and let it play out.

Audiophile brand is just about meaningless, tho. The port is just too small for reading at a distance compared to better displays. I really don't think the brands make a lot of difference outside of their REQ/dsp modes.

 

[DMill]

Audiophile brand is just about meaningless, tho. The port is just too small for reading at a distance compared to better displays. I really don't think the brands make a lot of difference outside of their REQ/dsp modes.

It does seem we agree. I suppose it’s a half filled thing on how you look at it. Most AVRs are fine in most situations, and I believe that is true. But none of them are remarkable for being SOTA. At least not yet. Does it even matter at a certain point? I’m still of the camp that thinks let’s make them sing perfectly and then we can discuss how much is enough. I don’t think we are there yet with AVRs. So I guess I’m still a bit glass half full.

 

[Chrispy]

It does seem we agree. I suppose it’s a half filled thing on how you look at it. Most AVRs are fine in most situations, and I believe that is true. But none of the are remarkable for being SOTA. At least not yet. Does it even matter at a certain point? I’m still of the camp that thinks let’s make them sing perfectly and then we can discuss how much is enough. I don’t think we are there yet with AVRs

Not sure we'll ever get "there" either. It's quite sufficient now, innit?

 

[DMill]

Not sure we'll ever get "there" either. It's quite sufficient now, innit?

It might be? Can’t argue we aren’t there. But objective measurements do seem to suggest we can do a bit better. And it may be likely “somebody” can hear it.

 

[nbat58]

Then again the 8500 is closer to the 8015 from what I remember....

Build wise, yes, feature wise no, feature wise it's closer the 6700, build and pricing nearing the 8500.

 

[nbat58]

I guess my ”coin flip” might be a do-over if it weren’t the Denon. I’m not a big fan of the port display on the Marantz, but now we are in the land of completely subjective. Marantz probably has a leg up on Denon for being an audiophile brand. So maybe it’s resale is better? I kinda lean Denon just cause they’ve made a few tweaks. I have a good friend who swears Yamaha is better than both. AVRs are really hard to tell apart like most front end gear. Differences are small with most higher end gear. I mostly think AVRs are pretty disposable. You will be upgrading your amp every time a new better streaming solution comes along. Or just chill and let it play out.

I am not sure about the upgrading bit so often, my current amp is the Denon VSX-LX70 and didn't feel the need to upgrade until now.

Of course manufacturers would want us to upgrade as soon as they bring out a new model for obvious reasons, but I don't think that the reasons to do it are really justified with what's new on offer.

I also don't like the port hole and would never buy an AVR for music, I have tested my amp for music and although they have gotten better, they will never match a dedicated stereo amp and speakers.

I will stick to my NAD C 356BEE and Ruark Accoustics Sceptre speakers for music.

Now for movies, it's a different story.

 

[Deleted member 19122]

My money waits for the Pioneer,it's out and at a grand less with Dirac already onboard,not a future 250 buck or so update it's a no brainer to me at least

I am not sure about the upgrading bit so often, my current amp is the Denon VSX-LX70 and didn't feel the need to upgrade until now.

Of course manufacturers would want us to upgrade as soon as they bring out a new model for obvious reasons, but I don't think that the reasons to do it are really justified with what's new on offer.

I also don't like the port hole and would never buy an AVR for music, I have tested my amp for music and although they have gotten better, they will never match a dedicated stereo amp and speakers.

I will stick to my NAD C 356BEE and Ruark Accoustics Sceptre speakers for music.

Now for movies, it's a different story.

Why would movie soundtracks be any lesser quality than music?!? There are plenty of dynamic sota movie soundtracks that blew away most stereo recordings especially older ones.This whole avrs are bad for music is ancient audiophile hogwash.Guaranteed any of the avrs you're are looking for sound just as good if not better than your NAD with every kind of music.There is no magic in the wires in the box.As long as the dac is adequate and enough power per channel to handle your listening space the only real difference is which room eq you prefer.Room eq will make the biggest difference compared to what you have now.Dirac seems to be the best with Audessey right behind it.

 

[nbat58]

My money waits for the Pioneer,it's out and at a grand less with Dirac already onboard,not a future 250 buck or so update it's a no brainer to me at least

Why would movie soundtracks be any lesser quality than music?!? There are plenty of dynamic sota movie soundtracks that blew away most stereo recordings especially older ones.This whole avrs are bad for music is ancient audiophile hogwash.Guaranteed any of the avrs you're are looking for sound just as good if not better than your NAD with every kind of music.There is no magic in the wires in the box.As long as the dac is adequate and enough power per channel to handle your listening space the only real difference is which room eq you prefer.Room eq will make the biggest difference compared to what you have now.Dirac seems to be the best with Audessey right behind it.

I didn't mean lesser quality but build differently, admittedly, I am not sure how the new AV amps sound for music as I have never compared one, I was merely referring to my current AV amp vs my stereo set up.

It could be that now the differences are marginal, I will test this out when I make decision on a new AV amp and will report back.

 

[Bren Derlin]

This whole avrs are bad for music is ancient audiophile hogwash.Guaranteed any of the avrs you're are looking for sound just as good if not better than your NAD with every kind of music.There is no magic in the wires in the box.As long as the dac is adequate and enough power per channel to handle your listening space the only real difference is which room eq you prefer.Room eq will make the biggest difference compared to what you have now.Dirac seems to be the best with Audessey right behind it.

Hells yes to this. To me, after speakers, the biggest difference is 1) speaker placement, 2) room treatment. A good modern AVR isn’t the big crutch people suggest. Does anyone believe movie recordings are played back at a worse quality than music recordings? An AVR has to do a damn good job playing back a well mastered movie audio track cleanly, including incredibly nuanced/delicate music and sound effects to create an exceptional audio experience.

If your HT doesn’t sound good with music, it’s usually because the front channel speakers are buried in the corners of the room. And I see this all. The. Time. …and the AVR gets the blame.

 

[Wino]

Have a X6700h. Love it for movies. Could be better for music. Coming from and AVP-A1HDCI. It was better at music. System is for home theater though. For home theater it is a great buy.

 

[nbat58]

Hells yes to this. To me, after speakers, the biggest difference is 1) speaker placement, 2) room treatment. A good modern AVR isn’t the big crutch people suggest. Does anyone believe movie recordings are played back at a worse quality than music recordings? An AVR has to do a damn good job playing back a well mastered movie audio track cleanly, including incredibly nuanced/delicate music and sound effects to create an exceptional audio experience.

If your HT doesn’t sound good with music, it’s usually because the front channel speakers are buried in the corners of the room. And I see this all. The. Time. …and the AVR gets the blame.

From my experience, using an old Pioneer AVR and the same speakers I use to play music, the music sound night and day between using my stereo separates vs using the AVR.

 

[Bren Derlin]

From my experience, using an old Pioneer AVR and the same speakers I use to play music, the music sound night and day between using my stereo separates vs using the AVR.

Doesn’t sound like an old Pioneer is a “good modern AVR”…

 

[Vacceo]

It does seem we agree. I suppose it’s a half filled thing on how you look at it. Most AVRs are fine in most situations, and I believe that is true. But none of them are remarkable for being SOTA. At least not yet. Does it even matter at a certain point? I’m still of the camp that thinks let’s make them sing perfectly and then we can discuss how much is enough. I don’t think we are there yet with AVRs. So I guess I’m still a bit glass half full.

Amir wrote very nice words about Storm Audio, but considering the price, it´d rather be a good processor!

Still, I hope someone on marketing from an AVR/AVP manufacturer takes a look around here and considers that getting a well-measuring device with solid functionalities (room EQ, nice menus...) is worth it and may consider ASR as the authorized independent voice to confirm it (without excluding other objective reviewers such as Gene in Audioholics).

My money waits for the Pioneer,it's out and at a grand less with Dirac already onboard,not a future 250 buck or so update it's a no brainer to me at least

Why would movie soundtracks be any lesser quality than music?!? There are plenty of dynamic sota movie soundtracks that blew away most stereo recordings especially older ones.This whole avrs are bad for music is ancient audiophile hogwash.Guaranteed any of the avrs you're are looking for sound just as good if not better than your NAD with every kind of music.There is no magic in the wires in the box.As long as the dac is adequate and enough power per channel to handle your listening space the only real difference is which room eq you prefer.Room eq will make the biggest difference compared to what you have now.Dirac seems to be the best with Audessey right behind it.

In fact, I´d say an AVR gets you, coin by coin, a better value than a lot of integrated amps. You have several channels of amplification, subwoofer management, room EQ, possibility to listen to multichannel music (and stereo, of course!), a decent phono stage if you also like vynil... And all in a very single package! If we take a look at Amir´s performance tests, a lot of AVR´s are not far from very average systems. With the popularization of class D Hypex and Purifi amps in AVR´s, they may actually get a chance to become part of the "transparency guaranteed" club in a not so distant future.

 

[hmt]

We had one of those: The Monoprice htp-1. Saldly it is unknown what is going on with monoprice since there is no development concerning updates and there also dont seem to be sold anymore.

 

[aaddas]

The best AV receiver without problems and good quality are Yamaha A8A/A6A/A4A/A2A.

Denon/Marantz>>> low quality and so many problems
Arcam problems and expensive (harman= samsung)
Pioneer and onkyo>>> muddy sound
Anthem>>> i do not know.

 

[symphara]

I have the 4700 with the TI DAC and the 8500 with the AKM. Both are very quiet and sound like Denons, i.e. clean, crisp and punchy.

I also have a Marantz AVR and I will say that HDAM is a bug, not a feature.

 

[nbat58]

The best AV receiver without problems and good quality are Yamaha A8A/A6A/A4A/A2A.

Denon/Marantz>>> low quality and so many problems
Arcam problems and expensive (harman= samsung)
Pioneer and onkyo>>> muddy sound
Anthem>>> i do not know.

Oh dear, I have made a decision and bought the Denon 6700, I somehow do agree with you about the quality of the Denon, it is definitely lower external build quality than the Pioneer VSX-LX70 that it replaced.

What I have noticed, the Denon has a flimsy top cover, not at all solid like the Pioneer.

I can also see inside where the perspex cover (glass?) display screen is stuck with glue, this ws not the case with the Pioneer.

The casing is definitely smaller than the Pioneer, it gets hot at the top, is lighter than the Pioneer.

But the one thing I can't complain about is the sound quality.

 

[techsamurai]

Oh dear, I have made a decision and bought the Denon 6700, I somehow do agree with you about the quality of the Denon, it is definitely lower external build quality than the Pioneer VSX-LX70 that it replaced.

What I have noticed, the Denon has a flimsy top cover, not at all solid like the Pioneer.

I can also see inside where the perspex cover (glass?) display screen is stuck with glue, this ws not the case with the Pioneer.

The casing is definitely smaller than the Pioneer, it gets hot at the top, is lighter than the Pioneer.

But the one thing I can't complain about is the sound quality.

Is it much better? Are you still using the same speakers?

 

[Bren Derlin]

"Denon/Marantz>>> low quality and so many problems"

Looks at my 18 year old Denon AV3805 and searches for the "so-many problems and low-quality" features. ...then runs down stairs and looks at my Denon x2600H, and repeats the process.