Yamaha & Denon

[Dharris]

I am sure this has been hashed out already. Could anyone point me to a link on this subject? If not, I need help with this.

I used to be a proud owner of a Yamaha RXV 795A, until I heard the Denon AVR-1800. Both of these older amps were great for the money and the features at the time.

My question is this, is the Yamaha 1400 still compared to the Denon AVR-3805?
What do you people like about both of these amps? Will both of these amps power 4 ohm speakers at 85db (monitors)?

Thanks

[Woochifer]

Hard to answer that question since the RX-V1400 has been out since October, and the AVR-3805 has yet to come out. Given that the 3805 will cost $400 more than the RX-V1400, I don't think we're talking about an apples to apples comparison here. The more logical comparison would be between the 1400 and the AVR-2803, since they have the same price. And in that comparison, the 1400 would probably have an edge because of the YPAO room calibration function.

In general, Yamahas are known for being able to drive low impedance speakers, but a 4 ohm speaker would be a difficult load for any receiver, especially if you plan to connect five or seven of them in a multichannel configuration. Not familiar enough with the newer Denons to comment on how well they handle low impedance speakers. Depending on the speaker's efficiency, it doesn't take much to power a speaker up to 85 db. Going above that level with low impedance speakers is where some receivers potentially run into trouble.

[Dharris]

Thanks for your input. My speakers are as follows, my mains are 4 ohm at 85db, my center is 4 ohm at 90db. My rears are Paradigm dipoles only used for HT. My current Denon AVR-1800 seems to work fine, but the speakers just don't sound like they should (but sound ok). MB Quart assured me that my speakers are not difficult to load and any A?V receiver that had 100 wpc or more would work great.