Pioneer Elite VSX-53TXi or Denon 4802R

[Mikita2]

I'm having trouble desiding which receiver to chose. Both have good and bad things about them. My speakers are: front B&W CDM1, Center B&W 600 IFS, Rear suround JBL don't know modle #, and a Jenson sub. What receiver would be the best choise?

[recoveryone]

I'm a big Pioneer fan, so I would say off hand go with the 53, but you are the one making the purchase. All I can say is the Elite line can hold its own with any other brand out there. The 53 is new to me, but I seen it a lot lately on ebay and other site for sale at a great price.

[gorilla196635]

I like the Denon, fell in love with it just reading the specs. For that kind of dinaro you should also consider the Yamaha RX-Z9 newest from them. I think either the Denon or the Yamaha or both come with a touch screen remote as well.
When I compared my current receiver Yamaha RXV995, (Not nearly has hi end as the models you are looking into), I compared it to the Denon and Pioneer Elite of equal price and features. The Denon was better musically and the Yamaha was better for movies.
All you can do is go to the dealer with your favorite music and movies and do an A/B comparison. Make sure you take the time to set them up equally for volume and theater modes as well as the speakers.

Have fun. I think I will do that just to enjoy all of these since they are out of the budget for now.

[Geoffcin]

If it's HT your going to use the receiver for most I would recommend the Pioneer without hesitation. I am using a Pioneer receiver for my HT setup, and it's works beautifully, and sounds good too. It won't drive my Maggies, but with my HT speakers it works great.

[contractK]

Nice speakers I was looking at those but opted for a DefTech set up for HT, B&W are nice for music. I using the Elite 45 and find it great for HT slightly bright though, with B&W hard to say.

[recoveryone]

Nice speakers I was looking at those but opted for a DefTech set up for HT, B&W are nice for music. I using the Elite 45 and find it great for HT slightly bright though, with B&W hard to say.

I have the older 26TX and bright is last thing I get, more of a warm sound to me. But I would say its more of a speaker setup/sound that gives you a bright/warm sound. No matter, I wish I could get a 45,47 or the 49 ( My wife would kill me). Her motto "if it ain't broke no need to upgrade it."

[gorilla196635]

I have the older 26TX and bright is last thing I get, more of a warm sound to me. But I would say its more of a speaker setup/sound that gives you a bright/warm sound. No matter, I wish I could get a 45,47 or the 49 ( My wife would kill me). Her motto "if it ain't broke no need to upgrade it."

I hear that I just upgraded to the Mits RPTV 65" 511 and will be getting the Pioneer DV563A for Xmas... It is sitting in the beroom and I can't even try it to see if it works. Bummmmmmer

I am running the Yamaha RXV995 receiver ancestor to the RXV1400 and the speakers are the Polk RT16's the do a great job all around. No edgy tweeter as many have reported even S&V mag in their review.

[Andante]

It won't drive my Maggies.

Well, I am planning a Maggie souroung system. Why won't the Pioneer work and what will work?

Thanks

[gorilla196635]

I dont know much about the maggies but I am assuming they need a lot of power to drive them. Look for a speakers db rating, that will normally tell you how much power is needed to drive a speaker. The lower the db # the more power that is needed to drive them. Say anything under 88 to 90 db needs more power you will need. Also the speakers impedance makes a difference.

[Andante]

Expect about 85dB sensitivity and 4 ohms with magnepans.

[gorilla196635]

Sounds low.. The ohms may make a difference, have you ever seen an amp that says the power rating is 200 WPC for 8 ohms speakers and 400 WPC for 4 ohms speakers (the 400 was a guess but you get the idea). I am not sure if the lower ohms requires more power or not but it sounds like it. I think most speakers are 8 ohms.... Car audio usually go to 4 ohms or even 2 ohms.... I did notice that there are some new Polk speakers on their website www.polkaudio.com that are listed at 4 ohms.

[Tarheel_]

for that kind of money, you should also consider separates. Take a look at anthem for a starter. Just keep all options open, especially investing that much cash.

[hellrocket]

Sounds low.. The ohms may make a difference, have you ever seen an amp that says the power rating is 200 WPC for 8 ohms speakers and 400 WPC for 4 ohms speakers (the 400 was a guess but you get the idea). I am not sure if the lower ohms requires more power or not but it sounds like it. I think most speakers are 8 ohms.... Car audio usually go to 4 ohms or even 2 ohms.... I did notice that there are some new Polk speakers on their website www.polkaudio.com that are listed at 4 ohms.

just for the record, power amplifiers don't "put out" any power at all. The power is "pulled" out of the amp by going through some resistance (thats the easiest way to think of it). An amp that is rated at 200 watts at 8 ohms will do exactly that. If the load is cut in half ( 4 ohms) the amp will produce twice as much power (400 watts). A 2 ohm load will draw 800 watts...etc etc etc. As the ohm load decreases on an amp, it must work much harder to attempt to produce the wattage. This causes distortion and heat. That's why it's bad to run an amp at an ohm load lower than what's it's designed for. Most car audio products use a 4 ohm rating scale. Competition amps exist that are stable to 1/4 of an ohm for subwoofer applications. this is unheard of in home audio. A monoblock amp rated at 100 X 1 at 4 ohms will produce 1600 watts on this load. The amp needs to be nearly bulletproof to drive this load as it is almost a dead short (zero resistance, trying to produce infinite power). Most amps will either burn up or fault out (preferably the latter).

Back to the question at hand....I recently purchased an 4802r reciever and I think it's great. I upgraded from a Denon 3805 (or some 3800 number). I assumed the improvement would be minimal. To disprove this....my girlfriend even noticed a distinct and obvious improvement in the first 30 seconds of "Blow". She doesn't know the difference between an RCA and a fiber cable so she can be considered "untrained to pretend" that it sounds better. Also, I use mine for 99% HT. I can't complain about the pioneer, as I have no experience, but i would recommend the Denon.