HK AVR630 vs. Yamaha RX-V1500???

[kexodusc]

And driving speakers is probably the most important job a receiver has to do, right? But this doesn't matter much to the HT crowd, gizmos and DSP matters most. Dolby Digital is Dolby Digital, and DTS is DTS. As long as the DACs are comparable, the processing is comparable. Unless you plan on using outboard amps, the amplifier section of a receiver, along with the preamp section, is the most important "feature" of these devices. Your fancy gimmicks will be outdated by next year just like your computer. HT is a marketing treadmill of never-ending upgrades. If one is interested in keeping a component for a while, it better get the important stuff right. When you want to drive five to seven speakers, the power supply better be up to the task when you raise the volume control. That's all I'm saying. In the mass-produced AVR market, HK is hard to beat on this front, and most of the reviews back this up.

I'm done with this thread.

Listen, NickWH, I'm glad you like H/K...I do too...but let's compare the onboard amp sections of these 2 units to each other...Yes the H/K's got more reserve power...but unless you're driving some incredibly inefficient speakers, big deal!!! You need DOUBLE the power to produce a barely audible 3 dB difference in volume!!! The H/K doesn't have that much extra...That H/K isn't going to drive anything better than that Yammie....PERIOD!!! If one has a problem, they both will at that point...better look to adding power amps (which I did).
Your advice to purchase the H/K on the basis it's amp section is better is just wrong!!! It doesn't translate into improved performance...horribly irresponsible of you...I'll let that slide as honest ignorance on your part. Read on, and I'll hold your hand and step you through this!

I actually LISTENED to these models...THERE IS NO SUBSTANTIAL DIFFERENCE IN SOUND QUALITY...especially when it comes to the amp section in receivers below $1200 or so...They're so freakin' close it's not funny.
I'm not bashing the H/K...just the fact given the fact that they amps cancel each other out in terms of performance, you HAVE to look at the other tangible items...Yeah, the DSP gizmos, the HUGELY significant impact a Parametric EQ can have on overall sound quality (far greater than any minimal differences in these two quality amp sections) and other features stuff...IT IS AN HT receiver afterall, not a 2-channel integrated...HENCE DOLBY DIGITAL and DTS are ESSENTIAL components...the DAC's are important...but they both have that...so lets look at the VALUE ADDED components - yeah DSP's, and YPAO...sorry the H/K comes up short here!

So what are you paying for? Reliability? Again, the H/K is equal at best...the choice is becoming pretty obvious...at this point, the ease of use, looks etc, better come into play, or you had better have some substantial brand loyalty to H/K to justify that puchase.

So Nick, unless you've got some sort of substantial argument suggesting that H/K's amp section is going to translate into some real world advantage (which is impossible for you to produce), your arguments fall flat on their face...

As for reviews...yeah, I invite you to actually take a look at some, when you crank that volume dial when driving 5 or 7 speakers, H/K's are far more likely to break-down...PERIOD.

Don't take it personally!