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  1. #1
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    AVR Receivers, sooooo many to choose from...

    I have read soooo many articles on AVR receivers, no choice with the price of gas now a days. Marantz SR 8500, SR 14 - 16 - 18, SR8001...not sure what the real difference is between them besides watts per channel. I am hoping someone can explain - PLEASE -
    Noticed another article about Arcam, Rotel, Anthem, NAD (with its problems), Integra, and Yamaha (RX-V2700) as good receivers.

    Not a Denon fan and avoiding Pioneer, but open.

    Bottom line: I want to buy a high quality / high current receiver, for movies and stereo sound. Price range 500 - 1500 whether new or used/Audiogon. Speakers (hopefully) will be Paradigm Studio 100s. Hard to find Rotel, Arcam, Anthem, NAD to touch and listen too.

    Looking for recommendations before spending $$$

  2. #2
    Loving This kexodusc's Avatar
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    Yeah, there's lots out there.
    The good news - they're all pretty good! Throw in Harman Kardon and Onkyo to the mix. For the bucks, there's not "too much" that separates them at any given price point.
    At the higher end of your range, brands like Arcam, NAD, and Rotel include higher grade components from their amp/pre-amp product lines. You get a bit more power, a bit better sound quality, but usually a few less features. This ultimately keeps me buying the feature heavy $800-$1000 ballpark (list, but I never pay list) and supplementing power with external amps (I have several).
    In my experience, when kept in the digital domain, you're hard pressed to hear the sound quality differences between, say, a mid-level Yamaha, Denon, HK, Marantz, etc product and Arcam or Rotel's $1300 - $1500 receivers. Though they former lag behind a bit for analog sources. By themselves they have plenty of power these days unless you're using some very demanding speakers or really like your movies to be loud. In this case, a few good, used inexpensive amps from audiogon or wherever can supplement the power, improve the sound quality, and still run you less than an Arcam receiver.

    By the way, of all the receivers I've listened to under $3000, Arcam easily stands out as being the best sounding to me, with Rotel a close second. Very nice products from those two. "Separates in a box" as it were. When I bought a new receiver last year I was aweful tempted, just couldn't justify the extra $700 or so for what I felt were incremental improvements over plan B. If you don't have room for 2 or 3 power amps in your rack, that might be the best route for you though.

    You should decide what your minimum needs are (ie: HDMI, 7 or 5 speaker channels, practical power requirements - a true 70 watts X 5 or 7 can be plenty, always nice to have more). Features like auto-setup with parametric EQ are a MUST now, IMO. This makes quite an improvement in sound quality. You probably want pre-outs to have the option of adding power amps later if so desired. Then look at connections and processing, though most have plenty of both these days. After figuring out all the features you want, the price sort of takes care of itself as you narrow it down to a few models that fall within your budget. You'll get an idea real quick of how much you'll be looking at, if it's too much or too little, re-evaluate.
    Good luck.

  3. #3
    Audiophile Wireworm5's Avatar
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    The Studio 100's are not an easy to drive speaker. A Yamaha AV/receiver can't drive them adequately. You have to go to something like a Rotel. This leads to the problem of multi-channel pre-amp. You can get a AV/receiver with pre-outs and buy a power amp for the 100's or the more expensive route. A multi-channel pre-amp and power amps. I think Rotel makes a multi-channel combo that would probably be the cheapest route.
    In any case you will need to re-think your budget if you want to go with the 100's. I think the 100's are an excellant speaker provided you have the amp to power them.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
    Yeah, there's lots out there.
    The good news - they're all pretty good! Throw in Harman Kardon and Onkyo to the mix. For the bucks, there's not "too much" that separates them at any given price point.
    At the higher end of your range, brands like Arcam, NAD, and Rotel include higher grade components from their amp/pre-amp product lines.
    Your right, there seem to be countless options available in HT receivers today and their all pretty decent....of course that said some will always be better than others and costs may vary quite a bit as well. I agree, I think the best place to start is to first decided what type of features are important to you: power, 3xHDMI connections, V-Upscaling, pre-outs, brand...etc.. I also think you'll find that Nad & Rotel are tops for what you've listed, as for myself I run an HK 745 as my av receiver: plenty of HC power, nice selection of inputs, great sound quality...so on and so forth. Same can be said for most comparable Marantz, Denon & Onkyo...hell I've even heard some, (not a ton but some) decent reviews of Sony's latest ES line receivers.Why have you already ruled out Pioneer?

    Like wireworm5 said, the 100's are nice speakers but their going to need clean power to produce optimal quality. All the previous disused receivers will be able to push them...to a point any way; the 100's will definitely be a challenge at higher volume for most of them though, an extra amp would be a great option.

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