Quote Originally Posted by jasmit
Thanks to all who took the time to help out a newbie. I'd really like to hear from more folks who have heard the HK with the Paradigms.

Woochifer - You said that among the receivers mentioned (Denon, HK & Yamaha) that the one which would sound different was the Yamaha. How so? I know you suggested that I spend some time with the Denon and HK and I will attempt to do that, but for now, I think I can benefit from advice/input from audio enthusiasts like yourself.
I wouldn't get too obsessive about the differences between a Denon or h/k receiver. What you really SHOULD obsess about is getting the speaker placement and the setup done correctly. A test DVD like the Sound & Vision Home Theater Setup disc, a SPL meter from Radio Shack, and some time to familiarize yourself with the various receiver functions, will make a far bigger difference than whatever difference exists between those receivers.

The room calibration function on the Yamaha goes beyond the normal decoding and amplification capabilities, which in my listenings have been very similar between comparably priced receivers. The YPAO room calibration sets up a parametric equalization filter for each of the seven channels in order to address the effect that room acoustics have on the tonal characteristics of each speaker. This type of equalization can make big changes to the tonal characteristics of the signal, and is very audible. The proper use of an equalizer is not as a glorified tone control, but as a means by which to make the tonal response as flat as possible and compensate for any variations that are caused by the room acoustics.

Read my post again -- the two biggest variables in an audio system are the speakers and the room acoustics. Differences between amps/receivers, and digital front end sources are far smaller. The YPAO partially addresses the acoustic variations between different rooms, which is why it will make a bigger difference than anything having to do with the basic decoding and amplification capabilities. Because similarly priced receivers typically have relatively small differences in the decoding capabilities and sound quality, something like the YPAO can be a difference maker and put competing models at a significant disadvantage in a same-room comparison. That's why this type of feature was just introduced by Denon and will soon appear on other new receivers as well.