Harleyujoe

I AM GOING TO UPDATE MY OLD PIONEER VSX24TX RECEIVER AND REALLY BEEN THINKING OF ONKYO TX SR 805 RECEIVER AND OR DENON AVR 2080.
IS THERE GOING TO BE THAT MUCH MORE MY EARS WILL HEAR FROM THESE MACHINES.
I GUESS YOU JUST HEAR SO MUCH ON SPECS OF ALL THESE MACHINES AND WONDER .
I REALLY DO NOT CARE MUCH ABOUT FM OR SIRUS OR ANY RADIO ..
I JUST WANT IT FOR DVD AND BLU RAY PLAYING.
i WOULD JUST LIKE TO HEAR FROM OTHERS WHO HAVE GONE THROUGH THIS CHANGE
MAYBE TO GIVE ME SOME THOUGHT ON MY NEXT PURCHASE ON A RECEIVER..
tHANKS JOE

Lotus

There are many Receivers available for over $1000 that sonically blow away the competition. The best receivers I've ever heard are from Arcam. I'm not sure if they have a HDMI 1.3 version out yet. They definately have HDMI 1.2 receivers. Some magazines have even stated that the Arcam Receivers sound as good as some separates.

If I was hunting for a Receiver if I wanted Bells & Whistles I'd look at Denon.

If I want the best sound possible I look at Arcam and NAD. I know NAD has HDMI 1.3 units.

Find a local dealer for one of them and take some of your favorite CDs. I bet you'll be surprised at the difference between them and your Pioneer.

mark47

I just went through that process last week. Looked at the Denon, Pioneer, Onkyo, Harman Kardon and decided that the Yamaha Rx 3800 was for me. I spent a ton of hours researching and also found out for the most part a receiver from each manufacturer has a matching receiver from another manufacturer. For instance the yamaha 3800 matches up pretty closely to the Denon 3808, which matches up pretty closely to the Onkyo SR875 etc.

Of course they don't match up exactly but the differences were so minor that there was no compelling reason to choose one over the other.

I'd pick a price point that was comfortable and then go to the store that you like the best and buy the brand that they are selling. Service is important if needed.

Lotus

What about Sound?

They don't all sound the same. Even though they're all manufactured for them by Etronics they don't match in many ways at all. They use different DACs, they used different power supplies, etc. The build quality might not even be the same because they choose different frame material. All even though Etronics manufactures most of the Receivers made.

A receiver I just saw that might be the best value is the new Sherwood Newcastle models which is Etronics own brand. So the receivers are a better deal because of their manufacturing.

For me and your opinion may difer these are the top sounding Receivers:

1. Arcam
2. Sunfire
3. NAD
4. Sherwood Newcastle & Outlaw Audio
5. Denon
6. Harmon Kardon & Pioneer
7. Onkyo & Yamaha
8. JVC
9. Sony
10. Panasonic

Pretty much you can group them too. Arcam and Sunfire are in a league by themselves. NAD, Sherwood Newcastle, Outlaw Audio, and the high end Denons their own, and low end Denons and the rest in the low end group.

The cool thing about receivers is that the low end group is full of capabilities if not audiophile sound quality. The other cool thing is that low end gear sounds a heck of a lot better than it used to just 10 years ago.

jpcos

I recently moved from a low-end Pioneer VSX-D812 to a Yamaha RX-V1800 and find the difference to be significant. Previously, when all 6 channels were pumping, the AVR would just "shrink" in to a muddy sounding mess. The new unit strongly presents all channels with muscle to spare. Also, having HDMI 1.3 and the decoders allows for decoding of the advanced audio codecs of BD and HD DVD. I also can now listen to DVD-A and SACD over HDMI, which was lacking on my previous receiver.

IMO, it was definitely worth the $$.

kennyt

I think this is the biggest trend in audio today. The lower end is catching up to the high end, narrowing the gap every year. No, I'm not going to sell my reference rig for a receiver any time soon, or likely ever, but it think a good receiver is less of a compromise than it used to be.

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