Suggestion on beefy "yesteryear" receivers to run it as a multichannel amplifier

I have the 507 but have not put it through its paces like I would like to.Too much gear in the way and not enough room at the moment.Not a whole lot in the way of reviews on this unit so I thought I would ask.Thanks.
No problem. As you already know there were some Totl receivers from 01-09 that could compete easily with Seperates, however it was and still to a degree taboo amongst audiophiles to say that. I learned years ago from owning receivers and Seperates that it really doesn't matter which one it is as long as it's made well and sounds good to your ears, because some Seperates I've owned didn't agree to my ears and some receivers did agree. Your 507 is very good and I would rank it high as one of the best Uber receivers ever made.

BTW that scroe from the other day I was talking to you about, I'm doing some serious listening before I start a thread on it, but so far it is an absolute amazing piece of equipment. I'm looking at Friday or Saturday to post up about it.

Audiofreak71
 
No problem. As you already know there were some Totl receivers from 01-09 that could compete easily with Seperates, however it was and still to a degree taboo amongst audiophiles to say that. I learned years ago from owning receivers and Seperates that it really doesn't matter which one it is as long as it's made well and sounds good to your ears, because some Seperates I've owned didn't agree to my ears and some receivers did agree. Your 507 is very good and I would rank it high as one of the best Uber receivers ever made.

BTW that scroe from the other day I was talking to you about, I'm doing some serious listening before I start a thread on it, but so far it is an absolute amazing piece of equipment. I'm looking at Friday or Saturday to post up about it.

Audiofreak71
Thanks,After ten years of numerous 70s receivers I'm still in a learning phase with these type of AVs and interest is at an all time high.Therefore I've been trying to get as much info as I can on these as I believe this is where I get off the audio merry go round.Looking forward to the rxz1 post as there are never any uber receiver threads around these parts.:banana:
 
I've owned many, and still own a few. Yamaha rx-z7, very similar the the z9, just down a little bit on power. Onkyo tx-sr606, these can be had for dirt cheap, like $100 or less because of their reputation of HDMI failure (the fix is simple, replacing 5 caps with higher temp ratings). See link where the onkyo was vastly underrated https://www.soundandvision.com/content/onkyo-tx-sr606-av-receiver-measurements

Also worth looking at are the Pioneer vsx series. I've owned quite a few of them. They're class d, so they run cool, even when driving all channels. They also state their all channels driven specs, so at first glance they seem less powerful than comparable units. I currently own a vsx-40, and a vsx-1023k until recently.
 
Yamaha has always had the most hokey sound effects if pushed to far. Used in moderation they are pretty cool. For 90% of the time when I'm just listening to music in the multi channel modes I turn off the rear and side speakers. More traditional movies I turn the effects channels down a bit, too. I think the producers and directors carry things to far most of the time. Now if we were watching movies in the round then I could see emphasizing the effect channels.
 
Yamaha has always had the most hokey sound effects if pushed to far. Used in moderation they are pretty cool. For 90% of the time when I'm just listening to music in the multi channel modes I turn off the rear and side speakers. More traditional movies I turn the effects channels down a bit, too. I think the producers and directors carry things to far most of the time. Now if we were watching movies in the round then I could see emphasizing the effect channels.
Of all the Yamaha receivers I've used (which is 6 now) I have used those dsp modes for about 5 min. What impresses me about Yamaha's (up to 08) is there amps and there accurate sound, my RXZ9 killed my Krell 300i in sound quality imo and had equal guts when driving my speakers. I'm now experimenting with an RXZ-1 that has the same sound signature as the Z9 not quite the grunt the Z9 had but not far off at all. So I agree those dsp modes are just to draw in newbies however yamaha backs it up with solid amps and DACs for when there tired of it they can enjoy good pure sound whether from 2ch Listening or multichannel.

Audiofreak71
 
I do all of my music listening in 2 ch mode but I do find the later Yamaha DSP music modes can give excellent results but you need to turn down the effect levels and possibly also the room size. As a subtle enhancement they can sound surprisingly realistic and natural. I have heard quite an improvement in Yamaha's processing ever since my days of selling the original DSP-1. One of my collegues at the time was a very knowledgeable and experienced salesman and music lover. I think he correctly assed one of the problems with the Yamaha factory pre sets. Yamaha did a fantastic job of travelling around the world and recording the actual sonic signature of many fine venues. The problem is that they probably did the measurements in empty halls as opposed to ones filled with (sound absorbing) audiences. As a result all of the setting are too "live". Made sense to me at the time.
 
I do all of my music listening in 2 ch mode but I do find the later Yamaha DSP music modes can give excellent results but you need to turn down the effect levels and possibly also the room size. As a subtle enhancement they can sound surprisingly realistic and natural. I have heard quite an improvement in Yamaha's processing ever since my days of selling the original DSP-1. One of my collegues at the time was a very knowledgeable and experienced salesman and music lover. I think he correctly assed one of the problems with the Yamaha factory pre sets. Yamaha did a fantastic job of travelling around the world and recording the actual sonic signature of many fine venues. The problem is that they probably did the measurements in empty halls as opposed to ones filled with (sound absorbing) audiences. As a result all of the setting are too "live". Made sense to me at the time.
That's a good point and your probably right about that. I use multichannel in from my yamaha rxz 1 to my oppo udp 203 and it works perfectly for me and sounds extremely good to me, been using it that way for years. I have used a new receiver and used hdmi to let the receiver do the processing and did a side by side testing of hdmi vs the RCA's and to my ears the RCA's had a way better sound. I'm not trying to start a debate on which or what is better because it's all subjective, just to my ears tge RCA's are a much better sound. 2ch is absolutely stunning with these Totl receivers, I was very surprised at how good they can be, on par with Seperates I have owned (Krell, B&K Parasound and a few more). Alot of people think because it's a receiver it's impossible to sound good or take serious listening in 2ch when actually these Totl receivers are very capable and also can be had at a very affordable price, however there starting to go up in price so get them while there cheap.

Audiofreak71
 
I can think of a few but there more like in the $400-600 range and I've owned them all. I'm currently running an Onkyo TX-nr1000 and it's not only great for Home Theater but it's amplifiers are so good it's great for 2ch listening as well some others. B&K 305/307-505/507. Pioneer elite vsx 47-49. Yamaha rxz1 rxv1. There's plenty more but those have very robust amplifier sections and imo sound very good.

Audiofreak71
How does that Onkyo do for multichannel audio listening? I'm still hanging onto my quad receiver because it's never been beaten by a 5.1 home theater receiver... but one of these days my quad is gonna kick the bucket. I've had a couple different Yamaha's, Sonys, and Sherwoods and sent everyone of them back because they could not equal the sound quallity my vintage quad unit produces.
 
How does that Onkyo do for multichannel audio listening? I'm still hanging onto my quad receiver because it's never been beaten by a 5.1 home theater receiver... but one of these days my quad is gonna kick the bucket. I've had a couple different Yamaha's, Sonys, and Sherwoods and sent everyone of them back because they could not equal the sound quallity my vintage quad unit produces.
It is one of the best amps I have owned, be it Seperates Integrated or Receivers, it bested my Krell 300i in sound quality and power. How does it sound? In a word, Stunning, that was the first thing that came to mind when I first heard it in disbelief. It is the first time I had owned an Onkyo and im glad I was able to get the Uber Totl to hear what those engineers could do with a cost no object receiver and I am pleasantly suprised. Headroom for days, dynamics that start and stop on a dime, no muss no fuss just good music and movies coming from those amps. I might be a fool for doing this but I'm letting the Onkyo TX-nr1000 go, I have it listed in barter town if anyone is interested in one of the last great ones. Btw if you have read this far the Uber receivers (onkyo TX-nr1000) being one of them may be labeled receivers because they have a tuner, but they are truly much more than that and most can compete with good Seperates, it's just that to alot saying your running a receiver for 2ch or multichannel listening is taboo so they turn there backs, however those that have discovered these receivers know there secrets and are holding on to the secret and enjoying great music. Hope this answered your question.

Audiofreak71
 
I’m interested, but tough for me to get to Queens. Maybe we could meet in Manhattan somewhere? I’ll PM you!
 
I'd add Harman Kardon to that list. Currently using an AVR80 mkii for center and surrounds with a Marantz SR 5007 powering the left and right fronts . The AVR 7000 is also a good candidate. I also have an NAD T744 which I inherited that I haven't found a use for because I still need another HDMI AV receiver with multichannel preamp outs.

You could also look for a stereo receiver with a preamp out/power amp in jacks. NAD, HK are good candidates or sometimes you can pick up a decent budget power amp like the Onkyo M-501 in that price range.

What may actually be the most difficult part is that multichannel outs don't appear on AV receivers until you get to the $1000 range.

Stay away from USED Harman Kardon multichannel receivers.

I had an HK AVR7300 - it was the top of the line at the time. 125w/ch x7 - great when it worked but mine died. Local shop could not fix it - Emma called Hk customer service and raised cane on the phone - THEY agreed to work it over, so we paid $$ to ship that heavy receiver to HK in CA - they fixed it for me! But 6 months or so later it died again - I did not argue with HK corporate that time, I just decided it was dead for good.

Harman Kardon HT Receivers - what a piece of TRASH!! Buy another brand instead!


So - I bought a USED Integra DTC 9.8 PreAmp/Processor 10 years ago and use B&K external amps to run everything in my HT system. Still sounds great/works great!
 
Stay away from USED Harman Kardon multichannel receivers.

I had an HK AVR7300 - it was the top of the line at the time. 125w/ch x7 - great when it worked but mine died. Local shop could not fix it - Emma called Hk customer service and raised cane on the phone - THEY agreed to work it over, so we paid $$ to ship that heavy receiver to HK in CA - they fixed it for me! But 6 months or so later it died again - I did not argue with HK corporate that time, I just decided it was dead for good.

Harman Kardon HT Receivers - what a piece of TRASH!! Buy another brand instead!


So - I bought a USED Integra DTC 9.8 PreAmp/Processor 10 years ago and use B&K external amps to run everything in my HT system. Still sounds great/works great!

I suspect you're like a lot of people who get soured on a brand based on one bad experience. A lot of people have had bad experiences with HK, but primarily after HDMI came along and design switched over to China from Northridge.

A lot of people have also had bad experiences with HDMI Onkyo/Integra AV Receivers and processors to the degree that Onkyo actually offered a free fix although AFAICT your model was not one of the problem children.

I have the AVR320, AVR80 mkii and AVR20 and used them in systems without issue although the 80 and 20 have only been used through the Main in jacks as power amps.
 
I suspect you're like a lot of people who get soured on a brand based on one bad experience. A lot of people have had bad experiences with HK, but primarily after HDMI came along and design switched over to China from Northridge.

A lot of people have also had bad experiences with HDMI Onkyo/Integra AV Receivers and processors to the degree that Onkyo actually offered a free fix although AFAICT your model was not one of the problem children.

I have the AVR320, AVR80 mkii and AVR20 and used them in systems without issue although the 80 and 20 have only been used through the Main in jacks as power amps.

Nope -I'm not soured on HK - just the newer AVR crap.
My AVR7300 had a faulty VLSI chip the first time - all the brains on a single large chip that took out everything.

Previous to the AVR-7300, I had a bunch of previous lower power HK AVRs that worked fine - but I mostly used them as control centers with external amps.
I have an HK Citation 22 Poweramp bridged to mono that runs an 18 in JBL speaker (a pro SUB)- 10+ years on, I love it to bits.
Got an old 2ch HK receiver in my office that works great, and an older HK preamp that works great.

But of course, that's the older GOOD Harman Kardon gear ...
 
Nope -I'm not soured on HK - just the newer AVR crap.
My AVR7300 had a faulty VLSI chip the first time - all the brains on a single large chip that took out everything.

Previous to the AVR-7300, I had a bunch of previous lower power HK AVRs that worked fine - but I mostly used them as control centers with external amps.
I have an HK Citation 22 Poweramp bridged to mono that runs an 18 in JBL speaker (a pro SUB)- 10+ years on, I love it to bits.
Got an old 2ch HK receiver in my office that works great, and an older HK preamp that works great.

But of course, that's the older GOOD Harman Kardon gear ...

We don't really disagree that much which is that HK has trashed their rep in recent years although I think their failure rate increased with the intro of HDMI, as I suspect did everybody else's though to a lesser extent. Onkyo is also a good example with a failure rate greater that Harman's but have made attempts to recover their reputation.

I would point out that you might be able find examples of HK's and others at a good price that could be used as power amps even though the AV processor is shot.
 
We don't really disagree that much which is that HK has trashed their rep in recent years although I think their failure rate increased with the intro of HDMI, as I suspect did everybody else's though to a lesser extent. Onkyo is also a good example with a failure rate greater that Harman's but have made attempts to recover their reputation.

I would point out that you might be able find examples of HK's and others at a good price that could be used as power amps even though the AV processor is shot.

Without a hefty reprogramming or rewiring of the dead VLSI chip in my AVR7300,
the lovely 7 channels of 125w each cannot be used in standalone mode.
The waste of that upset me as much as the chip failure did
 
Back
Top Bottom