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Favorite AVR's and why?

Acdcpsp

Acdcpsp

Active Member
I thought for the fun of it to start a thread about everyone's favorite audio/video receivers.

Mine would be Denon. I've always been happy with their AVR's. The one I have is AVR-791. It's a good sounding unit. Has a clear warm like tone to it. Pretty good for modern day stuff. In terms of music it's okay, but i'd rather stick with vintage receivers/amps for that area. Other than that it's great for TV, movies, and video gaming.
 
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I have a Dennon AVR-1610. I kinda hate it. It's so damn automated, It'd be rean nice to be able to switch from A to B speakers , or maybe even have a manual tone control for listening to 2 chanel for a change. Seems everything requires a video screen to adjust. I've given up trying to use it for tunes and it's strickly used for TV now. It does do a good ob of running my Paradigm C-90's though Maybe I just haven't played with it enough.
 
Denons are fine when working, but not designed to be repairable. Denon support out of warranty dicey at best. A pity as I like them when working. Part of it I understand due to all those Surface Mount Devices and proprietary chips.
 
I just replaced my old pioneer av receiver, it lasted over 6 years and was still mosly working(cd input died). I would have kept it, but really wanted to upgrade to hdmi. I went with a denon avr-591 ( I like it, but it could have a few more input options, but for a cheap avr w/hdmi its fine.

I tried out a handful of other makers entry-ish level receivers in the store (pioneer, yamaha, sony, etc.)

I agree, almost every setting is on-screen, and there is definately a learning curve. I've had mine for almost a year, and still can't figure all of it right. I'm not sure if its the receivers fault though, I use my ps3 for my bd player and you have to make your oudio settings on the playstation if you want to run multi channel or set it to dolby truhd or dts digital....I wish the denon would let you choose.....OTOH... blu-ray sound is incredible and the sound quality with the denon for ht use is great. For the money its had to beat a denon.

For music, its ok for background/mood music, but I really wouldn't use it for seriouse two channel listening.....I also prefer vintage....
 
I like h/k and Pioneer. Denon's have been complete unreliable garbage in my experience...and that kind of surprises me because I used to think Denon meant a little higher quality.
 
sleepyweasel said:
I just replaced my old pioneer av receiver, it lasted over 6 years and was still mosly working(cd input died). I would have kept it, but really wanted to upgrade to hdmi. I went with a denon avr-591 ( I like it, but it could have a few more input options, but for a cheap avr w/hdmi its fine.

I tried out a handful of other makers entry-ish level receivers in the store (pioneer, yamaha, sony, etc.)

I agree, almost every setting is on-screen, and there is definately a learning curve. I've had mine for almost a year, and still can't figure all of it right. I'm not sure if its the receivers fault though, I use my ps3 for my bd player and you have to make your oudio settings on the playstation if you want to run multi channel or set it to dolby truhd or dts digital....I wish the denon would let you choose.....OTOH... blu-ray sound is incredible and the sound quality with the denon for ht use is great. For the money its had to beat a denon.

For music, its ok for background/mood music, but I really wouldn't use it for seriouse two channel listening.....I also prefer vintage....
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I don't know a thing about today's audio-video-type receivers since I really-don't do the surround thing, but I've always wondered how my old Pioneer VSX-5300 stacked up against today's stuff. Back in 1988 when I bought it, I didn't know a thing about gear except that my brother had recently-bought the same model and really-loved it (He was borrowing my Soundtech PA speakers and was using them with the Pioneer - Pretty-impressive-sounding setup back in the day when he was having parties every weekend at the house he had just bought). We both still have our Pioneers although mine needs a new power-switch after it took a tumble when a shelf collapsed. I'm strictly a 2-channel listener nowadays.

By the way, I'm surprised to hear that about Denon. I was always under the impression that they were sort of 'upper-middle-class'. I guess they must have gotten bought out by some big audio-super-conglomerate who closed the original factories and now merely pimps out the name to their cheapo, Chinese-made stuff (My old Pioneer avr was made in Japan, and back then I would laughed at the thought of buying a Chinese-made one, and yet it's the norm these days...).
 
sleepyweasel said:
I agree, almost every setting is on-screen, and there is definately a learning curve. I've had mine for almost a year, and still can't figure all of it right. I'm not sure if its the receivers fault though, I use my ps3 for my bd player and you have to make your oudio settings on the playstation if you want to run multi channel or set it to dolby truhd or dts digital....I wish the denon would let you choose.....OTOH... blu-ray sound is incredible and the sound quality with the denon for ht use is great. For the money its had to beat a denon.
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I don't have a PS3 but I can't imagine the output configuration is too much different than most other players. In general, there are two main types of output:

LPCM (multichannel PCM) - the player does all the Dolby Digital or DTS decoding and the receiver just converts digital to analog.

Bitstream - the player sends a raw coded digital stream and the receiver does both the decoding and the digital to analog conversion.

IMO, bitstream is usually the preferred setting.

As far as selecting Dolby Digital or DTS, you don't ever get to select that in a receiver or processor (unless you're applying a matrix mode like DPLIIx or DTS Neo.). When the player is set to bitstream, the receiver/ processor applies the correct decoder based on what it sees in the digital information. If you have LPCM output set on the player then you don't even see the receiver/processor indicate the format (other than maybe multichannel) because the sound is already decoded; the receiver/processor doesn't know anything about it, other than 5/6/7 channels of PCM coming in.

The only time you get to pick which soundtrack you want (Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD-Master, etc.) is when there are multiple audio tracks on the disk and you select it from the disk's setup or language menu.
 
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So far my favorite cheap one is a JVC I found on the side of the road. Everything worked but the CD input. Sounded good and it had discreet amps for every channel and everything. It runs the livingroom systme and does the job well.

When I actually set up a serious H/T though I will be using an AVP and sepperate amps. :yes:
 
Oh...yeah, the previous Anthem AVM 20v2 processor I had/have was a killer machine. However, no HDMI nor any sort of room correction so eventually after ~6 years of using it I got a Marantz AV7005. It's a nice machine too but not the build quality of the Anthem. The Anthem was nearly 3x MSRP however so that's not necessarily unexpected. The AV7005 is a nice-sounding unit though and has all the newer bells and whistles.
 
For During the Day listening, my Vintage Harman Kardon AVR 25 on 2 CH. sounds Quite Good....Plus, the Remote comes in handy when the Phone Rings...
 
I've only had two AVR's. The first was a NAD T-762 that I bought in 2000-2001. It is very nice and served me well for a number of years. It has the NAD sound which I like. It did have an annoying flaw. In some circumstances, you miss the first half second of audio while it figures out the source.

I replaced it with an Onkyo TX-NR808. I was after HDMI, 7.1, pre-outs and Audyssey. Even though my dedicated home theater is pretty flat, Audyssey Multi-EQ really makes a difference. I was planning on buying external amps, but the Onkyo sounds great even when cranked.
 
Onkyo and yamaha seem to be great av gear in my opinion, also denon has proved to be very respectable. Stout power and relative ease of operation.
 
I've got use to how Denon's work. I had a Yamaha and a Sony before it and when I brought the Denon home it made a difference. I had an HK 354. It had to many quality issues. HDMI's quit and front buttons stopped responding. Sound was okay. I want to try Pioneer Elite.
 
Another vote for Denon here. I've had three or four and only had one problem; the AVR 3300 had a noisy cooling fan. My first (an AVR 2700, Denon's first all digital AVR) is still working as new. It's about to be handed down again and will no doubt make the new owner happy. What I like most about Denon is the very intuitive on-screen control settings. It's clear and easy to understand. I've set up many systems for friends and family including Pioneer, Sony, Yamaha, but the absolute worst as far as settings go is Sherwood-Newcastle. Even after several years of being an A/V enthusiast it took me hours to figure out that manual. Just horrible.
 
I had an Yamaha and it was the worst setting up wise. It had settings hidden in options and so on, but it was a power house. I got a pair of Infinitys on fire with it.
 
I just want to say why I have the opinion about Denon AVR receivers that I do, because I hate it when someone says something is junk, but never says why.

I currently have 4 AVR receivers, a h/k AVR-20 II, h/k AVR 330, Denon AVR-2802 and a Pioneer VSX-1020K.

Between my brother and I, we have 3 Denon AVR receivers and all three have died for some reason or another so from a reliability stand point Denon is batting .000.

My 2802 was only being used as a preamp and DAC, it worked fine until one day I turned it on and no sound, nothing. It powers up, but just went silent, no output from the pre-outs, internal amps, nothing, just overnight for no reason. It's like something is plugged into the headphone jack, but of course nothing is. It's not worth fixing.

My brothers first one, I can't remember the model number, but it's from probably 2006 or so, not the bottom nor the top of the line model, it just stopped outputting sound as well. It was still under warranty and got sent back, where it stayed at an authorized repair center for several months because that one had a headphone jack issue, and they were on some national backorder. Well, he needed music, so while it was sitting at the repair center, he bought another one, probably the next years model, or maybe 2 years newer model. Well that one worked for about 9 months, and then it started having thermal issues, over heating and shutting down for no reason.

That one also got sent back, but by that time he had got the first one back from repair. Now that one has continued to work since, and now the second one after being repaired just sits in a box, but I have no faith in them any more at this point.

Also when I purchased my Pioneer VSX-1020-K early this year which I use strictly for HT, I compared it to a similar priced Denon (around $550) and was shocked at how little connectivity it had on the rear panel compared to the Pioneer, that plus their reliability issues took them off the list permanently. Now older Denon gear is a different story, but the new stuff sucks in my opinion.
 
How is the Pioneer in terms of real world power and sound? I seen them on paper I don't like how the rate their amps with 1khz.

Like I have mentioned before I do like Denon and I have a lot of luck with I ran 4 ohm car speakers on a AVR-789 for two and had no issues, but I would to try something new.

Pioneers have caught my eye for a few years now.
 
Acdcpsp said:
How is the Pioneer in terms of real world power and sound? I seen them on paper I don't like how the rate their amps with 1khz.

Like I have mentioned before I do like Denon and I have a lot of luck with I ran 4 ohm car speakers on a AVR-789 for two and had no issues, but I would to try something new.

Pioneers have caught my eye for a few years now.
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The Pioneer is mainly used for 5.1 HT, it drives Sapphire Audio ST3 mains (a very tall, deep, but narrow tower with two side firing 8" woofers, and a 5.25" front firing MTM arrangement with decent sensitivity, around 89-90db) matching center and surrounds and a BIC F-12 powered sub, and with movies it is more than loud enough. I was watching Super 8 the other day and on some scenes it was stupid loud.

With 2 channel music, it gets pretty loud too, I've never heard it run out of power. Pioneer has it's own room correction software and it works great. I did tweak it some after it ran, but it sounds much better than without it. It has built in i-pod connections, plenty of HDMI and analog inputs. It only has a sub pre-out and you have to step up to the next model to get full pre-outs, but its plenty powerful enough for my particular HT setup. All in all, I think Pioneer is making some of the best AVR receivers for the money.
 
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