Help a guy out? Renovating home theater system after 10 years and have a few questions.


I am going to modernize my family's TV situation.  We have a 60 inch Pioneer 1080p plasma. My speakers are Paradigm Millennia with two MIllenia 20 Trio as towers and then Millenia 30s for center and surrounds.  The subwoofer is a Paradigm, but not sure what model.  The Receiver is a Denin AVR 2807. I have not done anything with it in a decade. 

I am getting an LG 86SJ9570 because why not.  The receiver definitely need to go, and I have settled on the Yamaha Aventage for no good reason. I was looking at Onkyo, but I get the sense the Yamaha may be easier for me to figure out.  My inclination is to look for more receiver than I need but buy something maybe a few years old. Whatever it is will be a learning process.

I have figured out that the model numbers reflect the series or the date.  When the Aventage came out in 2010, it was 60, 700, 800, 1000, etc.  Then they have the 810, the 820 and so on.  So we now have the 70 series.  I suspect that if I bought a 7 year old receiver, I would be missing some things that I really want or need, but I have no idea how far back I can go safely.  I cannot find a chart of the changes by series.  An RX-A1070 is $1,199 at Amazon, and an RX-A2060 is $929.  I can get a 1040 for $550 and a 1030 for $450. But I have no idea what a good cutoff point would be.  If anyone has an idea, I would really appreciate the help.

I also would be curious if my speakers make sense.  We sit about 18 feet from the TV, and I sometimes feel like there is not enough mass to the noise if that makes sense. For some reason, it seems to me like that might be more of an issue with a bigger screen.

Thanks, I really appreciate any help. 
vasubandu
Hi willemj,

     I’m in no hurry to upgrade my Panasonic plasma, either. I believe you’re in Europe from some of your prior posts I’ve read. I’m in the states and, as you may know, there’s been more and more 4K content available and we should see some HDR content soon.
     Have you seen the LG or Sony 65" OLED hdtvs with 4K and HDR yet? I’ve seen them in person and both are extremely good with 4K and HDR recorded demo content being played.
     However, if your plasma is 1080p and you watch it from over 3ft away like I do, I don’t think either of us would discern much improvement going to 4K but I had no trouble seeing the large improvement the OLEDs have over  plasmas with HDR; they both have a wider color palette and an even more vibrant color intensity capacity than my plasma. The OLEDs also seemed to be able to get slightly brighter and run cooler than my VT 60 plasma.
     The LG and Sony 4K and HDR OLED hdtvs are the only sets that I’ve seen thus far that I consider superior to our Panasonic plasmas.
     Panasonic and Samsung stopped producing plasmas because they realized a few years ago that manufacturing 4k versions of plasma panels would cost too much and they’d need to be priced much higher than the 1080p plasmas they were then making. I would think they may be back into emissive display hdtvs in the near future.
     I’m very thankful that OLED technology was able to pick up right where plasma left off. OLED has similar independently controlled emissive pixels, almost perfect black levels, high contrast levels, extremely good motion performance and beautiful picture quality just like plasma has while also being able to economically incorporate new technology such as 4K and HDR.
     It’s comforting to know that there’s now a good replacement for our plasma sets just in case something unexpected happens to them. It’s also good to know OLED with HDR is a constant option as an upgrade to plasma that only seems destined to get more attractive as their prices continue to decrease.

Tim
Where the heck did the OP, vasubandu, go? He hasn't replied since his original post.  I think we're doing okay without him but to whose benefit?


Where the heck did the OP, vasubandu, go?

I think he/she got wise to the fact that in the case of this particular thread, certain folks simply have diarrhea of the keyboard and other dilemmas.
"I think he/she got wise to the fact that in the case of this particular thread, certain folks simply have diarrhea of the keyboard and other dilemmas."

Hi gdhal,
     You have a valid point that my posts may indicate a certain verbal case of the runs.
     When I read posts that in my opinion vary greatly from my personal experiences and knowledge,  I'm really not trying to pick a fight.  It's more that I feel an obligation to correct or balance postings that clearly run counter to what I have experienced or know to be true. 
     My main motivation is preventing readers of the thread from being misguided or misinformed by comments I consider inaccurate or at least misleading.  
     I'm not prone to allowing these types of comments, specifically your post that the picture quality provided by Samsung QLED hdtvs is somehow in the same vicinity as that provided by LG or Sony OLED hdtvs,  to just be proclaimed  as truth without being challenged.
     In an effort to be truthful and thorough in my challenging responses to these types of posts, I admittedly am a bit verbose.   I'm consciously trying to make my responses more succinct but, from the length of this response, I obviously have some work left to do.

Tim
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willemj. All your posts seem well informed and accurate. I guess I am more audio than video. I started the good video with a Proton  and finally got into High def with a 1080p  Plasma. Am now into the object based Dolby Atmos but waiting to pull the plug on new display.