Opinions on a good HT/Music AVR


Hi Everyone,

Been looking at my finances and I may have to rethink some ideas. I am looking for what y’all would recommend as good HT/music AVR. Right now I have Von schweikert l/r and center with dipole rears. The l/r are the bookshelf type. I am planning on Vr-33’s in the future. I have a Nakamichi avr that I have had for years, but am looking to upgrade. Will replace my dvd with the oppo 95 soon. I like a clean and simple op system and don’t really need 7.1 or 9.1 as I will not ever have that many, but I know alot of avr’s this is standard. I am willing to spend up to $3k. I have a large room so a little power would be good. Look forward to your input.

Joe in Mobile
magsterone
I have owned a couple of NAD's the I have many problems with, they were terrible.

I have seen and heard the Emotive stuff recently, and thought you were getting what you paid for.

I would suggest that with your setup and your excellent speakers you buy a used Parasound Halo C2 and try to find a Parasound 2205a amp. Since you don't need 7.1, I would just go analog from your disc player to the PrePro, and since you don't have long runs, just use HDMI cables from your gear to your TV. You will still get all of the newer surround modes from your disc player through the analog connetions, and you will get a great sounding piece of gear, and the power you need to make your speakers shine.
For $3G, do not buy a new AVR Receiver of any brand that will be worth about $300 in 3 years. You are just throwing away money. Value drop of AVR is 60% 1 year, 75% 2 years, 90% three years.

Get a Krell Pre/Pro and a 5-channel krell amp for $3G, used of course. Musicwise it will best any AVR that I have heard. If you are not crazy about Krell, then pick another brand that makes real audio equipment. Parasound (as mentioned above), Cary, and the list can go on.

Personally, I would avoid Arcam, NAD and Rotel as I have found they deliver about the same as a Dennon AVR but at a higher price. But that is just my experience, use your ears and visit some of the many HT shops around.
If you have that much to spend, buy a mid line current receiver & grab a 5 channel amp. My issue with receivers are the internal amps....they DONT handle independence correctly IMO. Just do a A/B comparison & see what I mean.
You can get something like a Onkyo 9.9 for about $750-$950. Then add on a nice 5 channel amp. Anthem, Emotiva XPA 5, Rotel, B&K, and many more are models are very affordable.

I very much like the XPA 5. Its only $899 brand new. It was a huge improvement from using my Onkyo NR906's internal amp.