2. home-theater
  3. 1304638548

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
sthomas12321
408 posts
 
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.
magsterone OP
64 posts
 
Ok, What other separates would y’all suggest?

Joe in Mobile
sthomas12321
408 posts
 
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.
avgoround
287 posts
 
Nonsense. I would try the Harmon Kardon AVR 354. Supprisingly good sounding, and can be had for $250 if you look around. Has all latest, minus 3d (who cares) capable.

As for the Nad? ("I have owned a couple of NAD's the I have many problems with, they were terrible"???)

I'm sure I've heard this before?... Oh yeah, for last 15 years...
ckoffend
684 posts
 
If you really want to maximize stereo performance, buy a used $250 AVR receiver but get a 2 channel stereo amp and a 2-channel preamp ($2500 combined) with HT pass through. I can tell you from experience, there isn't a 5+ channel amp that can compare with a two channel amp for the same price (or even less for the 2-channel amp).

This is by far and away the best way to go. There isn't an AVR Receiver that will even come close to sound performance for music taking this route.
More to discover