Let's establish a baseline to determine credibility of upcoming statements....
The reference system that was in my home:
Pass X1
Pass X600
Muse 9 gen IV sig
Magnum Dynalab MD102
Revel Salons
Revel Subs
Aural Symphonics PCs
Discovery SCs
Discovery ICs
Target equipment stand
various tweeks (Black Diamond, DH Labs, ect...)
Other stuff I've had AudioNote, Krell, Audio Research... get the drift... I won't go on.
Now, I got where I never enjoyed the "high-end" stuff becuase I expected too much. It always "could be better". So I decided to go home theater. No critical listening, no adjusting speaker placement (ok I did, but not the entire time I owned them, just a week or so) no balancing stuff on some exotice wire or cone.
I was shocked what you could get for your money (B&K AVR 307). Matched up with some Vienna Acoustic Beethovens the sound was extremely good!
Now I have a Pioneer Elite VSX-56TXi, DV-59AVi, PRO530HDi, Def Tech fronts, sides, backs and a center with a REL Stadium sub.
I'm so much happier. I have people over for football, movies, ect... It's great. I don't critic every little thing. I know it's not what I had, but it's way more than I expected. And WELL WORTH THE PRICE.
BTW, I still have two other two channel systems (one pretty decient one and another older one) and I still enjoy them too.
I guess my point is, you get what you pay for, it's just how far do you want to go into the law of dimenishing returns? Receivers are well worth the price consisdering how much more you have to spend to get an incremental increase in performance.
The reference system that was in my home:
Pass X1
Pass X600
Muse 9 gen IV sig
Magnum Dynalab MD102
Revel Salons
Revel Subs
Aural Symphonics PCs
Discovery SCs
Discovery ICs
Target equipment stand
various tweeks (Black Diamond, DH Labs, ect...)
Other stuff I've had AudioNote, Krell, Audio Research... get the drift... I won't go on.
Now, I got where I never enjoyed the "high-end" stuff becuase I expected too much. It always "could be better". So I decided to go home theater. No critical listening, no adjusting speaker placement (ok I did, but not the entire time I owned them, just a week or so) no balancing stuff on some exotice wire or cone.
I was shocked what you could get for your money (B&K AVR 307). Matched up with some Vienna Acoustic Beethovens the sound was extremely good!
Now I have a Pioneer Elite VSX-56TXi, DV-59AVi, PRO530HDi, Def Tech fronts, sides, backs and a center with a REL Stadium sub.
I'm so much happier. I have people over for football, movies, ect... It's great. I don't critic every little thing. I know it's not what I had, but it's way more than I expected. And WELL WORTH THE PRICE.
BTW, I still have two other two channel systems (one pretty decient one and another older one) and I still enjoy them too.
I guess my point is, you get what you pay for, it's just how far do you want to go into the law of dimenishing returns? Receivers are well worth the price consisdering how much more you have to spend to get an incremental increase in performance.