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Looking for Recommendation for AVR

My 20 year old Harmon Kardon AVR 65 suddenly has a bad buzz and doesn't seem to be working - 
It is time for a new AVR I think.

Are there any recommendations for an AVR ?
I have an Aerial center channel, 2 Mirage back speakers, and Aerial 10T front speakers that I will be running through an Audio Research LS 25 pre-amp and Pass Labs 250.8 amp.
This means my AVR has to have pre-outs for the front speakers.

Any recommendations for an AVR - I'm using the AVR just for when I watch my TV - a new LG 55 inch OLED (beautiful pic btw) ?
I don't want to break the bank on this - I was seeing that Marantz, Yahama, and Denon had AVR's under $1000 with pre-outs.

Steve


128x128pianosteve22
mzkmxcv
777 posts
 
Denon or Marantz. For Denon, a X3400 (X3500 if you need phono and HDMI 2.1 features).  
  
Anthem is good, I would only consider it if you wanted to use the room correction and you didn’t want to pay the extra $20 for the  Audyssey app for Denon/Marantz in order to adjust the target (the default is very poor, reduces bass for no reason).
batman1971
96 posts
 
im kinda at same point as the op,,, i have been using a 10+ year old dennon avr.  I tried a new marantz 7012,  (i have my own amps that are better than any receiver)   its going back its not much better than the old dennon. .  I did alos get a mini dsp unit and that is very good for the bass.  Good enough now im thinking about getting an NAD they use same correction dirac.   its more for tweakers than set it and forget it guys, but i think i will enjoy it.   Or might go anthem.   
soix
9,694 posts
 
Do you know what the 720 gives you over the 710.
No.  I'll leave that to you.  But I think the 720 will cost you quite a bit more, so whatever additional features it offers would have to be pretty important to you to justify the difference. 

does it make sense for me to go with MRX 5 series ?
Possibly yes, but it also has less power so that may be an important consideration as I know Aerial speakers generally require a good amount of power to get the most out of them.  I also don't know if the 5 uses the same room correction software as the 7, so that may be a consideration too. 

yylc
9 posts
 
With components like LS 25 and 250.8, I don’t see any AVR can match the level.  At least get an Anthem D2v for under $1500. Classe Sigma SSP or SSP 800 for $2000 would be good matches.  AVR will degrade your overall sound.

I went through many AVR’s and once I got Anthem D2 and Krell HTS 7.1, I cannot go back to AVR any more, especially for my hard-to-drive Celestion SL6 SL700 mains.  Even the good Integra DTC 9.8 is not that transparent.  Maybe Marantz AV 8xxx ‘s are good, but I have not heard them.
pianosteve22's avatar
pianosteve22 OP
15 posts
 
AVR is just for when watching my TV .... 
For music AVR is not in the loop.

Steve
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