Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Help a fellow Axiom owner pick a new AVR.

My zwei pfennig:

o THX ratings are pretty much meaningless these days. About all they really tell you is that the manufacturer gives the THX people a bunch of money to use their logo, which gets passed along to the consumer
o The Denon 3808 is a highly-regarded unit and if I go with M80's I'll probably spring for one myself. For M60's, though, especially given your pricepoint, you might consider the new Yamaha RX-V663 which can be had for $400-500. Compared to the Denon 3808 you don't get the network foo (which seems useless since it apparently only works with MS-DOS), downloadable firmware, and you have <wpc and one less HDMI in.

RE: Yamaha RX-V663

My HT may be a bit large for a 95w receiver. My current Pioneer is 110w, and I don't really want to go backwards. I do like the idea of 7.2, though.

Personally, I think the network foo is pretty cool. It's not just the downloadable firmware and the ability to stream music over the network, but also internet radio. I think Denon is way ahead of everyone on that deal.

If that stuff doesn't matter to you - or you just don't want to pay for it - then the Onkyo is probably fine.

But I've never heard anybody disappointed with the 3808, and many people I trust have them.

I don't think you're going to be able to discern a difference between 110w and 95w.

I would get the Yamaha RXV1700 from Amazon it's half price (~$500) right now since Yamaha is changing the product to newer models.

http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-RXV1700BL-C...9484642&sr=1-15

This is the receiver to get once I test my m60s with a more powerful AMP (friend's Accuphase) than I'll decide whether to upgrade or not

I believe even though this receiver does not have TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding capabilities but it can still be done with a proper BD player to output PCM via HDMI.

A friend of mine is got the 2700 and the burr-brown DAC is amazing for both movies and musics.

I need to see that "TrueHD" displayed.

The specifications lists the output at 3 ohms as per THX specifications.

JL, the 805 is an outstanding receiver that meets all the requirements that you've listed. Unless there's some other feature that you're willing to pay more for, there appears to be no good reason to go beyond the $600 range.

Let's put it this way, I highly doubt running all of the receivers in question at the same time doing a blind test, you most likely wouldn't be able to tell the difference with no DSP's in use. Going from this point to the actual DSP's and other bells and whistles is where the differences are found and paid for at this caliber of receiver. I would just pick the one that suits your needs and live happily ever after or so the story goes.

For me I loved the idea of streaming music right to my Denon and internet radio, so I went with the 3808 for that network connectivity.

The only fear with Onkyo receivers is the lip sync issue, the over heating and the sonic boom with DTS-HD MA. The last one pushed me over the edge and made me decide on the Denon.

I don't think that the lip sync is an issue. Here is a fix:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=935808

If you have your tv, receiver and blu-ray player being hdmi 1.3 then you can set the receiver to lip sync to fix it. Otherwise you may have to tweak it a little bit like suggested on avsform thread.

I think this is the better buy than the Denon. The onkyo is around 50 lbs while the Denon is only around 40 lbs. Weight is a good thing with amplifiers. If the O.P. has m80's and the Onkyo is having trouble driving them then he could get a couple of Outlaw monoblocks and the total price is still only around $1200. The best price on the Denon was around $1100. At audioholics they gave this the product of the year and started carrying this and other Onkyo's in their store. The review at audioholics especially how good the audyssey works convinced me to buy this receiver.
Link: http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/receivers/onkyo-tx-sr805/tx-sr805-listening-tests

I ordered mine from amazon this past Tuesday for $680 including shipping and tax. I'll post any problems that I have if I have any when I get it next week. I originally wanted the onkyo 605 so that I could get all the new audio formats from my ps3. Then I read about how good the audyssey was in the onkyo 705 for another ~$100. Then I saw how the weight of the receiver from the onkyo 705 to the 805 jumped from 30 lbs to 50 lbs. I figured that for another ~$100 it will give the dynamics some extra headroom. At $680 out the door there isn't any competion close to the onkyo 805.

- Nick