Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Receiver

Hello! I am in the process of upgrading our home theater system. We just got a Panasonic TH-50PZ800U and a Sony BDP-350 and love them. I have had a $500 Yamaha home theater-in-a-box for about 4 years now. After you are done cringing(hehe), take comfort knowing that I just received a VP-150 and will over time upgrade the rest of our speakers. My reciever is a Yamaha HTR-5740. I wanted to upgrade all the speakers and then get a more powerful, better receiver, but I think the receiver may have to come first. The VP150 does not sound good, sounds thin, sizzley, and has some distortion when turned up to -19 or so db's. I have it unplugged right now to keep from harming it. My other speakers are rated at 100 wpc max and so I can't get a real powerful receiver yet, as I want to wait a little while and save before I upgrade them. So, my question to you all is, what receivers would you recommend to fill my needs? What do you recommend I do? I am anxious to learn more about the technical side of all this, but realize I have very limited knowledge of it at this time. Thanks for all your help!!

Matt

I wouldn't worry about the 100WPC max on the receiver.

I would be concerned about the sound of the VP150--unless there's definitely something wrong with the center channel out on your current receiver (which you should be able to hear in the original center channel speaker, there's something wrong with that. I would bet that not all of the drivers are working.

I will check all the drivers, but I think they are all working, as I sat in front of it and listened to it. The center that was connected before did have some sound issues, distortion when played loud, sizzling on some vocals, etc, but I thought it was blown. I assume now it is actually a problem with the receiver.
When you say you wouldn't worry about the 100 wpc max on the receiver does that mean even though my other speakers are rated at that, I can have a more powerful receiver without destroying them? Thanks!

Oh yeah, you won't be hitting anywhere near 100WPC the vast majority of the time, and even when you do, it'll be brief. Far easier to damage speakers with underpowered (eg, 5 WPC...) amps than overpowered ones.

I think we're going to need a price range before we can recommend a receiver. With a range of ~US$1000, 1200, it's the Denon 3808, but I know that I don't have a price range like that!

Best way to confirm that it's the receiver and not the speaker? Hook it up to a different output on the receiver, just for testing purposes.

Okay, will have to try that. I also am going to take the speaker to a friends house with a better receiver and see how it sounds. Might not be for a couple days though. As far as price range, I would love to stay around $600-800. Will think about that Denon, have to talk to the wife of course, hehe. What about the lower price range?

You'll probably get a recommendation for an Onkyo, in that case.

Another question: what Axioms are you looking at other than the VP150? If it's the M80s, then that's another important factor in choosing a receiver.

In that price range, you're not looking at much over 100WPC anyway, so...

Yamaha might also be a valid choice. I believe the 663 was popular a little bit ago, but I don't know if that's currently available. Sherwood Newcastles are fairly well regarded, but there's not many people around here who have them.

Harman/Kardon quality control seems to have gone downhill in the past few years, so I'd probably avoid those.

Was thinking the M60's.

In that ~$500 range the Yamaha 663 is a steal as well.

you could also go with one of the lower model denons, like the 2308 or 2808.
I would reccomend getting a list of receivers together and then make a call to 6ave.com. get a quote from them on a few receivers... their prices are usually way better over the phone.

Just called 6ave about the denon 2808. Their site lists it at $665, guy on the phone quoted me $791. I told him about the website and he said "oh yeah, looks like they put them on sale." Glad I didn't say yes to the 791! Still gonna' check around some more. How much clearance should I have around the receiver?