Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Another 'help me pick a receiver' thread =)

OK

I wasn't planning on buying a new AVR for a couple months but circumstances may present me with an oportunity to get an extremely good deal on these recievers:

Harmon Kardon AVR 7200

Denon AVR-1083 and AVR-983 (I believe also refered to as the AVR-3803 and AVR-2803 respectively)

Onkyo TX-NR801

Those are my ONLY options for now. Granted if this doesn't work out I think the Yamaha 1400 will go back to the top of my wish list (feel free to talk me out of that however)...

Now granted, IF the 7200 is cheap enough that is my choice because I know how awesome a AVR it's suppose to be. I guess my question would be more focus'd on the listed Denon's and Onkyo. I'm concerned that those seem to be taylored for 6.1 reproduction. And frankly, the *look* of them just doesn't win any marks.

What I'd like to know is what good things ppl have to say about them. The Onkyo's ethernet connection is nifty but I will already have a HTPC to do that job.

Anyway, I just get all weird when I'm about to spend money. I have decided that I am going to be purchasing M60, VP150 and QS8 speakers. So thats what this AVR will be driving. All comments are most welcome.

What about NAD?

heh

what part of there are my only choices didn't ya get?


reason: i'm gonna be getting some special pricing from a local retailer... those are the best choices in my price range, but i'm just not too familar with denon or onkyo

I had a 3803 and the surround processing on it was very good but I thought it was a little underpowered so I got the HK 7200 which is a beast in all respects, powerful and big, 55lbs and 21 inches deep, so make sure you can fit it where you want it. It also runs very warm so it needs space to keep cool. The only problem with the HK is when playing digital sources there is about a 2 second delay before it picks up the signal and figures out how to decode it.

This delay ppl keep talking about on the 7200, is it only when you are switching sources? Like CD to DVD... I thought I heard one person somewhere say it coudl be a problem while watching HDTV programming, where one channel may be using a certain signal and another a different one, so changing the channels you would have that delay?

I brought home both Yamaha rx-v1400 (rx-v2400 is out of stock at the local Tweeter now) and Denon avr-3805. The rx-v1400 is pretty good, but it sound too bright for me. The avr-3805 is awesome. it sounds warmer than rx-v1400, and more bass. After considering between sound quality , price, features, ... avr-3805 will stay and rx-1400 goes back to the Tweeter.

Don't get me wrong, Yamaha is good, but denon is better. I have to pay full price for it , but I get 1 year payment plan no interest. I think it's a good deal for me right now since I can't pay 1,200 one time ...but i must have this baby......

I recently struggled with the reciever dilema. After weighing the options provided, price issues, and educating myself, I picked the Denon 3805. It should be here tomarrow.
Some things I liked about it is :

-Denon has a good performance history. Along with HK and NAD

-Upconverting is nice. Which means signals brought into the reciever through rca (composite), or s video are "upconverted" to component. This allow just one set of cables to run to Plasma. Not a biggie except cleaner install and no switching issues.

-Though not real watts.. The rating is still nice

-Basically has everything except THX in formats. No THX haunts my subconscious now but I think that will subside once the new axioms are listened to in 5.1.

-Auto calibrate is also a feature.. Ill test it to see if its accurate. No expectations here and wasn't a purchase point.

I would add that it was merely a flip of the coin on chosing between HK, Denon and NAD. I must admit I really liked some of the new NAD stuff. I really liked the pricing of the HK7200 at Onecall.com (839.00).

Its kinda funny I have bought cars with less thought into it than setting up my system.

AVR 7200 is a beast in a good way, real power, ONKs 801 is not a lot of musical box, so after listenning to above 2
I ended up bying Pioneer 2012 ( which IS PE 45TX ) for $600 shipped from bigbangelectronics.

Never felt that I made wrong choice, PE is as much powerful as 7200, but have way more dynamics ( not speakeing of options ) lacking only triple bass crossovers of 7200.

INANE,

The audio mute in the 7200 (and many other HK models) occurs during any DSP change, for example when the receiver changes modes from Dolby PLII to DD.

Jason

The Denon 3805 and H/K 7200 are very capable receivers IMHO.
I'm not sure if a 7.1 setup is in your plans ?
Denon 3805 has DPLIIx, it also has room EQ which is nice.
H/K 7200 however has logic 7 (i'm not sure if it supports DPLIIx).
I would say the H/K 7200 if the power section is more important to you, or 3805 if features are more imprortant.
Honestly you can't go wrong with either one.