Hey all,

I am about to get Epic 350 HT system for my 600sq ft room and still undecided which denon AVR should power the HT system.
I am trying to avoid sharp sound characteristic from my HT system and was told to avoid yamaha avr for the reason.
I dont know the difference in sound characteristic between denon and onkyo.

My first question would be if my Epic 350 is sufficient for 600 sq ft. I also considered epic 60 or 80 but hate to fill my room with big chunky speakers.

My second question would be which denon or onkyo AVR to get to power my epic 350. I would consider last years model also.
I listen to all kind of music,rock,classic, jazz,etc. And when I listened to rock, I crank up the volume real high, and I need my AVR to feed enough power to my HT system when I do that.

I have panasonic viera tc-p50gt30 and watch lots of movie in THX mode. My wife and kids would also want to connect their ipods to HT system(sadly, they do not understand the difference in sound quality between mp3 and wav file). I will be connecting WDTV live hub using HDMI, laptop using VGA(not DVI or display port) and blue ray player using HDMI.

My next AVR dont have to support the following.
1. multi room support
2. anything over 5.1 such as 7.1
3. bunch of composite, component connection. I just need a couple for each
4. sacd support

However, I would need my AVR to do the following.
1. at least 2 digital audio connection but more DA connection would be better.
2. enough power for me to enjoy movie/music in 600 sq ft room with high ceiling
3. at least 4 HDMI connections

Any thoughts, comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Receivers won't sound sharp if they are designed correctly. I would not call Axiom's larger speakers chunky, but I guess your saying you don't want floor standing, then you have your answer. The M22's with a good sub like the 350 should be fine in that room. For most situation, understanding that the Axioms require little power to play pretty loud, any decent receiver will do this unless you have a very large room and play it very loud beyond the receivers capability.

As long as the receiver has the features your looking for, and fits your budget you should be fine.

600sqft of space rates quite large in my books and the M22's with a good will work I would recommend going with those big chunky speakers but I like my M80s better than my M22's although the M22's are still one very sweet sounding speaker. You can't go wrong with any of Axiom's speakers.

Denon makes very good receivers so pick the one with the features you like and go with it. I would recommend getting one with preamp outputs should you ever decide to try external amps.

Agree with Randy and Jason. But I'd want to know how high your ceiling is, too. If it's NOT a standard, flat, ceiling, you DEFINITELY need floorstanding speakers to get the impact you're looking for.

any denon receiver that has the features you want will be fine. If it was me in that space I would spring for the m80's with a denon 4311. Call 6ave.com to ask them the best price on whatever denon model you decide to get and you will surely save some cash.

You will enjoy whatever you decide.

Muse, welcome. The first point is to disregard the advice of whoever told you to to avoid a Yamaha because of a possible "sharp" sound. Modern HT receivers are competently designed and none of them, including Yamaha, Denon and Onkyo, add an audible coloration to the sound when operated within their designed limits.

Next, as to a Denon recommendation, you haven't given a key piece of information: what is your listening distance? You've given a room dimension, but a room doesn't have to be "filled" with sound at the level needed at your listening position. Listening distance is far more significant than the variations in room sizes we find at home. I'd be glad to calculate your power requirements and suggest an appropriate Denon unit.

Wow, thanks much for all your great advice.

My ceiling height is about 20ft and in cathedral ceiling shape.
My listening distance will be about 13ft(max 18ft).

Again, any thoughts, comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

considering the cathedral ceiling, that is a pretty big space.

I know you want to say it...Outlaw separate amps.

Axiom specs the M22 at 89dB for 1 watt at the standard 1 meter distance. In typical home rooms the sound level drops off 3dB per doubling of distance. At 13 feet, which is almost exactly 4 meters, the sound level for 1 watt would be a still comfortably loud 83dB for 1 speaker. If both front speakers were playing at that level, the level at the listening position would be 3dB higher, e.g., 86dB. In order to allow for the most dynamic source material, it's suggested that as much as 20dB of headroom(i.e., 100 times the power)be allowed for. This would handle extremely loud brief peaks at 103dB(1 speaker)and 106dB(two front speakers). It appears that 100 watts for brief split-second peaks should meet your needs.


You also mentioned Onkyo as a possible selection, and I'll suggest that you consider an outstanding buy available at this time on the Onkyo 180 factory refurbished unit(which should be at least as reliable as a brand-new one)from Accessories4less here for about $350 shipped. This should meet your power needs and more than meet your requirements for up-to-date features.

Unless you're sold on Denon, I've been running Axiom speakers with a Pioneer Elite receiver and this works very well. Plenty of power. Check out my link in the signature line. I've played around a lot with the M22 sound and so far, I prefer it the way I've got them mounted.

I've always like the Elite series, owned many Pioneer products back in the late 70's and 80's, including speakers.

I unplugged my upper pair of M22 mains a couple of days ago, just to see if it sounded better, or worse without them, and it was definitely worse. An upper and lower M22 just beats the dickens out of a single pair.

Hi, Your room has a total volume of 12,000 cubic feet which dictates a front array of large speakers , multiple pairs of surrond speakers, multiple subwoofers and separates.

Cha Ching...