Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Receiver Selection

I plan to buy a receiver for my speaker system. My budget is about 500 bucks.

My speaker configuration is:

Main: M22ti
Surrounds: QS4
Center: B&W VM1
Sub: Definitive ProSub 60

Which receiver can you recommend me within my budget?

I've had real good luck with Onkyo.(one stereo, one 5.1 and the current 7.1)

One vote for the TX SR602

Ubid Denon 885 (2105) for 349.00.

Never mind. Their out of them. Check back next week for 2805, 2105. HK335

I have the Denon 2805, which is the same as the Denon 985, just sold from different channels. There is also a 2105. It really depends on if your buying refurbished or not. I think for that price range you will be able to find something nice. I would stay with Onkyo, Denon, HK, but Pioneer Elite and Yamaha's aren't bad either.

Go refurbished.

direct from harman kardon

In spite of getting a broken refurb(and hearing others with the same problems), the lengths they've gone through to help me(they've probably paid more for fast shipping both ways than I did for the whole receiver), and the quality of their receivers, I can't help recommending them.

Em, using new units, two excellent ones that immediately come to mind within your budget are the Pioneer 1015 and the Yamaha 5890. Others include the Denon 2105, HK 335 and Onkyo 602. If a refurbished unit was bought, the possibilities would be expanded. All of these will provide audibly flawless amplification, so choose the features which are most important to you.

I just went through the questions and research for 2 weeks and with help of many on this board & advice from the axiom techs I decided for now on the Denon avr 885 from UBID. They do go pretty fast but they always seem to get more in so keep checking the site . The price is 369.00 it just can't be beat. I really wanted the H/K 7300 but could not do it the current budget restrictions. All the reviews I have read gave this amp good rating. Besides while the H/K are great reicievers they are not with out some problems as you will notice with other posting around these boards. I have rarely seen a problem with the Denon line. Also the Pioneer 1015 looked really good but most were out of them for now. Of course I wanted to get my HT set up now, so went with the 885 that is being delivered today!
Hope this helps.
Peace

I purchased a refurbished Denon AVR-885 from ecost.com and love it! I think you will enjoy this unit. Good luck!

Thanks- just did the install-still testing but man, does this thing rock!

Did you see the power ratings from Sound&Vision on the AVR 7300?

5 channels driven @8ohms 145 Watts
7 channels driven @8ohms 139 Watts
2 channels driven @8ohms 181 Watts
2 channels driven @4ohms 290 Watts
These are maximum power when distortion starts.
Jeez, who needs seperates with that kind of power.

>>Jeez, who needs seperates with that kind of power.

Geez, I know lots of people

Dennis (Tharkun), do you want to say a few words ?

Actually I am bidding on a Parasound amp right now. Jejejeje.

There are quite a few more of us that are pushing the M80s with 200 to 300 watt amps.

Yes. Like my Outlaw M200s.

85WPC

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85WPC

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If you are creative like Peter you can confuse the electrons giving you more power than the specs list.

Already have:.....inverted the center AND the surrounds(all M3s)causing the input wires to enter at the top, giving a gravity assist to the electrons; it helps on the attack, but not much for sustain..........

Thanks for all the replies. Since I was in a business trip, I was not able to reply the posts.

My favorite receiver list is,

Yamaha 5890,
Pioneer 56txi
Pioneer 54tx
HK 435 and 635.

But I removed HKs from my list because I realized that usually HKs have HW problem I mean that it seems their quality is not good enough.

Actually, power is not so important for me. Since I live in an apartment, I am not able to use all power of my speaker or receiver.

The important thing for me is very good automatic speaker calibration or set-up and good quality.

I know that 56TXi is very expensive but it looks very attractive. On the other hand I may push my budget a little bit more up(1 or 2 hundred bucks).

I do not plan to buy refurbished one.

Denons are good but they are more expensive.

The rest of the features such as DSP, Pro Logic etc. seem common for all receivers.

I forgot to say that my current speaker system is 5.1. The receiver I will buy should allow me (it it is 7.1) to use it as 5.1.

I wouldn't remove the H/Ks. We've gotten a couple of reports of people with problems with refurbs, but my refurb is fine, and I haven't seen anyone here with a problem on a new one.

One more thing, 56txi and 5890 are THX certified. I guess Axiom speakers are not. Can I use this feature with axiom speakers? And does the THX feature really worth to be had.

I agree with Ken, HK's are great receivers, the only thing that bothered me was the dial that glows in the dark. I'm picky and it bugged me while watching movies in the dark, ooooooohhhhhhh la laaaaa

Coool

Em, you're right to not be overly concerned with power(even if you didn't live in an apartment)since all the receivers mentioned have more than enough for any likely need. My thought is also that there hasn't been so much of a quality control problem with HK that it should be removed from consideration. Of the others that you list, the 56TXi would have the fullest list of features, but the Yamaha 5890 would appear to be the best buy and would be my pick(the Pioneer 1015 mentioned before is also an excellent buy).

On your THX question, I'll add that the special processing isn't of much significance and similar things can be done without it. The THX certification however is a useful assurance of quality(although some without it may also meet the THX standards). Don't worry about "worth it", because the cost of the THX laboratory certification process is only a few dollars per unit.

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And does the THX feature really worth to be had

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THX is over-rated.. i mean, most amps/receivers that are THX certified are usually good, but it dont make a receiver "bad" if its not THX certified.. its just a standard in the industry, set by Lucas Films, that means a particular receiver meets the qualifications to be certified. its not an actual DSP mode, or audio function.. it just means that the receiver meets all standards that Lucas thinks is best for viewing HIS movies..

please, do yourself a favor... dont base ANY decision on if a receiver is THX certified or not. its just an industry plot to make guys like us feel obligated to pay more for a receiver..

good luck in your decisions..

and not to confuse you even more.. but i saw on Ecost.com, the Onkyo 601 was only $240 bucks.. thats a great deal on a real good receiver.

bigjohn

Thanks.

Maybe I wait for several months. Within this time frame, the price of 56txi may go down then I can afford it. Otherwise I will go with 5890.

Thanks big for the clarification.

>>HK's are great receivers, the only thing that bothered me was the dial that glows in the dark. I'm picky and it bugged me while watching movies in the dark,

On my HK630 there are three levels on the "dim" cycle and the lowest turns off the blue dial. Only the power switch remains glowing and it's pretty small/dim. I think this is the case for the whole HK line but will confirm tomorrow.

John, my hk230's volume control will not dim under any circumstances.Your hk 630 can? The only thing on my 230 that has a dimmer function is the front face panel. It will go from full, to half full to completely dark.

EDIT: My bad. The blue light special volume knob does in fact turn off when the avr is half or fully dimmed. It's that damn power switch that always remains lit no matter what.

Bummer of a birthmark, Hal !!

I'll be visiting a couple of friends with HK130s tomorrow, will see what they do and post back. It would be a bit annoying if the dial stayed bright...

... then again, I'm reading more and more articles which say "don't put all the equipment at the front of the room, get it off to one side so the rack etc.. doesn't interfere with the sound", maybe it's time to move the receiver

John, just edited my previous post. The blue volume dial on my hk230 does indeed dim in the same fashion as your hk630.

Ahh, that makes sense. I have, on occasion, been known to put a piece of black electrical tape over the power switch.

I've done that too. If only there was a way to disable the light on the power switch.......hmmmmmm

C'mon you guys, just buy a 7200! The volume knob doesn't light up at all.


Actually, I kinda like the blue light on the dial and wish my 7200 had it. No, I'm not gonna trade anyone. . .

Didn't notice til just now; but I can turn off the Vol. ring on my Onkyo 602! Nothing else lighted but the display

(Think I like it better with the ring Nice to have a choice)

I also just noticed that emedwhat had a question about Axiom Not being THX certified.

I think I have a reasonable handle on THX certs for speakers; but any of you guys with the real knowledge care to respond?

(This could be a real fun one to get into; theater history and all!)

from indhomecinema.com
THX
No home theater trend is more misunderstood than THX. THX is a seal of approval for equipment and software, but not a particular decoding algorithm like Dolby Digital or DTS. There are detailed technical specifications applied to equipment or software in order for it to be THX certified. When you buy a THX certified piece of equipment, you are guarenteeing that this piece of equipment meets the THX standards. Here's an example of the specifications:

Speaker to subwoofer crossover frequency set to 80hz
Reequalization of higher frequencies to lower their output for a smoother sound
Equal high power for all five main amplified channels
Subwoofers able to properly handle low frequency effects
Diffused dipolar surround channels
Low equipment noise
It is important to realize that there are many pieces of high quality equipment that do not meet THX standards. For example, the Skywalker ranch sound studio uses non-THX certified B&W 802 speakers to monitor THX certified recordings. THX certification is not something that one should require when purchasing equipment. Because of the high cost, I do not recommend the purchase of THX certified equipment.

Recently, Lucasfilm created a new lower standard for equipment known as THX-select and renamed the original standard to THX Ultra. The only difference between the two specs is the size of the room

Not trying to rock the boat, but Power does not equal Loud. I mean, that if you get more power, the sounds get better and not only louder. I have gone from a receiver to Rotel separates (before 2x130 and now 2x200 wpc) and I could tell the difference right away. More power does not hurt, in the contrary.... all this is for stereo, and I am not sure if this applies to HT as well.

P.S. I live in and apt. building too.

thyname, I think I understood what you mean about power and loud. I looked at the issue from loud point of view.

I am still reading user manual of the receivers. I realized that some of them do not have digital to analog converter. What I mean for an instance AVR 635 has mp3 decoding feature, but 5890 does not. On the other hand, Pioneer 1015 has WMA9 decoding feature. My plan is to connect a media player such as Roku or I/O Data Link Player to a receiver and enjoy listening MP3 or WMA in surruond format. If a receiver does not have this kind of decoding capability, does it mean that I can not listen MP3 or WMA music in surround format.

What about Marantz SR 7500 or SR 8400? I know 8400 a little bit expensive but from performance point of view, do they match my axiom speakers (M22ti and WS4)?

Hey guys, this is my first post. I don't have Axiom speakers yet, but I'm planning on buying a M60ti surround set-up when I get back from Iraq. Gotta put some of that combat pay to good use =)

As for receivers, I really like my Denon. It's a couple years old (its only Dolby Digital 5.1), but it puts out 100w per channel and I've had no problems at all with it. In fact, I will probably keep it until I can upgrade to the Lexicon RV-8, which I hear is quite a steal at $7k =P

Welcome Bigsarge72, you'll have a killer system whenever you get those speakers. Take care over there and get home safe!

Welcome Sarge! Thank you, so much, for your service and your sacrifice. Get 'er done, and get home safe. Bless you.

I think your Denon will handle the Axioms fine. Their sensitivity makes them relatively easy speakers to drive.

Ok, had the wife check the model for me, because stuff like that bugs me when I can't remember, heh. It's a Denon AVR-3200 and it's 80 watts per channel, not the 100w I posted earlier. It will do until I can upgrade, but my speakers definitely need upgraded more than my receiver =P

The 3200 is an excellent receiver albeit out dated. I've had mine since 98' and it is still going strong. I'm using it in a bedroom theater setup and but for the fact that it did not do DTS, it would still be in my main system.

In spite of the fact that it is only (according to my owners manual) 85w in 5 channel mode (105w in 2 channels) I'm still amazed at how robust, clean and full my system sounds (with 5 KEF speakers + sub). The 3200 never seems to strain no matter what is thrown at it.

Yeah, after I save up enough to get a DTS receiver, I will move my current set-up (Denon 3200 + Klipsch Quintet surround system) into the bedroom for movies/music.

Finally, I decided to go with AVR300 and I ordered one from the nearly perfect list of Audiophile Systems. I hope I made my decision correctly. It is really expensive.