Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Need help on Receiver upgrade.

Hi everyone,

I am not happy overall with my setup. I have a Harman Kardon avr-320, m22, vp100, m2, and ep350 setup. I feel my receiver is underpower and don't deliver enought bass in music and movie. I now have around 500-600 dollars to buy a new receiver. Any help is appreciated.

Well, there are a lot of good AVR's out there to pick from.. Instead of giving you brand names, I suggest you take a good look at most of the gear in the $1000 range.. Then check around for a good sale.. Buying this stuff is almost as bad as computers.. If you have a little time, wait, and pick up on a close out special.. It's a great way to stretch your spending cash..

I would take a much closer look at your current receiver settings and the layout of your room before changing any of the electronics. With a subwoofer taking over the bass production duties from the amp in your receiver, you will not gain bass by changing the Harmon Kardon. Your receiver outputs bass via line level to the sub. Any other receiver will do the same. My advice is to obtain a radio shack sound meter, a good set-up cd, and go to work. Experiment with the sub phase switch, volume, crossover, and sub placement. You should be able to get excellent sound from your current equipment. Good luck

No, duong, your "feel" isn't correct. The 320 has plenty of power and bass response essentially flat to 20hz; any bass problems have nothing to do with the amps involved. You may be demanding too much bass; you shouldn't actually hear the sub as a separate source. If the EP350 is right in the corner, it's getting the most bass reinforcement from the room. If you have to have more, turn up the bass level on the sub and/or the receiver. I assume that you have the crossover on the EP350 turned all the way up.

JohnK,

I currently have the volume on the sub at the 10:00 oclock position and for a 13X10 room I think that about right. The problem is the bass on the ep350 is not tight and pronounced on this receiver. Actually its kind of flat sounding compared to my brother system which is run by Denon avr-3801 receiver and M&K Speakers. I wonder if I switch to a Denon receiver(3802,2803), I might get more pronounced and tight bass.

duong,

No subwoofer level setting is "right" until you actually calibrate the level using a sound level meter and test tones (meaning, you need to buy a RadioShack meter if you don't have one yet). A receiver upgrade will NOT give you a better bass -- it is the issue of correct subwoofer calibrations. Also, subwoofer placement will have a HUGE effect on the quality (and quantity) of bass sound.

I would get the sub placement and calibration right first. That alone will likely let it beat your brother's system.

Sushi, thanks for the sound advice. I already have the radio shack spl meter, I just need a cd with test tone I guessed. Currently I have my subwoofer in the right corner and so far has tried three other positions and this sound the less boomy. I will continue to play around with the placement once I get a test cd. But I probably won't beat out my brother's system though, he has the M&K MX-350 thx certified sub along with the M&K ss150thx certified speaker all around. By the way if any of you have the money and want the best sub under 2k, you should probably check this sub out. It is amazing!!!

Like John K said, you probably need to go into your receivers set up menu and adjust the sub signal output to its max level. I did this on my Denon 2802 and it made a huge difference in how loud the sub will play.

Could it also be possible that you are not using Dolby Digital playback, but are using Dolby Pro Logic? It has been my observation that the DPL lacks volume and bass in comparison.

Hey Guys,

Couldn't resist, just bought a Denon AVR-3802 on ebay last night for $510 shipping included. Hope it will be an upgrade over the Harman Kardon AVR-320 cause everybody here seem to like Denon. thanks for all your responses.

Why do you think a bigger amp will produce more Bass from your sub? Your sub has its own amplifier. If you want bigger bass, get a bigger sub. Your receiver is probably only handing it a lineout signal, depending on how you have it set up.