Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Go with expensive receiver or cheap seperates?

Ok, currently I have the polk audio rt800 main speakers and I can't wait to get the Axiom M60s to see how it sounds both musically and for movies. I currently have 8 year old JVC dolby digital receiver which isn't as good as the newer ones. I'm either thinking if I should go with expensive receivers such as high end denon, yamaha, rotel receiver, etc....or should I go with seperates that cost the same as expensive receiver in $2000 price range such as rotel, parasound, outlaw seperates, etc...or would you just get decent receiver with preouts such as denon 2802 and then just add amp? Which of the above gives you better sound? Also what combo best matches with axiom setup considering I will go with M60s, VP150, and 3 QS8 surrounds? Thanks and all opinions welcome.

My guess is you'll get the recommendation of either seperates or a "high end" a/v receiver. I can't imagine that you'll find many benefits to doing a combo.

If you're looking to have auto calibration features, it's usually recommended to go with the Pioneer or Yamaha A/V receivers. If you're looking to go high end and will calibrate it all yourself (and bring up the possibility) seperates are often recommended.

Sorry a lot of this sounds rehashed but it bears repeating. I don't have the technical savvy to offer specific answers but hopefully this will get the conversation started.

-Nick

Try this link
and this one
and this one
and this one
and this one

Chess, you're too much.

There are many ways to go. The new Panasonic SA XR45 all digitally amped receiver is getting rave reviews and it costs about $300.

http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ModelDetail?storeId=11251&catalogId=11005&modelNo=SA-XR45

Another way to go is a used processor (or receiver with preouts) and 3 x 2 channel Onkyo M282 amps (120 wpc x 2 each) which can be found on ubid.com for about $100 manufacturer refurbished. Sounds great with a bunch of M22s.

Some inexpensive receivers have excellent front ends, like the Sony STRDB 1070 and the SA-DX line of Panasonics (Technics) models 940 and up. These can be found used for a song!

Hmmm... the specs on that Panasonic receiver linked to have me worried --

100W per channel (10Hz-20kHz, 6 ohms, 0.9% THD)

Measured at 6 ohms, with .9% thd? That seems a little high. I'm paranoid about my receiver measured at 8 ohms/100w, with .7% thd. Granted, my receiver's numbers are probably inflated in a different way. Oh well. I want seperates.

hey at least it doesnt say:

550 WATTS TOTAL POWER (550 is the magic number)

in size 4 font: **power ratings at 1khz @ clipping

oh wait, we're not talking about Kaboom boxes.

Hey, lay off the boomboxes! You snobs! I had one of those portable ones (with only two speakers..attached for portable or unattached for 2 channel!) when I was in college and I found a sweet spot in the dorm room and it worked great!

We'll just gloss over the fact that my current "HT" system is one of these: The Blair's HT

My hidden shame!

-Nick

P.S. You'll note the 5 star rating and glowing reviews by 11 audiophiles. Apparently I shouldn't expect much improvement when I "upgrade" to Axioms and "seperates" like a CD player and receiver...

WOW! Really nice HT system. LOL

You know, if you put in good caps and used Kimbers for your speaker cable on that thing, it would sound heavenly! Also, I recommend disassembling the speakers and replacing all internal wiring with Kimber or other high end cabling. You should also disassemble the internals and replace all inter-component cabling with high quality interconnects. Then it would sound better than anything on the planet!