Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Most Musical HT Receiver

The Kenword probably has the most features at that price range. The Denon would probably be second in my mind, but I'm horribly biased in that regard.

Prioritize what's important to you feature wise and scale back with that. They'll all basically sound the same.

I purchased the Denon 1803 in December 2002. I use it with my M22ti's, VP100,QS4,and EP175 the sound is amazing, both for music and movies. Good Luck on your search. I paid $683 Canadian for it.

Repectfully disagree that choice of receiver does not make a material difference re sound quality. I've had a bunch and can comment from personal experience. First off, best bang for the buck is the Panasonic SAHE200 - incredible for home theater or two channel music. I had a Harmon Kardon AVR 65, very nice, replaced it with an HK 320. Returned it. Currently have an Onkyo 797 (THX), a Sony STRDB 1070, Pioneer SX850 and Antique Sound Labs MG S1 15DT - do these units sound different? Yes they do. Each of my systems includes Axiom like Michaura speakers (M60 type, M50 type and M22 type) and each has driven Axiom M50s, M22s, and M3s.

Of the receivers you mentioned, I'd get the Outlaw 1050, but for the money, I'd get the Panasonic. Alternatively, I'd consider the Onkyo, Denon, Sony ES - (I'd avoid Pioneer a once great brand), Marantz, Kenwood 6070, didn't like the Sherwood 7090.

Your source is very important to your system's sound quality. My best sounding system is a 2 channel 5 watt per channel tube integrated amp driven by an Ah! Njoe Tjoeb (modified with Ediswan tubes, direkt power kord, Burr Brown OPA 627s) pushing a pair of M66s (similar to the M50s) and a Velodyne 8" sub.

My next favorite source is a Toshiba SD9200 DVD Audio player hooked up with an Onkyo 797. I use an Outlaw ICBM-1 bass management unit between the DVD A player and receiver, stereo subwoofers (Klipsch 1640 watt LF10 and Velodyne CHT100), M60 type fronts, Merak MC6H center with Radio Shack super tweeter, M50 type side surrounds and Mission 77ds back surrounds (driven by an outboard Denon PMA500V amp soon to be replaced by a vintage Kenwood KA9100).

The office system has a Philips SACD 1000 player, a Sony STRDB1070 receiver, another Merak MC6H center, 4 M22 type speakers and a Dahlquist PDQ1500 15" sub.

They're all sweet, all different. For knock your socks off HT power and DVD Audio dazzle, the Onkyo/Toshiba DVDA system, for kicking back and getting lost in sweet, sweet music, the 5 watt tube amp/Ah! CDP combo.

As for speakers, well friends, your Axioms are IMHO the best speakers for the money out there. What you hook them up to matters.

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Repectfully disagree that choice of receiver does not make a material difference re sound quality.

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We were specifically talking about the "musical" comment. If a receiver does fine with HT, it will do fine with music. An amp's purpose is to take the PCM stream from whatever source, and add enough power to drive the speaker. It doesn't care if it's a movie or an opera.

Hello Semi-on
My Onkyo does a wonderful job with both music and HT. The Sony system appears to have more 'slam' in HT and HT sounds great but is not as musical. I had a Technics 5x100 watts SADX940 which I picked up for a song to hold me over until I chose a tube amp. That Technics was unbelievably musical, maybe the most musical of all the HT receivers I've used including some which cost more than 5 times as much. That's why I recommended the Panasonic so highly. Just a thought.

I would describe the AVR125 as musical. Their dual power supply design packed with massive amperage makes them sound closer to pre-amp/power amp combos rather than a receiver. I also find their D/A convertors more open sounding and with better stereo imaging that what I have encountered with similar priced receivers. I can appreciate that someone with a good ear has put a lot of effort into it.
I have never heard the Outlaw receiver though but have heard very good things about the sound quality.

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The Sony system appears to have more 'slam' in HT and HT sounds great but is not as musical.

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That's because very little music goes down to 20Hz where you get the rumbling feeling. Most music stays up around 40-60Hz which should "slam" you at all. When was the last time you saw a live concert where you felt "slammed"?

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That Technics was unbelievably musical, maybe the most musical of all the HT receivers I've used including some which cost more than 5 times as much.

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Define this. How exactly does a musical signal differ from a movie one in order to make one receiver good at movies but not as much so at music.

Actually, the 'slam,' I enjoy in the Sony is more noticeable for HT and even digital cable TV modes than in music mode (DVD, CD or SACD). At first, I thought this quality was attributable to the Merak MC6H (2 x 6.5" drivers and a 7" x 3" horn tweeter). I picked up another for my Onkyo/Toshiba system, and note that the Sony system still has more 'slam.'

Well, as to the musicality (in 2 channel mode) of the Technics SADX 940, I suppose I could describe it as low noise floor, airy, open highs, excellent soundstage (large, high and wide), lack of compression during busy orchestral pieces, sweet accurate midrange and strong, tight bass. As to each of these qualities, the Technics is superior to the Sherwood 7090, for example, and although I used a different source, I think it's superior to the Sony STRDB 1070 as well. (the Sony's source is the Philips SACD 1070, so it is a high quality source.) The Technics demonstrated these qualities with both an 8 year old JVC CD changer (garage sale value of about $10) and an Ah! Njoe Tjoeb with Burr Brown OPA 627s, direkt power kord and upgraded Ediswan British (1964) CV2492/5358 tubes (total about $1000). Interestingly, I tried and returned the well reviewed Cambridge Audio D500SE which had blowsy bass, poor sound staging and other shortcomings.

I suppose the bottom line is the source and amplification of your system allows your speakers to reach their potential. Garbage in, garbage out ...

These are just my opinions, if you think equipment doesn't matter, or that equipment which does a good job with HT will automatically do a good job with music, you're entitled to your own opinions.

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Actually, the 'slam,' I enjoy in the Sony is more noticeable for HT and even digital cable TV modes than in music mode (DVD, CD or SACD). At first, I thought this quality was attributable to the Merak MC6H (2 x 6.5" drivers and a 7" x 3" horn tweeter). I picked up another for my Onkyo/Toshiba system, and note that the Sony system still has more 'slam.'

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Right. As I said, music doesn't go down that low so it shouldn't (I see there was a typo in that one word) slam you much at all. Musical instruments simply don't play that low. Which is why you experience more slam in movies.

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Well, as to the musicality (in 2 channel mode) of the Technics SADX 940, I suppose I could describe it as low noise floor, airy, open highs, excellent soundstage (large, high and wide), lack of compression during busy orchestral pieces, sweet accurate midrange and strong, tight bass. As to each of these qualities, the Technics is superior to the Sherwood 7090, for example, and although I used a different source, I think it's superior to the Sony STRDB 1070 as well. (the Sony's source is the Philips SACD 1070, so it is a high quality source.) The Technics demonstrated these qualities with both an 8 year old JVC CD changer (garage sale value of about $10) and an Ah! Njoe Tjoeb with Burr Brown OPA 627s, direkt power kord and upgraded Ediswan British (1964) CV2492/5358 tubes (total about $1000). Interestingly, I tried and returned the well reviewed Cambridge Audio D500SE which had blowsy bass, poor sound staging and other shortcomings.

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And these traits are not desireable in a movie theater how? All you've described is a quality reproduction system and not anything specifically musical. Movies would benefit just as much from this making your claims that some receivers are more "musical" a little dubious.

I didn't post to argue with you. I thought you were actually curious. My mistake. I didn't realize you already have all the answers. If you need to find music which goes down to 20 Hz, just ask around.