Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Onkyo TX-SR801 vs HK AVR-630

I got the Onkyo on Christmas eve and have it set up with my new HSU sub and old speakers. It makes them sound great, so I can't wait to hear them with my Axioms. Unfortunately, I did custom finishes and probably won't get them before the receiver return deadline.

I had also been considering the HK AVR-630 and now after reading another thread about the Quad Bass Mgmt, I'm second guessing.

Has any one heard both of these receivers (or similar models: onkyo 800,700,701 hk 525, 7200) and can comment on sound quality/ease of use? Also, have your heard them with Axioms?

Thanks.

i've got an "olderish" HK AVR220 and just got my axioms today. I'll let you know how i think they sound when i get home and install 'em. Hey, if they sound good on my cheepie, they should sound great on other HK models, no?
and i know nothing about stereo stuff and i've got the AVR220 figured out - so its easy.

i have not heard the Onkyo line, but i have heard the Hk, Yammy, and Denon line. IMO the yamahas and HK's sounded the same.
I own the hk 525 and although the triple bass managment is nice, i would much rather have YPAO and upconversion (which is available on yamaha 1400/2400)
Reasons why quadruple bass management is not that useful-
Most center channels(including vp150) do not dip below 80hz. A crossover wont be useful since it has a built in crossover

Bass is not sent in high quantities to the surrounds. Last time i checked surrounds were only good for producing rain and wind(rant-been dissapointed lately with amount of surround sound on my dvds). Anyways, since bass is not sent in high quantities to the surrounds, why bother having a crossover?

Hawkson,

Thanks for the input. I figured, with my ears, the bass mgmt would not be enough to make me switch. What about the upgrade feature? As an HK owner, are you aware of the providing updates? Would it include new functionality like DPL2x are do they just use it to fix bugs?

BTW, The Lord of the Rings movies make good use of the surrounds...wind and rain yes, but also birds all around you, arrows whizzing past, horses fading off behind you, and a particully cool effect when the ringwraiths talk.

i am not aware of any upgrade possibilities on my HK 525. Are you telling me there are upgrades or are you inquiring as to whether or not there are upgrades.
I dont think there are upgrades. There are no inputs (firewire) for software upgrades and i dont think they offer hardware updates

ya i know LOTR has some good Surround sound effects, but a lot of movies do not. i bought aliens quadrilogy and except for Aliens, the surround sounds were minimal. Alien. Alien 3 and Ressurection. Eh. Oh well

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Reasons why quadruple bass management is not that useful- Most center channels(including vp150) do not dip below 80hz. A crossover wont be useful since it has a built in crossover

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Huh?

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Bass is not sent in high quantities to the surrounds.

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Lots of bass is sent to the surrounds. It's just not bottom octave bass. But a great deal of upper bass (80-200Hz) is present in the surrounds.

I think you might be missing the point of the triple or quad crossover. The reason for it is that you can set different crossovers in the receiver for the Front, Center, and Surround speakers, where it will send all the bass below that frequency to the sub. So, for example, if you have a VP150, M60s, and QS8s, you could set the Fronts to 60 Hz, the Center to 90 Hz, and the QS8s to 80 Hz, thereby using all the speakers to their full extent. Whether this is necessary or desirable is another question (see Alan's comments in another current thread), but it is a valuable feature. That way, you're not cutting your M60s off at 90 Hz or missing the bass below 85 Hz in the center channel of your source material.

Hawkson,

When looking at the HK 7200 and 630, I saw they had an RS232 port which can be used for computer control and for updating the receiver's software. Not sure if the 525 had it.

I thought it would be worthwhile, especially if they could fix bugs or update the software (to DPLIIx for ex).

Ah, but the 525 does have it. However, I don't know that it can be used to update the receiver's software.