I just remembered that I have my RPA-1 driving my M80's, so whether it does or doesn't push a 4 ohm load isn't really important. Having not used my home theatre in over a year, I forgot what's down there .

I know this doesn't matter right now as you have an external amp but Denon has never published anything that states they can drive 4 ohm speakers; my midrange 1804 drove my M80s with out any troubles. The 38XX series died a few years ago, the 3808 was the last one, the true replacement was the 4311 then the 4312 and now I believe the only upper end Denon is the 45XX series every thing else is no longer in production. I would look to Onkyo for the best bang for the buck avr. Mojo recently purchased one himself(I don't recall the model), I shall be visiting him over the holidays to have a listen myself.

^^^^ This. Do a search on google and AVS. I'll bet you'll find there are no problems driving 4 ohms. If you aren't comfortable, Yamaha, Pioneer, etc. also offer some pretty nice options.

Hey guys, what are your thoughts on the Pioneer SC-1527-K? I just purchased it from Futureshop.ca last night for $1000 (regularly $1600). The main reason I did so was because of the savings (slightly cheaper than a 3313), but I also liked it's features. It look's like it's a very solid receiver.

This post online was one positive one I read - "I wouldn't care about 9.2, unless you have a huge room to fill with sound. Looks like both amps use Class D3 amps. Pretty much the same power output. 1527 has 192/32 DACs compared to 192/24, but 192/24 is still excellent. 1527 uses dual Aureus DSP chips for sound processing. Both use Marvell Qdeo for 1080p/24 video processing - great chipset. Both have pre-amp outs, which would be really important to me personally, as I run separate amps and just use receiver as a processor. They even weigh almost the same.

So if you have a really big room to fill, go with 1527. It also seems to have slightly better DSP chips. If you are sticking with 7.2, then I don't think you'll lose much with 1227.

[edit]1527 has dual HDMI outputs. It's beneficial if you're running projector and a TV, and don't want to switch cables."

Input is greatly appreciated. I can always return it if there's vast indifference about it.

Thanks

Edit - Something that's disconcerting is that I can only find a couple brief forum discussions about it; nothing from AVS pops up (edit - okay, I found a few, but nothing remotely significant). Any idea why?

This looks like the same as the Pioneer SC-65 that I'm wanting to get. The SC-1527-K must be the European version.

Hi Cam,
You'll have to decide on the feature set yourself, but looks like you got a good deal - my bro actually called me to ask about the same deal! I can say that I find the power output for the $ on these amps is very good (I have the older SC-05). There are always the usual religious debates on MCACC vs. Audyssey vs even doing room correction, so I am not going to touch that! However I will say that the standing wave correction with 3 positions measured works very well in my room. The only thing I would point out on the Pio's is to check that it can do multiple X over points for different speakers. In my SC-05 I have to pick one global X over for my setup (can't do surrounds different than fronts). That may or may not matter to you. In fact I'd be interested to know if they have changed that in their design philosophy.

Anyway, FWIW my Pio has been going strong for 3-4 years know and has not given me a single issue.

Let us know what you think of it if you start to use it.

Cheers,

Dan, great to hear from ya. I don't like the EQ's (Audyssey or MCACC) and won't use them, so for me, that's not even a consideration in selecting a receiver.

I'll check the manual to see if it allows for separate crossovers.

Great info.

Thanks!

Well, the SC-1222-K doesn't allow for different crossovers, and according to this post (the discussion continues further down the thread) on AVS, this is uniform with Pioneer receivers. This isn't a big deal to me, but what are your thoughts on this, guys? Should it be?

Thanks

I would highly recommend you look at the Onkyo 818, just heard it at mojo's yesterday and I would say this unit is by far the best bang for the buck while boxing week sales are on, it is on sale around here for under $900.

Jay, I really like that receiver, but it's not available anywhere locally. BestBuy.ca sells it (albeit they're sold out), but we don't have a store in town that I could easily get it to for service etc.