I just bought the TX-SR 502, since it had good reviews and was at a fairly low price. the receiver has 440 watts of power and my speakers (JBL Northridge E 100's )seem to not sound good at all. It sounds very distorted. Is this because i have to little wattage on my receiver or to much.6.1 channel receiver with 75 watts of power per channel. Is this enough for the speakers? I dont have much experience in home theater and would love it if you guys could give me a tip.thanks
I'm afraid that Onkyo is one of the brands most notorious for inflating its power ratings, PLUS huge floorstanders like the E100s are going to need much more power to sound good. Real world RMS for the 502 is probably around 40-45 watts, my guess.
I'd suggest either returning the 502 for a better receiver or returning the E100s for smaller speakers and a good powered sub, and having the receiver send all the low frequencies to the sub so the bookshelves can handle only mids and highs.
Paul will disagree as always on this issue but my experience has always been that good bookshelf speakers with a good powered subwoofer will usually outperform floorstanding towers in the same price range by a long shot.
A good powered sub will also produce much tighter, faster and deeper bass than all but the very expensive (over $2000/pair) towers...as well as take a huge power load off your receivers.
PS. Before Paul starts his usual obfuscation, let me clarify that by "bookshelves" I'm referring to something the size of at least a Polk RTi4 not a Paradigm Atom.
PPS. And would also strongly recommend getting some good speaker stands or wall mounts ($30-100/pair) if you get bookshelves, the proper height makes a world of difference.
Hmmm, i guess i should of looked into this befor buying. I am gonna get a new receiver and stay with the same set of speakers. Would you have any ideas on what receiver would really bring out the sound of the speakers?
I'd look at either a Pioneer 1014 ($350 shipped from onecall.com) or if your budget allows: a Marantz 5500 ($600 shipped from hifi.com) or Marantz 7400 ($650 shipped from accessories4less.com).
That 7400 is a real bargain, it usually retails closer to $1,000.
OK, thanks that helped a lot, unfortunately i would rather not go over 450$. I looked at the Pioneer 1014 and seems great! I did a bit of research myself and found a couple receivers at the same price, and was wondering what you think about them. First the Yamaha HTR-5760 Receiver seems like a great receiver. then the Sony STR-DE997B Receiver seems great too. Which of the 3 would you reccomend or if their are any others not more than $450 please inform. You have been great help.