Best $800 receiver to match my speakers for HT b&w 603 front 601 rears lcr6 center asw675 sub need a receiver for 85% home theater. Have been looking at denon, yamaha, marantz. my budget is around $800 US. Don't care so much about bells and whistles, so just which receiver will sound best when i put a dvd in there is what is important. thank you in advance. i read everyones posts and have a huge respect for all on this forum, im a ecoustics forum reading junkie in need of some advice.
85% home theater = you'll be fine with a $400 AVR such as a Yamaha 657 or a $250 Panasonic sa-xr55, esp. since you are discerning enough to not fall for the bells and whistles trap.
On the other hand some people find B&W speakers on the bright side so a warm Marantz would be a nice balance, look at the Marantz 5500/5600 from accessories4less.com or hifi.com
Marantz works okay with B&W600 series as I'm sure many others will, but with their impedence swing the B&W's thrive on decent power. When I changed my main 602S3's from my Marantz Sr-7300 to the NAD C272 power amp, it was like they had begun eating energy bars. Beats me why some people would find B&W's bright.
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Kind of hard to consider the Denon 2807 since it is not even out yet. As to "grip and control" I'm not sure what you mean by that Frank. I never considered the B&W to be a particularly bright brand either and generally Denon and B&W should be a good combination as would the neutral sounding Marantz 7500 for example. Frank, If you have seen the Denon 2807 how about a quick review.
thanks for the feedback, will definitely give the marantz and denon models specified a close listen with similar speakers, too bad my dealer doesn't sell the hk or yamaha T_T
The latest Denons (3805, all the 06's and the new 2807) seem to be able to grab a hold of speakers with far more authority than their earlier efforts which weren't particularly good in my view. This is why the latest Denons cope much better with 4-ohm loads than their older counterparts.
The B&W 600 series is not bright but it is a bit lazy and needs an amp with really good control into awkward loads for them to sound any good at all. The 603 is particularly prone to boomy bass thanks to its extra drive unit and more complicated crossover. It's difficult to get refinement out of the 603 because of this and it often ends up sounding like a 'geezer speaker' because the amp used to drive it can't really control it properly.
I admit I haven't played with the 2807 yet, but the advance notices which don't get onto the street have been very interesting indeed. This amp is going to catch a few manufacturers on the hop - and it is just around the corner, so worth waiting for in my view.
Elderion, none of the B&Ws, except perhaps the 300 series, are bright. However, if you try to mix them with inferior electronics, they will shriek at you, particularly the 700 and 800 series.
I listened to the 600, 700 and 800 on Krells and only the 700 and 800 shrieked They are nice but after 10 minutes is all I can take before my ears gave up. I sat in there for over 3 hours comparing them with Dynaudio on the same system, no contest IMO. Admittedly the Krells are bright and I didn't listen to 700 and 800 on any other system but Krells.
Just my experience, but I agree with most people who think they are bright.
the 603 s3 is a 8 ohm i looked it up. so im not worried about that. as far as bright? i'm not an audiophile but i assume bright = harsh.. not sure here. i don't really consider my speakers to be harsh if thats what u mean by being bright cause i can listen to em all day long w/o fatigue but rather intrigue. i just need a receiver and my trigger finger is itching. i appreciate all the help and suggestions and you all pointed me in the right direction and i thank you all 100 times over for the help. But, now i believe i just have to listen. You have shown me the light, now i must decide for myself what to spend my hard earned money on :P thank you very much
