I have Polk RM2300 speakers and want to upgrade my receiver from about a 15 year old Technics.
I have it narrowed my search down to either a lower end HK, Pioneer Elite vsx52 or the Marantz 5400. I also may have an opportunity at a Marantz 7200 or Marantz 7300 OSE at a reduced price. I'm 90% music and 10% DVD. ANY help at all would be much appreciated. Thanks!
All that you mentioned are very good choices to go with your Polks except the Marantz 7200. This is a very underpowered receiver and nowhere near in the class of it's successor the very good 7300. If you can get the 7300ose at a good price that would be the best of the bunch followed by the Elite 52 and Marantz 5400.
Johnny K
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Posted on
Thanks Elitefan! However, I'm going to show my ignorance on this stuff for a minute. In my house, this is going to be a MAJOR purchase (and of course not one fully understood by my wife), so I better be right.
Why the 7300 OSE over the 5400??? I've heard such good things about Marantz, so I'm leaning toward them over Pioneer Elite, but would love to hear why the Elite is so much better than regular Pioneer and the 73 over the 54....if you have time to help. I REALLY appreciate it.
First to the Marantz. The 5400 is a very good receiver and a very good bargain but is not to be compared with the 7300ose. That is 2 steps up the line and the ose version is an upgraded version with copper chassis, connectors, internal upgrades etc. A very extrodinary receiver. If you find it at a good price it would be hard to pass up. Now to the Pioneer and Elite's. The Elite line is a huge step up from the regular Pioneer line as they use completely different power supplies, dsps,dacs etc and the build quality is far superior. The top of the regular line, the 1014 is kind of an exception but still not the same as the Elite's internally. The December issue of Home Theater has a review of the the Elite 52 and gives it very high marks. I would suggest you choose between the 7300ose and the Elite 52. I am interested in what price you have been quoted on the 7300ose. Also take a look at dynaco.com at their super low Elite prices and maybe you can swing the Elite 54 from them.
One more thing. No matter which of these fine units you buy you will have made a HUGE improvement over that ancient and very mediocre Technics. Have fun and good luck.
Question: If you're 90% music and 10% DVD, why not buy a decent stereo amp? If you spend the same amount on the stereo amp as a surround receiver, the quality of the components should be better simply because you've spent the same amount of money on less components. You could listen to the DVD player through the stereo outputs. OK, so it won't be surround sound, but it should be better musically than the alternative.
Actually your right, if Johnny K listens to 90% music and about 10% on movies. I would definetly recommend for him to look at a small integrated stereo amplifer, as it would sound ssssoooo much better than an AV receiver, look at Rotel, Arcam and Nad... for $500 I'm sure he'd find a capable amplifier
Johnny K
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Posted on
Thanks everyone, but for now, the 90/10 split is due to an unfinished basement. Once completed, we're probably looking more like 60/40 or at least 70/30.
What about HK AV330 in comparison with the others? Any other advice in the same range would be appreciated too.
How to set up (Please Help) I have a Carver TFM-35 (2 channel amp), Denon AVR 2500 Receiver (5 channel) and a Polk Audio Sub PSW 404. The Denon receiver doesn't have a subwoofer output, but I needed the Polk Sub to be hook up so I can feel the bass when watching movies. Are there any other ways for me to get this Polk sub to be hook up and be useful, instead of have to buy another Receiver w/ the subwoofer output option. I'm running 2 main front speakers (RTi12 Polk directly to the Carver amp & the other 5 speakers to the receiver that had 5 channel. Please help me how to get the Polk sub hook up and how should the remaining 5 speakers to be hook up as well to get a decent sound. I'm just a rookie, but love the nice sound of music. Please help me. Greatly appreciated.
Thedark1
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I can't believe the Denon 2500 doesn't have a sub output. It's a past model so I can't find it on-line.
The Denon should have a section on the back labeled pre-outs. You use RCA cable to connect the front left and right pre-outs to the Carver amp. You plug the remaining 3 speakers into the speaker binding posts with speaker cable. There SHOULD be a subwoofer pre-out which you connect to the PSW404 with a subwoofer cable. Lastly you run speaker cable to the RTi12s from the Carver amp.
You also have the ability to Bi-Wire the Rti12s. For best results you would run speaker wire from the Denon to the top binding posts on the Rti12s, covering the highs, run the carver amp through the lower posts, covering the lows.