Can any of you experts out here give me some review or rating on the Onkyo/Integra recievers and how it is measure up against any of other brand ?
The one I am leaning on to make a purchase in the near future is either Integra DTR 6.5 or Integra DTR 7.1. I am planning to use this receiver with my exsiting speaker system:
Front Centre : Bose VCS-10 L/R Front: Jamo 98 (6 Ohms) L/R Surround: Jamo 200 (8 Ohms)
I know I will have to buy another set of Jamo speakers + a Sub to make it a 7.1. But for now I will have to live with what I have got. Any advise is greatly appreciate. Thanks guys.
In addition to my previous post, I will be using it more for Home Theatre rather than listening to music. Let just say 80% for movies and 20% for music.
Don't have personal direct experience with them, but the Integra receivers are not the best quality for the money from what I've read.
As for Onkyo, I did own a 601 which I exchanged for a Marantz because I am a 80% music listener. Onkyo is fine for HT which is not as demanding, though they are known to fudge their power ratings like many of the Japanese brands.
Since you're doing mainly HT, I'd go with the Pioneer 1014 at $350 shipped from jandr.com, and put the savings into upgrading the speakers which is where you will definitely hear the biggest difference for the money...especially the Bose center is the first thing I'd upgrade, those are absolutely horrendous and the center speaker does 70% of the work for HT.
You could even go with the $190 Pioneer 515 from vanns.com and spend the $150 savings on a Dayton 10" subwoofer from partsexpress.com which by most accounts is the best under-$300 sub out there.
Thanks for your fast reply & advise Edster22. You are great.
I think you are right, yesterday I had a chance to listen and do some comparison at an other Audio store with both the Intergra DTR 7.1 & Denon AVR 2805 with the KEF speaker sets. I think the Denon came out as the winner as its sound is a lot cleaner than the Integra and for listening to music the Denon is just as good as to some of other brand. Both the Integra & the Denon have the same price tags, roughly $1199 + Tax in Canadian, I (live in Canada).
I will take your advise to put a little more money into the speakers. Yeah, the BOSE centre of my wasn't that great at all but I can't get real of it because It was gave it to me as a Christmas present 10 years ago by my girlfriend was then and now is my wife You don't want to mess with the lady huh...........
Anyway , I have another question for you:
What do you think of those Pioneer Elite VSX series ? Are they any good ? I think one of my brother inlaw own one (VSX40 or VSX4, I am not to sure which one) and he also using it with Jamo speakers. The sound is not bad at all for both Music & HT. Please give me some advises or any of your opinion.
You're welcome! I see myself as sort of being on a humanitarian mission especially for Bose victims I guess. : )
For 80% movies I think a Pioneer Elite would be overkill as would a Denon, my bet is you'll be more than happy with the 1014. The Elites are very nice receivers, no question.
What you can do with your Bose if you absolutely CANNOT get rid of it because of your wife is use it in the back as the surround center in a 6.1 configuration...the front center though is the workhorse of any HT system and that's where you don't want to make any compromises.
My recommendation is the Ascend 340 center, and if your budget allows pair it with either their 340 mini-towers or their 170 bookshelf speakers. (ascendacoustics.com) But that center speaker by itself is really amazing: voices come out totally clear and natural, I end up not having to crank up the volume as much to understand the dialogue of movies or TV. It'll be probably about six times the size of your Bose center but will give you about sixty times better performance.
I know I said I would use the receiver 80% for movie, 20% for music, but when I listen to music I like to listen to Guitar Instrumental, so I want a good sound too. Any other recommendation ?
If you listen to a lot of fine instrumental music, I'd strongly recommend the Ascend 170s (340s if you have a big listening room) for your fronts, they excel at producing the sort of crystal clear natural mids that such music requires.
You don't want to mess with the lady huh...........