Hi all, I am not technicaly savy on all the recievers available. I purchased a pair of Bowers & Wilkins DM602.5 (towers), LCR3 (center). I have a old Sony STRD615 that i need to upgade. I have been looking at the Sony STR-DE898/B, but am not so sure on Sony after reading some posts hear. I am concidering purchasing the sub also from B&W to keep a matched set of speakers (is this necassary). Am looking for input on a reciever. I will mostly use for home theater. Looking to spend around $3-$400 for reciever.
I can't help you on the receiver since I am on the other side of the pond and don't know prices on your side particularly well. That said, I know that edster would suggest he gets great results from his $230 Panasonic XR55. Other brands to look at would be Denon, Pioneer and Onkyo. They all make keenly priced product. I know the Denons and they are very good value for money and have just launched a new range so this is a good time to look at them. You may also wish to consider the NAD brand which I vaolue for the more musical aspects of its presentation (although Denon seems to be catching up here).
The B&Ws are easy to drive so power is not a big issue, though a little bit of grip is nice since the B&Ws can be a little over-enthusiastic in the bass. I am not a fan of the B&W subs, finding they have too much presence due to cabinet colouration. I would suggest you look at Velodyne, REL and M&K since I know those brands well and they're very good. Others may suggest SVS and HSU which are internet-only brands I believe.
Skip anything in the Sony "DE" line. Please take a look at Pioneer Elite and HK, which would do justice to your excellent speakers. The sub choices in the previous post would be great.
To answer one of your questions - you do not need to "match" a sub. The other channels should be matched - front, center, surrounds; the sub can be any sub.
Dont get a Sony receiver. The onkyo 503 (Or the 603x for just a little bit more money) would be excellent choices, as would a pioneer. The Onkyo 603x is a great receiver, very full featured and only costs about $500 (MSRP). As far as the sub goes, you can match it if you want to, but I would look into a Velodyne. Depending on how much you want to spend, the DPS10 (~$450) or DPS 12 are awesome subs for the money. If you don't want to spend that much, their VRP1000 or VRP1200 are great subs, as are many out there. Go to a retail store and play around with them.
I would avoid that Sony receiver. While that specs on paper appear nice, you will never get anywhere near the 100wpc that they advertise.
My experience with the DE line is that they have lots of Home Theater features and are brain dead easy to use, BUT, they are woefully underpowered, have tiny power supplies and capacitors and as a result sound THIN and distort when pushed. That is they have little bass and are shrill on the high end.
For the same price as that 898, you could get an Onkyo 603, Edster's favorite Panasonic xr-55, an HK 140, Denon 1805, all of which you might be a bit happier with. Go out and do some listening see how you like them.
Hey i don't know if you had a hi fi dealer close, but if you do you may wish to consider buying a used reciever. If you have a reputable dealer close you may be able to get something better used than something new in that price range. Just an idea for you.
Ken 737
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Posted on
Thanks for all the responses, I have been looking and comparing on line now for a couple days. The Pan XR55 has some pretty good reviews for the money. However I am looking at the Onkyo TXSR702, It looks like this one could handle pretty much anything I want to add down the road as far as additional speakers etc. Its a bit more than I want to spend, (Circuit City $524 on line), but should last me many years. Any one have any thoughts on this model, price comparable to other models? P.S....Im glad I found this forum, You all seem pretty eager to help from the posts I have read.
In the $500-600 or so I'd look at either the Yamaha rxv-657/757, Harman Kardon 435 (refurb from Harman Audio on eBay), or Marantz 5500/5600 (hifi.com or accessories4less.com).
I currently have the Sony STR-DE898 and was looking at purchasing some decent floor standing speakers and a center speaker to go with this receiver. I, too, have seen quite a few negative comments about this receiver, but I haven't had any problems with it and have been running my Polk Audio cubes for about a year (RM6750). I was auditioning the Klipsch Reference series and someone mentioned some Athena's which I will attempt to listen to. Why do people rag on this receiver so much? Not enough power, bad components, etc??
You can ask around on any number of audio forums: except for the overpriced ES line, Sony receivers (home as well as car audio) do not have a good rep. Like Onkyo their strongest point is ease of use (though to be fair Onkyo is still better). The only Sony products I'd buy would be their TVs and digital optics.
Ken737
Unregistered guest
Posted on
O.K. gang....I have it narrowed down to the Yamaha RXV757, or the Pioneer VSX1015TX. I listened to the Yamaha @ local supplier but they only had the Elite Pioneer model which is out of price range I want to spend. I like the reviews I have been reading for the Pioneer. I haven't seen many coments on Pioneer. What are your opinions on the 2 models I mentioned...pro's/con's. Again I will use mostly for home theater so I need all the plug ins which both appear to have.
Thanks again for your input and ill let you know which one I decide on.
well I figure that since Frank in post #2 already mentioned the Panny, the OP has therefore had the opportunity to look into it if he so desires.
Plus I have less time these days and generally feel lazy after the last several weeks. LOL
Ken737
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Posted on
I was just @ the local Best Buy and looked @ the Pioneer VSX1015TX, Price $511.00, almost purchased on sight. All the trusted online suppliers are out of stock for lower price. Came home and looked it up on Best Buy's website, and got it for a price of $463.49 along with choosing in store pickup and not shipping. So Sunday I'll be going back to pick it up!!! Still have not decided on a sub yet...
Anonymous
Posted on
I agree some of the sony range products are dull and far from Hi-FI. However STR D615 is not a bad analogue receiver from that end of the market. Decent for the price if speakers follow but as you all said nowhere near the Pioneer, onkyo etc.. As for the top end I believe only consider the ES line but yes it is very much overpriced.
As I origionaly posted, I am not tech savy so I appreciate all the posts. I learned a lot by reading many of the prior threads from everyone. So...I now have the Pioneer VSX1015TX, thank god for the auto speaker calibration (worked great for me) I think it still needs some manual tweaking but good enough for now. As said, prior I have the B&W, DM602.5, LCR3. After reading multiple reviews of the SVSPB10-ISD Sub, I purchased it. Arrived in 3 days, (thanks Frank for mentioning SVS). Again...I know I need to get a tech. to tweak things....but WOW!!! I've watched "The Matrix" many times but what a difference!!! I feel I cant stop now and need to get rear speakers. Question is....whith my listed speakers, what would you suggest for the next set of speakers for the back/surround. The set up is not in an enclosed room, my living area is open to the kitchen area etc. As far as money...well I've already spent over $900 on front, $400 center, $429 sub....so why stop now...lol
You should stick within the B&W brand, and preferably the DM600 series, to ensure they're timbre matched. The smallest is the DM600 which is a lovely little speaker and will work well both near ans far from a rear wall. The DM600 can hang on the wall too (it is supplied with a little bracket to hang on a hook). If you want something more comparable, you can opt for 601s through to 602.5s...
Incidentally, I said others may suggest SVS, not myself since I've never heard them! I hope you're happy with the unit you bought.
Regards, Frank.
Hung N
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Posted on
Firstly, I must say sorry to the Sony STR-DE898 fans.
I bought a Sony STR-DE898 for my kids entertainment set-up. After 3 days in use I returned it to the shop - not happy.
My reasons for giving up the Sony STR-DE898 are:
1. The loudness is not adequate for my liking... I run it with a good set of floor standing speakers with Monster cables. In order to get decent loudness when watching TV at 3 m away the volume reached 50% (37/75?), or 80% (60/75) to get loud CD music on 2 front channels. I am confident that the speakers are not the issue here. I know I should not drive any amps that hard... This is just for testing. Perhaps Sony has over-rated its power.
2. Component video up-conversion or switching did not seem to work well (or not working at all at times). I connected a VCR, an Xbox, and a DVD player to it. Only component video connections go out to the TV from the receiver. Watching DVD is fine (using components video and digital coax audio connections). However, when I switched to TV via the VCR's tuner, or to the VHS video or the Xbox... I got a corrupted screen picture (bits of the picture in a few square inches blocks scatter all over the screen) and eventually the screen went blue/blank but the sound was still going. After resetting the receiver memory it works fine for a while. The unit feels hot on top and I don't know if this problem is heat/design/built related or just specific to this unit. Ventilation certainly is not a problem.
3. Remote control. Does not seem to work with my other gears as stated (like my 3 days old Panasonic TX-32F250A TV). This was after going through manual reading and several attempts in programming.
My other system consists of a Yamaha DSP-A1 (approx 4 years old) and I still like it very much... Perhaps I should get a Yamaha RXV657 or RXV757 instead... and the kids can leave my DSP-A1 alone :-)
I have a pair of Paradigm Legend v.3 in the front and a pair of Paradigm Mini Monitor v.3 for surround. When i listen to music i prefer stereo and when i watch dvd's i like surround. I currently have my cd player hooked up to an eq for stereo and my DVD player hooked up directly to my reciever via digital input. My living room is very awkward in shape and i am having trouble equalizing the Legends for stereo. I am fairly new to this and I was wondering if there is a specific trick to equalizing the fronts. The surround is easy, i measured exactly how far each speaker was from my listening/watching spot and put them into the reciever. In stereo the distance cannot be entered and I must use an equalizer and I cannot get it right, any suggestions?
