Audiophiles, I am a newbie to high end hifi equipment. I have always longed for a good system and have been trying to decide over the past one month. I go every Sunday trying to check out different systems and spend hours on the internet reading reviews. I originally wanted to buy a good stereo amplifer and then realized that for a little bit extra can buy an avr which I can play in stereo mode. Please tell me if this assumption is correct. My living room is about 26'X 30' and I have dedcued that a system between 75 wpc to 110wpc would be ideal. Is that coect? I listen to a wide range of music from classical to rock and also enjoy movies. I like listening to music at a low volume so that every instrument can be heard clearly without increasing the volume. I also however at times like to crank up the volume when I am listening to rock music or a movie with special sound effects. Based on what is available locally with service support, I researhed Marantz, Denon, Yamaha, Onkyo, NAD and Harman Kardon. I have finally zeroed in on trying to decide between the
Marantz SR 7500 or 7400 ( 7400 is cheaper dont know the difference though) On the down side- I have read that Marantz has a alow low bass response but the demo did no seem to sugggest that as I heard both models with Mordaunt Shaurt MS THX 502 floor stnders( built in subs) with 504 center and 506 surrounds and the bass sounded good. Any advice?
or Harman Kardon AVR 635 or HK AVR 7300
heard both with infiniti beta 50s and also with JBL studio L 80s also sounded good but this speake package is more pricy thatn the Mordaunt Shaurt.
I zeroed in on the above as I found that at low volumes both the Marantz and the HK provide constant and full range sound quality. This is based on a personal observation though I dont know what the tech specs say. Any advice would be welcome on
1) what is the right wattage to go for for the room size I mentioned 2) are the choices for the AVR fine based on what I want i.e. Marantz and HK 3) I want to spend on a good system so I do not need to upgrade later at least for another 3 to5 years so do these AVRs have it in them to be future proof for that period. I would rather go for a good sounding system rather than one which has feaures for the sake of features and which I would not necessarily use. 4) Any specific speaker combos with the above models that I mntioned i.e. the HKs and the Marantz. Budget about USD 1500 to 2000 for 2 floor stander speakers+ center+suround+sub and AVR.