I am new to the whole audiophile hobby and I am wondering which of these receivers will be the best for me. I watch mostly movies, however I do enjoy listening to music as well. My speakers are Infinity, but I do not know the name of the series. I purchased them with a Yamaha receiver from HiFI Buys about 7 years ago. If anyone can help me decide I would greatly appreciate it.
update...I plan on buying the Onkyo ht sks 510 home theater speaker syatem. Can anyone give me some advice on the receivers I listed earlier? I am leaning Onkyo and Pioneer.
Not necessarily. I am ok with 6.1, I picked the Onkyo and Pioneer for the THX and the fact that they both seem to get good reviews. However, the Denon has been portrayed as a great receiver. I mainly want to use it for my HDTV and DVDs.
For $500 your choices are somewhat limited if you want both a good amp and home theater processing. I just purchased the Pioneer VSX-2012k (same exact specs as the VSX-45tx--I purchased the build sheet from Pioneer to be sure) for $650. The VSX-914 has the MCACC which is great to automatically adjust your system settings, but lacks the power of the MOSFET amp (which is why I am upgrading). Pioneer is coming out with the VSX-1014 in August which appears to be exactly like the VSX-53 and will retail for $700, so ~$400 in stores. The VSX-43 and the VSX-53 are identical except the VSX-53 adds two custom memory modes for the MCACC. The VSX-45 adds RS-232 and USB inputs and the VSX-55 adds i-Link (firewire) to connect an i-link DVD player. My best friend purchased the Onkyo TX-SR701 and is very pleased with the audio sound, but still doesn't have the home theater tuned to his liking after months of trying different settings. If I was a patient man, I would have waited for the VSX-1014 and saved some money, however, I am not and my birthday is next week
It seems then my best choice is probably the Pioneer 43tx or wait for the vsx 1014. Do you think the 1014 is a better eceiver than the the 43tx. I know the 43tx comes with THX certification, which is one of the reasons I have interest in it. The MCCAC is a nice feature but I know I can get the speakers set up by buying a doo-dad (can't remember the name of the instrument) at Radio Shack to set the speakers up to my listening area.
The VSX-1014 is also select certified (list can be found at thx.com). A db meter will ensure the sound level from each of the speakers is the same (with your adjustment), but not that the sound across them is flat (a db meter is always a good device to have to check the MCCAC's setttings, but it should be fairly accurate). The MCCAC also performs a 5 band equalization function across the 7 speakers, detects the range and size of speaker (small/large), delay, as well as distance from the sweet spot. Granted, you may need to tweak it a bit, but it really speads up the set-up process. I looked for a VSX-43tx, but could not fine one still for sale which I why I opted for the VSX-2012-K.
The Denon is a great receiver (I auditioned the 2803 and the 3805 appears to be better from the reviews) and worth your time in comparing. At this point, you can go into an Elite store and compare it against the VSX-53 or VSX-55--the sound quality should be the same across them (same amp as the VSX-43, 45, 1014, 2012, etc).
