Monitor Audio Speakers with Pioneer Elite Receiver a good match?
Fab 5
Posted on
Hello all.
I just purchased Monitor Audio Silver series home theater speakers. The LCR center, the S6 front left and right, and the fx left and right surrounds. Since there are only 3 walls in the room I plan on adding the rear left and right surrounds as well. The problem is, picking out the right receiver. The salesperson recommended the Pioneer Elite VSX-53tx for what I want. The store chain didn't carry this brand, only Denon, Yamaha, and Sony ES models. I currently have a Denon from my first system, but it doesn't cut it with the Monitor's. Anyone have any input? All help is appreciated.
Anonymous
Posted on
I have the Monitor Audio Bronze (B2s and Centre), and my Onkyo receiver works well with it.
If you are buying from a chain store they may have a return/exchange policy if you don't like it. So you may be able to try it and return it if you don't like it (just watch out if they have a restocking fee, etc).
Yamaha makes good receivers (I think that they have a high and low end). Also the Sony ES are the higher end Sony which are nice. I'm not particular to Denon, but some like them.
Hawk
Posted on
Fab 5:
Nice choice on the speakers--you will enjoy them with the right electronics.
Stay away from Denon, Yamaha and Sony ES. The MA speakers are bright sounding and so are those three brands of receivers. Makes for a bad combo. They are also a bit shy on the power and the MAs like power.
I do recommend Pioneer Elite as a good matching receiver for your speakers (stay away from the 41, however). Also recommend H/K 525 or 7200, and the Marantz 7300. Enjoy!
elitefan
Posted on
I have a Monitor Silver system with a Elite vsx45 and I can tell you It is a perfect match. The vsx55 is the replacement for the 45 and that is what I would recommend but if you don,t have a turntable the 53 would be great also. The Elite has a warm but very balanced sound that brings out all the Monitors strong points without being bright or harsh. Great on movies and music both. Can,t recommend an Elite strongly enough with Monitors. Sounds like you may have to buy one mail order or on-line so make sure about the warranty and return policy.
elitefan
Posted on
P.S., Stay away from Denon, Yamaha and Sonyes. They are all terrible with Monitors.
Fab5
Posted on
Thanks you so much for your valuable information and time Hawk and Elitefan. From all the posts I see, you two are clearly my personal databases. You guys rock!
G-Man
Posted on
Heck--I have had for the past year a Pioneer Elite 49TXi and a Pioneer Elite DVD 47ti and 2 pr of Monitor Audio GR10's and a GR center channel and a HSU VTF-3 subwoofer. It sounds incredible. I love the Monitor Audio GR10's. There are speakers I like better in stereo--but there are no speakers I like better in surrround.
I prefer Joseph Audio 7si Mark 2's bookshelves in stereo--but they are more expensive. It is about as flawless a speaker as I have ever heard. I also own a pair of PROAC Response 2's downstairs that sound great in stereo. But I've owned them for about a decade and even then they listed for $3K. But they are beautiful in that rosewood finish. The Monitor Audio GR10's look very nice in rosemah finish--they aren't in the same league as the Proac's.
The Monitor Audio is somewhat brighter and has off-axis flaws in listening--which is true of most speakers. However, when you add the Monitor Audio center channel it removes all those flaws and the music just floats in air seemingly placed perfectly. Since the center channel is horizontal it must fill in the off-axis sound.
The S6 is an excellent speaker. In my opinion I can not think of another speaker that compares to it in its price class. Anyway I have the S8 and Gold Ref 20 which I use for both 2 channel music and home theater. I purchased the S8 about a year ago and then about 4mnths ago purchased the Ref20. For the first few months I was using the S8 along with the SLCR for my fronts in the home theater config. With the addition of the Ref20 the S8 have been moved to the rear. I drive them with an Harman Kardon AVR520. This combination I highly recommend. This receiver works great for home theater and very good for 2 channel music although I am in the process of going to a high end 2 channel integrated for 2 channel since I have the gold ref 20s. Another excellent combination would be B&k equipment. You might want to look over on Audiogon for some good deals. Also always remember that speaker placement and good cables/interconnects are also extremely important. I run a pair of Zu Cable Wax biwires into mine and wow do they ever make a difference. Good luck
i am thinking of purchasing a pioneer elite 49txi and i would relly like to hear some opinions from people that have them!also if anyone knows anything about the upcoming 59txi i would like to knou the difference between the two receivers! thank you!
NeilR
Posted on
Press releases highlight two major differences. -Dolby Pro Logix IIx -USB Port for Windows Media 9 -Advanced MCACC
Not sure about the USB port but if you IIx is supposed to be the best for 7.1 sound. You will be paying a premium. Pioneer won't say if they are going to make IIx available for the 49txi.
G-Man
Posted on
I imagine the 49TXi will be discontinued. They dropped it from their site of current receivers.
Besides what Neil said above, all surround processing has been improved from 48 kHz to 96 kHz for much greater sound resolution. (DTS-ES discrete and Dolby Digital EX are processed at 48kHz).
The remote is upgraded too.
You will probably get a much better deal on the 49TXi--either new or used. Even used models are at most a month to a little more than a year old. Main thing they will be missing are Pro Logic IIx.
And with either model you can take advantage of the universal i-link Pioneer DVD players--the 47AVi, or the soon to be released 59AVi, which will have HDMI and T-REX chip which upgrades standard DVD pixels of 480 to HDTV.