I'm in the market of buying a receiver for my HT. A lot of recomendation on Denon AVR3805. The Ascend's folks recommended Harman Kardon AVR 630. Anyone who has experience on these receivers please advice.
I went to Tweeter the other day and listener to Denon, Elite 53TX, and Yamaha. I think the Denon is warmer and better. I couldn't listen to Harman Kardon because they don't carry it. My target receivers are now Denon 3805 and Harman Kardon 630.
1. My room size: 23x14' with 2 windows, 1 door to the backyard. This room has a 6x6' openning to living room). No furniture in the room except the bookcase in the back to house DVD player, projector, and subwoofer.
2. Speakers 7.1 system Ascend CBM 170 as Front, 340c as Center and HTM 200 as Back and Surround, Hsu VTF 2 subwoofer.
My preference: I don't like it very bright but I can live with a somewhat bright system. It'll be used for 50% music and 50% HT
The Denon is warm, full and kind of detail. I listened to the Mirage speaker with all three of them. I don't think I'll go with the Yamaha. Comparing to the Denon, the Elite53 is brighter. Maybe someone will choose the Elite over the Denon. I personally think the Denon is better. The question now is how is it compared to the Harman Kardon 630 if it mates with Ascend CBM 170 speaker. I kind of prefer warm over bright but I think the condition of my room can't give me warm sound. So I try to avoid receiver that would be too bright and fatique to reduce the brightness.
Interesting. I haven't heard the new Denon, but the Elite 53 definitely is not bright or cold. It's clearly on the warm side with lots of power, but it lacks the fullness and dynamics of NAD and is maybe a bit metallic. The older Denons have a little 'loudness' sound wich tries to compensate the lack of lowest basses. Both are detailed and not tiring.
The Mirages are bright? yes? no? They might have affected your listening experience.
I have no experience on the new H/K line, but I hear some disturbing comments about it not beeing as warm as the models before. You should try it out anyway.
NAD and Marantz would be nice choices also, the new Marantz 8400 has lots of features and great warm but detailed sound. Try them also if you can.
I have used HKs for a few years now and they are warm and accurate. My room is very, very bright and find that only the HKs do well in this large open tile setting. I can't speak to the Ascend speakers though - sorry. I've used Athenas, Monitors, and others, and HKs always seem to do well. You may want to look at NAD or Rotel too. If you are going to spend the $$ on a HK 630 look hard at the NAD.
moab
Unregistered guest
Posted on
This was my debate also, today I just got the D 3805. Actually it was between the HK 7200 and the D3805. The HK 7200 is a awesome deal right now at onecall.com for only $800.00. The HK will have a lot more power. I just had a HK 510 and it is more powerfull then this 3805 i just got. But I think the 3805 might be a bit more clean sounding, but its really close. Its really a toss up.
I looked at the Marantz 8400 as landroval suggested and it sounds great. It's over my budget though so it can only be on my wish list. I didn't look hard the the NAD but I'll consider the T762 model as VJBora suggested. Since moab's comment on HK is good so I went to Circuit City for a listen and it sounds great (compare to Onkyo). They don't want to match price with online authorized dealer so I went home and ordered the HK 630 from onecall.com an hour ago. They have excellent deal on all receiver-either 10% off and free shipping or find the best price available which I chose. The 630 costs $724 including FedEx shipping so I will receive it on Friday or Monday. Can't wait! This receiver will replace my Aiwa DV75. I'll buy one more when my HT room is completed. My next target is the NAD T762 and Denon 3805. Hopefully their price will drop by the time I decide to buy (end of the year).
The HK 630 is a fine receiver and conservatively rated in power--has a lot of headroom. But if your room interacts with your speakers rendering a "hard" sound, there is no receiver that will appreciably change that. That is why God created rugs, drapes, tapestries, and other things that can soften the "hard" reverberations.
After the quality of the recording, the interaction of the speakers and the room determine 90% (or more) of what you hear. If your room is acoustically hard get an inexpensive throw rug and other "arty" things you like that will absorb and remove the "edginess" of a room that is too lively.
When I lived elsewhere many years ago I hung an arty rug on the wall, besides putting one on the floor. It looked great and it improved the sound many fold.
You have nice speakers--hopefully your room isn't too large for them. It should be okay, unless you listen at close to ear bleed levels. Make sure to get proper stands for the Ascend's as they are fairly small--you want them at ear level, so the stands should be taller than your average bookshelf stands.