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| Hi, I am new at home theater. I like Bose Am15 at this stage. Which A/V receiver is best with this? Thanks |
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| I have a surround sound receiver Pioneer VSX-455. I recently moved and set up my system the same way it was previously installed. Everytime I attempt to play any component - radio/CD/or tape machine, after about 5 minutes the systems shuts off and the receiver says OVERLOAD. What could be wrong? I checked all the connections to components and speakers, everything seems intact. |
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| Lallu: I've been reading some pretty discouraging and negative things about Bose speakers (...mainly WAY overpriced and not worth the money); but that is a personal preference as to what you may like. As for the receiver, it depends on what you want to spend; but in the $400-$500 price range you should look into the Denon 1803, Kenwood 6070, Onkyo SR600, and Pioneer 811S. I recently decided on the Kenwood VR-6070. Patti: The first thing I'd check is the troubleshooting section of the manual or on their web site. |
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Don_in_NC | This is my first visit to this site. I have enjoyed reading and learning, but, one thing has become obvious. All the message boards, reviewer sites, opinions, etc on audio products seem to as different as night and day. I've just been to 2 others sites and found nothing but praise and high accolades for the Yamaha 5560. Can't even find it mentioned in here but maybe once. I was all ready to buy this thing as a upgrade to a rather lousy Sony STR-DE575. Then i come here and see HK and Denon praises. I don't want to spend over $500 as I'm not a real audiophile and have other areas of interest, but when i put a DVD in, I want to hear distinct sounds from all the speakers. I want to also have accurate sound for CD's with lots of sparkle and clarity in the highs, good voice reproduction in middle and enough bass to know when a earthquake is coming in a movie, but i dont' have to have my windows rattled or my bones jarred..and i don't play RAP, so don't need it for that. so, is the yamaha 5560 a piece of junk to you guys? I can get it for $328 and I just love that idea. I got a cheap Yamaha YST subwoofer, decent Atlantic Technology rear surrounds, and Polk towers for front. |
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| Don, The 5560 is NOT crap at all. In fact at one point it (and it's bigger brother the 5590) were strong contenders on my list. The list also included the Onkyo SR700/800, and the unit I finally decided on, the HK AVR525. First, you need to know that I am in love with my HK. I won't try and sway you as some useless posters will, but I am amazed with my choice. It was $1000 and I won't buy another for 10 years, but the sound and build quality are amazing. If you can, I suggest a head to head shoot out with your favorite Yamaha and a HK at the same price point. With that said, I have read nothing but excellent reviews about that particular model. In fact, unlike the 5590 you actually get 6.1 pre-outs so you can remain fairly future-proof with your investment. You get excellent DSP (wasn't a big deal for me), excellent tweakability (maybe too much), and nice build and sound quality from the demo I gave it. The reason I didn't bite on it was that I found the sound with music to be "love it or hate it" when played through the 5560/90. On some material it was crispy and detailed with great separation, on other content it was on the brighter side of say Onkyo, Denon, and HK. One of reasons you can't find too many reviews is that Yamaha has an odd naming convention with multiple "lines" that go to different retailers. The RX1300 is the exact same receiver as the HTR5590, and so the 1200 may be the 5560, or at one point that's what I was lead to believe. Definitely check the Yamaha site. Give it a listen, and if the sound is nice for your wallet, enjoy! No one here with a clue would call that reciever a piece of crap. -h1pst3r |
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| I am knew to Home theater. I presently own a Marantz 4140 Quad stereo with Large Cerwin Vega speakers- great loudness when I was hippie in the 70's. Now I am an old guy sort of speak and want rich clarity (not too loud -I can't believe I said that) I am thinking Paradigm speakers and cannot make up my mind on the reciever. In testing and doing research, I really liked the Yamaha until I heard Harmon Kardon and fell in love with it. Then I read opinions that Denon and Marantz are even better than HK. Well I know my oldMarantz is a worthy performer. I am wondering if there is any objective comparisons done on the net that would help and I would also appreciate any and all opinions. Finally- I agree with hlpst3r on calling the yamaha a piece of crap- Just isn't so.. I recently read someeone's opinion call Harmon Kardon "junk" - I mean if we are going to do that then what are we calling "truly bad recievers", John |
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Phil Krewer | I got into the home theater game about 5 months ago. I've tried sevral recievers, including 3 Yamahas, 2 onkyos, a HK and finally a Denon. My opinion in desending order is: 1. Denon 3803 2. Onkyo 797 3. Yamaha 5490 4. HK 520 5. Tied. Yamaha 5560, Onkyo 600 None of them were Junk. Phil |
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| Don i think you need a Kenwood VR_6070.. You can find them online from an autherized Kenwood dealer for 420 or less. Thats with the full 2 year warrenty from the manufacturer. You need to read threw that 600+ thread on the Kenwood. Dont waste your money.. THis baby has all the power,pre-outs and everything else for future proff and upgradability...plus THX Ceritified Select. You can run 6.1 now or 7.1 with the pre-outs. DPL-II and circle surround II plus some.. The best bang for the buck that i know of. |
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| I was sold on the 6070 until I heard it in stereo on msuic. Remarkably disappointing. I think the Kenwood is more feature driven than quality driven, but take no one's word for it...give a listen. At the end of the day it was the HK AVR525 that sounded best in my space...that's what I chose after returning an ONk. Good luck, -h1pst3r |
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| Umm... h1pst3r, the HK AVR525 is a $1000 buck reciever. The HK are known for great sound with music. I hope for that much it sounds good in stereo! But we are talkin about a HT reciever right? If i had the cash i'd prob grab one of those insted since i've heard one at the store and yeah great for music with all those amps. Everyones ears are different, and i dont think its right comparing a 400 dollar unit to a 1000 dollar one. I own 3 matching Bose Acussticmas sets for the front,center,rear and rear centers.. All sound great to me matched with a Kenwood VR_6070 reciever. Maybe ya just needed to play with the reciever a little and read the manual on how to set it up and run it correctly. |
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| Hi eclypse, Actually thanks to you and some of your cohorts over on the 6070 thread, I was "this close" (holding fngers really close together) to getting the 6070. I recall a couple of weeks ago thinking that the 6070 rep'd about the best value out there for an HT receiver...and I still believe that. You make an excellent point about the 6070 and for $400 it's untouchable IMHO. In my case, I finally worked through all my contortions and just felt that if I was in the rarified air of the +$500 recievers (6070 was $599 at Crutch...I know they're expensive), that I should frankly spend more and not have to deal with what I may or may not perceive as "compromises" (and I DO NOT think the 6070 is a compromise AT ALL) At the end of the day I STILL did not feel that the 6070 was a compromise, but while offering THX, it did not have some of the higher-end features "I" needed: 7.1 speaker-out, A-BUS, 192khz DACS, triple-crossovers, digital bass-management, MP3 decoding, no-compromise stereo music. Actually Eclypse, I owe you some thanks for helping to proliferate the 6070 thread here on e-coustics...you guys cover just about every issue related to HT in that thread and I learned my butt off. Thanks for your consistently good posts! -h1pst3r *PS, I've been an audio enginner, software DSP programmer, musician, and worked in broadcast for a decade...I *think* I know how to "set it up" correctly ;-) |
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| Thx.. Sound like you made the right choice for yourslef with your audio background! With those ears of yours, nothing less would of satisfied you! The HK AVR525 is one hell of a reciever! If there was a way in hell to put a grand in my hands i would of grabed one no doubt. have a good one! |
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| Eclypse, One thing I'd honestly love to know about THX in the 6070...and be honest. Do you hear an appreciable difference in THX-EX versus DD-ES and DTS-ES...I am really interested? Keep'on posting! Cheers, -h1pst3r |
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| heh wish you would of asked me that earlier in the day.. I just got done watching Star Wars: Phantom Menace in THX Surround EX.. I was thinkin then about switching back and forth from that to DD 5.1 EX and see if there was a difference in the way cool Pod racing sceen, but i was too busy freakin out at how great it sounded! I guess i could just pop the DVD in again and just play that sceen over with both formats and see or hear the sound difference. ;) report back soon. |
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| Well.. i just got done watching the pod race sceen over and over with both DD 5.1 EX and DD THX surround EX and i couldnt tell a single difference between the 2 period.. i tried my damnist too! I watched a little part and would rewind and play it again in the other sound format... nothing different.. Did that for like 20 mins.. hell i was thinkin maybe its becuase of the pause in between the switch so i'd freakin switch as fast as i could in the middle of the sceen, nothing... though i got good at chaning the sound format real fast hehe. Umm.. i even watched the begining THX certifed opening with the huge THX and lightning both in each format.. Still couldnt tell.. i dont know... i remember everone saying that theres no difference in between DD 5.1 EX and DD THX EX but i read over at www.THX.com that theres some major differences. Heres a link right to the artical. http://www.thx.com/mod/techlib/surroundEx.html I'm sure if i had some better speakers or an THX optimized rear channel reciever insted of the old one i'm useing for the rear i might hear something hehe. |
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| Ok wait a minute! I've finally heard the difference! Durring the light saber fight with Darth Maul you could hear it! It sounded way better with the DD THX Surround EX on then the DD 5.1 EX. It sounded more real and more centered cuase i could hear it more from the rear.. and there was more bass as well from the rear. When i listened to it with DD EX it sounded more hollow and bright. Figures.. i probably couldnt hear the difference durring the pod race cause everything was so loud with the rear center channel blowin out my ears hehe.. Wow.. not bad with my setup of older bose AM7,AM5 series II,AM3. I'm sure you could probably tell the difference more in a larger room then mine. Mine is 11'L by 15' 6" W by 7' T. Its really 22' long but just half of it is the living room where i watch movies. |
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| Eclypse, you're awesome for testing that...and I laughed my butt off imagining you switching really, *really* fast (I've done the samething while my wife was rolling her eyes on the couch). I also read that DD-EX and THX-EX are very similiar, but I wondered about the Re-EQ, timbre matching, etc, etc with THX. Hmmmm, now I am glad I didn't let THX drive my buying decision. Talk soon and thanks again! -h1pst3r |
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| Ahhh, nice job, I just saw your most recent post. Good thinking moving to another passage with differrent dynamics and speaker spread. I'd guess that it's the additional compression in the DD fields that may be the cause, though it just may be that THX does an especially good job at reducing the surround "brightness" that seems to be inherent in cinema soundtracks. I guess the next best comparison would be with DTS-ES Discrete which is less compressed that DD. Thanks again, and I've already referred another poster to your comparison. "the thing about those 6070-guys, is that they're fanatics...they'll try anything!" That's my quite for you...Be cool! -h1p |