If you say you have looked at a lot of threads, then you have probably seen that any receiver recommendation is almost entirely dependant on what speakers you have and what your budget is. If you give us this information, we can provide a much better recommendation.
Johnny is correct. To get good advice you need to provide the following info: the room dimensions, your budget on speakers and receiver---state if your budget includes other items--such as dvd player, etc.
Also, if your listening position is up against a wall, 5.1 works a lot better, as the 6th and 7th speakers are normally placed 2-4 feet behind your sitting position. Of course, it still makes sense to get a 7.1 receiver as you never know what changes you may make and the price of 7.1 receivers is nominally more expensive than 5.1 receivers.
Also, if you are going to spend between $700 to $1,000 on a receiver you should be prepared to spend at least double that on speakers if you want to get high quality performance.
The room is 24 x 24 feet carpet. I have Athena as-f2 front as-c1 center and 4 jbl e10's for now until athena starts sales on the new as-r1 for back speakers . also have 400 watt down fire sub that is digital. Dvd is progessive with HDTV and sony HdTV SAT system all digital.$1000 to $2000 is budget on reciever ( wide range ) Thanks Guys !!!
I just listened to an Athena set up at Best Buy the other day, but that was the first time I had ever heard them. In the store, they were paired with a Pioneer receiver (regular Pioneer, NOT Elite). To me, the sound was sort of bright...definately not a bad thing...just a quality of the setup. Not being able to hear the speakers with anything else, I do not know whether this brightness was from the speaker, the receiver, or some combination of both. I am very envious of your receiver budget...you can do very nicely with that money.
Since to me, the Athena's sounded kind of bright, I would recommend a more mellow sounding receiver to tame some of that brightness and give you a richer sound. I would recommend NAD, Pioneer Elite, or HK. In your budget, and considering you want a 7.1 setup, the NAD model you would be looking at would be the brand new T773 (retail around $1800, but you can find it cheaper), the Elite 55TXI, and the HK 7200 (I have heard here it is on closeout for a limited time for under $900) or the HK 630 (retail $1100).
Another thought, since your budget is so high, is to go with separates instead of a receiver. This is another matter entirely, and I am not very educated on separates, but I am sure others here can give you some great info.
The best 7.1 system? Has got to be the 10.2 Parasound Halo C1. (I think they sell it as a 7.1 with 4 "programmable" channels... one of them is another LFE channel, so i think it's really 10.2!)
I don't know... the B&K 507 looks very very nice too and that Yammie RZ9 (9.1) looks interesting as well.
I think I'm leaning towards the JVC rx-dp20 because it has THx ultra and video up conversion.the Nad seams to be for more music than movies. Since I use units for Sat HDTV and movies more than anything else. Also I like the RF remote for JVC.
I apologize in advance if I am in any way stepping on your toes here, but for the money, I think you can do much better than the JVC you mentioned. I just looked at it on their website, and they that model has a retail price of $2500. So unless you are getting some kind of huge deal on this receiver, for that amount of money, you could do much better. I realize that the JVC has a lot of features, and if that is what is going to make or break your decision...then that is perfectly fine...everyone has different priorities. For me, I didn't need the features so I was more concerned with sound quality. So, if you are looking for sound quality, I truly think you could do much better than JVC. As everyone probably knows, I am a big NAD advocate (and I disagree that NAD is more for music than movies...both sound awesome in my opinion...but that is of the subject), but I am not even going to try to push that on you. JVC makes nice equipment and lots of people are perfectly happy with them. I have a JVC VCR and it is wonderful. However, JVC is definately a mass market brand and is targeted toward the large electronics stores (i.e. BB and CC). They make everything from VCR's to TV's to Camcorders to DVD players and everything in between. Consequently, in terms of sound quality, they are spread too thin and thus not able to compete with the more specialized brands (i.e. NAD, Marantz, HK, Pioneer Elite, etc.) that are able to focus all of their recources and manpower toward producing high quality audio equipment.
Once again, I am not trying to tell you what to buy...I am simply trying to let you know that there are many other alternatives out there. I am sure that if you do end up buying that JVC, other than the fact that you will need to take out a second mortgage on your house, you will be very happy with it...but like I said, for that kind of money, I think sonically speaking at least, you would hear major differences between the JVC and some of the other more specialized brands. But in the end, go with what your ears tell you.
Good luck...and definately let us know what you decide on.
To tell you the truth, I really don't know what taking the grills off of the speaker does. Maybe I am naieve or something, but I have tried taking the grills off my PSB speakers, and I can hear no difference. It could be the acoustics of my room, but I really do hear no difference.
When I listened to the Athena's, the grills were on. I had just finished a long day of shopping the day after Christmas, and the Best Buy I was in had a nice couch set up in a surround sound demo area so I decided to take a load off for awhile...and the Athena's happened to be playing. I wasn't really interested in serious listening or playing around with too much...rather I just wanted a rest.
Ok, well I cant tell the difference either. But what I heard was that leaving the grills on would make the speaker sound more bright with them off. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Paradigm recommends leaving the grills on which like you guys said contradicts everything I've thought through the years, apparently they were designed this way and who am I to argue with their engineers.. Geekboy you hit the nail on the head with the Parasound Halos, when auditioning the Paradigm Studios the dealer was driving them with the Halo setup and man was it sweet.. Unfortunately out of my league price wise.. Settled on NAD T752 which has been a very nice setup..
Well I can get the JVC unit for $1385 includes ship , new with 2 year warrenty. I guess I will look at NAD again T773. I'm also looking at the Denon AVR4802R , Marantz 7400,Onkyo 989ver2 any more Ideas> Thanks !!!
Well I can get the JVC unit for $1385 includes ship , new with 2 year warrenty. I guess I will look at NAD again T773. I'm also looking at the Denon AVR4802R , Marantz 7400,Onkyo 989ver2 any more Ideas> Thanks !!!
Now I know i can get a Integra DTR 8.4 for $1385 with ship and a 3 year warrenty, also the person has a Marantz 8300 for same price. Any comments out there !!!
In this price range look at the Elitevsx55txi. This is a very warm,powerful receiver that includes firewire connections for future i-link situations. It can be had for under $1100 mail order at a few sites. This and all Elites are perfect matches for any speaker that is on the bright side. Of the other units mentioned I would prefer the Marantz and do not overlook the fact you can still get the H/K 7200 for under $1000 at a few sites also. This is a real powerhouse and a steal for the money. IMO it's the best buy available right now. I like the Integra and the Marantz 8300 also but for the money you can't beat the 7200 if it's got enough inputs for your needs.
ISS
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The Pioneer AX5 and AX10 are also highly capable AV amps. Although its stereo isn't great, its AV performance are among the best out there.
The HK 7200 Does not fit my input needs, its out !!!But I have found a Pioneer VSX-47TX that looks good. Is this a old unit?? They say its one step down from the 49TXI. Also the Onkyo TX-NR901 looks pretty good also. Any comments!!!
The Elite 47 is the second from the top in the last Elite series and if you can find it at a good price I would highly recommend you pick it up. This is a true powerhouse and is much more powerful than the Onkyo 901. What price have you seen the 47 for?
Butch et al, Some of you have probably seen this rant of mine before but in light of the talk with Butch about the 7200 and the fact it doesn't have enought inputs for his needs[like me] I wish to say again how ridiculous it is for a unit priced like the 7200[$1999 list] to have only 6 inputs. NAD and Rotel also are very skimpy on their inputs and this just ticks me off because I can't even consider these 3 brands at all. Even the B&K 507 has only 7 inputs and that's not enough for me either and it't a very expensive receiver. Very disappointing.