Audiophile receivers?

bikes and beats · « **on:** 2 Feb 2007, 04:58 am »

Hello,
I've been in this game for awhile and recently I found myself with my bedroom-system standby in my main system! That's right, a Harmon Kardon stereo receiver that looks right, sounds okay and has a decent radio too! Is there anything out there as clean and convient with better resolution for just a little more money?

BradJudy · « **Reply #1 on:** 2 Feb 2007, 05:08 am »

How much money are we talking about? The Outlaw RR2150 comes to mind - http://outlawaudio.com/products/rr2150.html

bikes and beats · « **Reply #2 on:** 2 Feb 2007, 05:26 am »

I think that's great! Anything else out there I should look into? Any really great sounding digital receivers?

john1970 · « **Reply #3 on:** 2 Feb 2007, 11:28 am »

I always have had excellent luck with NAD products when looking for budget audiophile equipment. You might want to try the NAD C720BEE Stereo Receiver.

http://nadelectronics.com/products/hifi-receivers/C720BEE-Stereo-Receiver

Good luck,

John

Wayner · « **Reply #4 on:** 2 Feb 2007, 12:41 pm »

I bought a Marantz SR-4021 from Audio Advisor. Great FM and phono input for $430. 3 year warranty.

W

lcrim · « **Reply #5 on:** 2 Feb 2007, 02:03 pm »

I had an Arcam receiver a few, well perhaps more than a few years back. It was the 200 model and Arcam put more emphasis on the sound quality than on the bells and whistles. While there was the basics, the competition at the price point had a better feature set but the Arcam sound was significantly better. I would look used and see whats out there. Arcam tends to have pretty good build quality. I have been thinking about the Solo which puts an integrated, CD player, and I think a tuna into a single box w/ remote. On the pricey side but for my girl friends' house so that there is decent quality sound when I'm there.

bikes and beats · « **Reply #6 on:** 2 Feb 2007, 02:33 pm »

Word.
Decent sound in an attractive, easy to use box that the girlfriend/fiancee won't groan about using.
Thanks, Guys!

Mike Dzurko · « **Reply #7 on:** 2 Feb 2007, 05:10 pm »

I'd think twice about an "all in one unit" with CD combined w/ Rec. I bought a NAD for my wife a couple of years ago and it sounds good, but we've had costly problems w/ the CD player. Last time it was gone for months, and the repair bill was $160. Since the mechanical CD player is probably a lot more likely to fail, next time I will keep them separate . . .

honesthoff · « **Reply #8 on:** 2 Feb 2007, 05:23 pm »

I've been very pleased with my AMC 3100 integrated and T8 tuner. I prefered it to Music Hall's also very nice Maven receiver, and it was cheaper.

chao · « **Reply #9 on:** 9 Feb 2007, 02:28 pm »

Linn Classic Movie : tuner, cd, dvd, 6 ch-amp , multi-room , very musical.
You can get a used one for about 1200-1400usd.
Buy it and forget the rest.

Dan Driscoll · « **Reply #10 on:** 9 Feb 2007, 03:24 pm »

It depends on your budget. If the B&K 507 is in your range (new or used), it's really hard to beat. If that's too much, consider a used B&K 307. These are both HT receivers, but they are also excellent for stereo, IMO.

Sherwood-Newcastle makes some great 'bang for the buck' components, including HT and stereo receivers, as well as NAD.

fredgarvin · « **Reply #11 on:** 9 Feb 2007, 08:20 pm »

You should definately look at the Panasonic digital recievers. Amazon has the xr55. I have never used the tuner, but the audio surpasses recievers I have had, both 2 and multi channel. Good price as well. Do a search here for lots of info.

zapper7 · « **Reply #12 on:** 9 Feb 2007, 08:27 pm »

I have the Panny xr55, and my top of the line Sherwood absolutely kills it, and has video upscaling as well, not to 1080 or anything, but does a great job for me.

It replaced my Denon 3805.

Wayner · « **Reply #13 on:** 9 Feb 2007, 10:44 pm »

I have just received my Outlaw RR2150 receiver for the den. It took 5 minutes to program 20 FM stations. This thing is beautiful and powerful (100 watts RMS/channel, .03% harmonic distortion. It has a USB port in the back that I'm going to plug my laptop into in a while. I'm listening to FM right now and it's damn quite. Fit and finish are top notch.

I get the feeling this was built in the Marantz factory, but that is just a hunch but my Marantz SR4021 has some of the exact same accessories.

I have plugged my HK TT25 turntable into it with the Grado Gold Longhorn cartridge and will file a report later on that as the evening progresses.

This piece is impressive.

W

bikes and beats · « **Reply #14 on:** 9 Feb 2007, 11:58 pm »

Thanks Wayner!
I'm still thinking a stereo receiver is the best way to go. Anyone else have a comment on the Outlaw audio piece?

boead · « **Reply #15 on:** 10 Feb 2007, 12:33 am »

Arcam makes nice HiFi Receivers
http://www.arcam.co.uk/

http://www.arcam.co.uk/newsolo/features.html

Watson · « **Reply #16 on:** 10 Feb 2007, 02:42 am »

Quote from: bikes and beats on 9 Feb 2007, 11:58 pm

Thanks Wayner!
I'm still thinking a stereo receiver is the best way to go. Anyone else have a comment on the Outlaw audio piece?

If you haven't seen it, the Outlaw RR2150 review from Stereophile is online:
http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/306outlaw/
The measurements aren't as good as Outlaw's marketing verbiage would have you expect -- in particular, a 76dB signal-to-noise ratio is poor for a solid state amplifier -- but the harmonic distortion profile looks decent. It also uses a very low quality USB DAC part, so you probably won't want to part with a high end source. However, it's still definitely worth an audition, both for the price and for the features. The active subwoofer crossover alone is worth it if you're running a 2.1 system with bookshelf speakers. It's a shame there isn't a slightly higher end version of the RR2150 with the same feature set. Perhaps one of the new Emotiva receivers will outdo it.

eico1 · « **Reply #17 on:** 10 Feb 2007, 03:30 am »

I didn't see the part about the 76 db sn ratio. Also, were is the low quality usb port mentioned and what is a low quality usb port in regards to audio anyway?

steve

Daygloworange · « **Reply #18 on:** 10 Feb 2007, 03:47 am »

I believe the 75db noise ratio measurement is only for the FM tuner section. The amp portion specs at 95 db signal to noise.

Quote

I get the feeling this was built in the Marantz factory, but that is just a hunch but my Marantz SR4021 has some of the exact same accessories.

I know that ATI has built some of Outlaws stuff in the past. I have an ATI 1202 power amp. It's a really good power amp. It did very well in a blind test at an amp shootout we had a few weeks back. I came away very pleased with how well it performed. I thought it might get clobbered, but it didn't.

Cheers

Watson · « **Reply #19 on:** 10 Feb 2007, 04:07 am »

Quote from: Daygloworange on 10 Feb 2007, 03:47 am

I believe the 75db noise ratio measurement is only for the FM tuner section. The amp portion specs at 95 db signal to noise.

I'm referring to the actual measurements of the amp done by Stereophile, not Outlaw's marketing claims. The S/N ratio in particular is significantly worse than advertised. From the review:
"The RR2150 was not the quietest amplifier I have encountered, with a wideband, A-weighted S/N ratio (measured with the input short-circuited and the volume control at its maximum) of 76dB ref. 1W into 8 ohms. A-weighting improved this figure to 83.9dB."
http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/306outlaw/index3.html

I've read that it is manufactured by ATI for Outlaw. I can't remember where I read that.