Help me find a receiver for my Song Towers

huey driver · « **on:** 23 Sep 2008, 12:19 pm »

I'm upgrading my home theatre for the first time in about 12 years and after much deliberation decided on buying the Salk SongTower QWT's in Walnut that were listed on the site a couple days ago by Jim. I also asked Jim to build me 2 Song Surround I's and a Songcenter all in the same Walnut veneer. I'm very excited about getting these fantastic speakers but need some help with finding a receiver. I wish money was not an issue but of course it is and I want to keep the price below 1,500$ if possible. I know that many people like the Onkyo and Denon lines and asking people what they prefer is like asking a Nikon guy what he thinks about Canon. I'm really looking more for playing music then home theatre although I will be doing that as well. I don't think that I'm going to be able to get separates due to the lack of money but I really want a receiver that will do justice to the SongTowers. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks much.
-Keith

fsimms · « **Reply #1 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 12:54 pm »

I looked around at the receiver market a year ago for a friend and found the Dennon's to be the best ones in your price range. If you look on the internet you can find large discounts on Dennon's from Dennon dealers.

DMurphy · « **Reply #2 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 01:36 pm »

I don't have any brand recommendatons, but it shouldn't be necessary to spend anything like $1500. The SongTowers and center don't require much power at all. So don't waste money on extra watts you may not need, or features you may not use. You want a high quality, medium power unit. I'll let others attach brand names to that description.

huey driver · « **Reply #3 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 02:01 pm »

What high quality medium power units do you guys recommend?

R Swerdlow · « **Reply #4 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 02:21 pm »

I’ve heard SongTowers driven by as little power as my old 75 wpc Denon HT receiver, an 100 wpc Outlaw stereo receiver, and as much as an external 200 wpc amp. All of those were fine. Other ST owners have been satisfied using lower, and higher, powered amps than those.

You won’t need to spend anything like $1500 for a good medium powered (about 100 wpc) home theater receiver. I’d look at the midprice range ($500 to $700?) of Denon, Onkyo, or Yamaha. They all have good reliability and decent customer service. Various people have reported hearing differences in sound among these brands of receivers, but if you read deeper, these reports rarely agree with each other to the point where there is a discernable trend. I think any of those brands will be good.

Try shopping for good online prices through PriceGrabber http://www.pricegrabber.com/index.php/ut=80e758058f37ddc3.

walkern · « **Reply #5 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 04:34 pm »

I work for a small old fashioned hi fi shop, and we sell Yamaha and Denon and Cambridge Audio AV receivers, and of the three I think the Cambridge units sound the best in each of their respective price ranges. Cambridge also makes some wonderful sounding stereo integrated amps if you can live without a tuner.

Just my .02$

Neil

SwedeSound · « **Reply #6 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 04:38 pm »

(*EDIT!*)
Whoops. Didn't realize he was after an HT set-up. My bad.

DMurphy · « **Reply #7 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 05:05 pm »

Quote from: SwedeSound on 23 Sep 2008, 04:38 pm

I am using the earlier iteration of this two-channel stereo receiver from Harman/Kardon (mine is the HK 3480), and I couldn't be happier. It's driving my Monitor Audio Studio 6s with plenty of power to spare. And there are a few places that will modify these HKs with what some consider spectacular results.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00198F89A/?tag=electronic000249-20

There doesn't seem to be a lot of talk about HK products (other than speakers). I know from my professional work that they're one of the few companies that rate power on HT equipment with all channels operating. I"m not claiming that's the best way to rate HT amps, but it does produce very conservative numbers that can't be compared directly with most other specs. So I hope people aren't being turned off to HK because they don't think they have enough power. I suspect the opposite is the case.

poseidonsvoice · « **Reply #8 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 05:11 pm »

Try Outlaw Audio. That's the first place I would look before Harmon Kardon, Onkyo, NAD, Denon, Sony, Kenwood, etc...

These guys built their whole company from selling receivers that did more for the money than the above mentioned competition.
http://www.outlawaudio.com/

Best,
Anand.

rydenfan · « **Reply #9 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 05:39 pm »

If HDMI is not important to you the choice should be the Arcam AVR350. It is the best sounding receiver by a pretty wide margin. They can be had for some pretty low prices these days and should be within your budget.

KS · « **Reply #10 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 07:21 pm »

Do any of the Denon A/V receivers offer their "Pure Direct" mode? This makes music sound especially good by taking all tone controls out of the circuit.

ThorsHammer · « **Reply #11 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 07:33 pm »

Imho, the biggest bang and the highest quality for your buck would be Emotiva separates. Go with the UMC-1 pre/pro ($699) and the UPA-7 amp ($649)...this would give you all the power and headroom you need all the way out to a 7.1 and the pre/pro looks to be pretty much bulletproof for years to come with upgradeable software, 4 hdmi, and all the HD lossless. For a blu-ray, if you are interested, I would go with the upcoming Oppo 83.

I was using the HK 7200 and thought the amps were more than adequate to push my system but there was a noticeable upgrade when I went to the separate amp...now using the HK as my pre/pro until the UMC-1s finally hit the market. Btw - am two weeks in to my SongTower RTs and SongSurround build time...great pick up on those walnut SongTowers.

Nuance · « **Reply #12 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 10:54 pm »

For $1500 I'd go with used separates purchased from audiogon.com

Check out Rotel and B&K.

DMurphy · « **Reply #13 on:** 23 Sep 2008, 11:51 pm »

I dunno I would still go with about $700 spent on a spanking new decent receiver. And $800 on a whole lot of other stuff.

huey driver · « **Reply #14 on:** 24 Sep 2008, 01:03 am »

Im so confused!!!! Will I notice an appreciable difference by getting separates? I don't mind spending the money if there will be a noticeable difference but Im so new at this that its kind of overwhelming.

WGH · « **Reply #15 on:** 24 Sep 2008, 01:42 am »

Quote from: huey driver on 23 Sep 2008, 12:19 pm

I'm really looking more for playing music then home theatre although I will be doing that as well.

For pure music listening enjoyment I have always had better sound with separates, I would characterize the sound as smoother. For me, if I continue listening to music after the initial infatuation period has worn off, then the equipment is a keeper. With receivers, I would slowly listen to music less and less.

Receivers will do killer home theater though.

Are you going with a Blu-ray player or stick with DVD's for a while? Is is just you using the home theater or the whole family? Once the functions are defined, then your choices can be narrowed down.

Wayne

huey driver · « **Reply #16 on:** 24 Sep 2008, 01:55 am »

Wayne,

I have a blu ray player that I intended using. Really I will be using the system for music mostly but will want some home theater capabilities to it. I like the idea of separates but there are so many companies out there that it gets confusing.

-Keith

bpape · « **Reply #17 on:** 24 Sep 2008, 02:33 am »

The Emotiva has been getting some rave reviews. Listen if you can.

Of the others, I'd recommend:

NAD
Outlaw
Pioneer ELITE series

The amp sections in these, IMO, are much gutsier and closer to actual ratings with some real headroom in them than the Denon, Yamaha, etc. If you can afford the Arcam, that would definitely be worth a listen also.

The amp section may not be as big a deal with the ST's as I understand they're a pretty benign load to drive. I just know on some tougher loads, there was a definite distinction in performance.

One other option that some of my customers opt for - get a small reciever with the features that you want and then get an external amplifier. Gives lots of guts now and you can easily replace the less expensive receiver in a couple years when a new standard for processing, connectors, etc. comes out without having to respend on the big amp.

Bryan

hanguy · « **Reply #18 on:** 24 Sep 2008, 09:02 pm »

Quote from: bpape on 24 Sep 2008, 02:33 am

The Emotiva has been getting some rave reviews. Listen if you can.

Bryan

I second the recommendations on the Emotiva stuff. I recently purchased a B-stock Emotiva MMC-1 and I am very happy with the HT performance. I have been using a Yamaha receiver as a pre-pro after my modified panasonic XR45 receiver died. The MMC-1 is substantially better than the Yamaha receiver as a pre-pro. As a matter of fact, the MMC-1 is better as a surround sound processor than any of the units I have before: Proceed AVP2, Panasonic SA-XR45. However, the 2 ch performance is not quite as good as the proceed or the XR45, the MMC-1 is not as airy and sounds kind of flat.

Depends on what time frame you are looking for, the Emotiva processor may not be possible since their next gen processor is still a couple months away.

Mike

huey driver · « **Reply #19 on:** 24 Sep 2008, 10:14 pm »

Im really thinking about buying a 5-channel amp from Emotiva and a Denon or Onkyo receiver. I want the receiver for all the bells and whistles including the video switching, and the amp to give it just a little bit more umph. What do you guys think?