[Hesperant]

Hello,
This forum is great.  I've loved VSA for years.
I have a pair of Von Swchweikert Audio VR4jr's though I am also thinking heavily on the Unifield series.  I want to set them up again but have limited space and no plans for room dampening.  There already is a significant shaping to the room.  With a budget of around $500 US can anyone recommend a good reciever for everything from music to Movies?

I had been looking at some lower to mid range (cost wise) Denon recievers.

Hesperant

[es347]

Onkyo in my opinion...good luck with your project.

[Delacroix]

Hesperant - welcome to the AC forum, great to have new members find us.

I am not clear if you are thinking theater or stereo but if the latter, and can shop around, you should be able to find a decent NAD receiver, e.g. the 725BEE lists for $799 but can be found nearer $500. If you would go used, there are any number of decent Sansui or Marantz receivers that would sound really good still.  Let us know where you end up on this.

[Hesperant]

Hey thank you for the response,
I used to be into Onkyo but had a bit of a bad experience with them.  Great gear though otherwise.

The NAD looks nice, but does not quite fit my budget.

I've found a nice Pioneer Elite. VSX-30

What do you think of this device?

By the way,
I really appreciate the suggestions and friendly demeanor.  Actually I am quite impressed with the knowledge I've read about so far.

Hesperant

[msm_1]

Hi and welcome!

Pioneer Elite is a well made brand ( had their Elite 45 receiver )

Anothers I will recommend is top of line Yamaha's ( I had the DSP-1 with 3 classe amps running Paradigms, but you can find good buy's on these and they are worth their weight in shipping ) and a good $ for value is Rotel, though the prices are getting higher but still good used prices out there!

New, I also say Nad or Arcam

Good Luck

Mike

[audiogarry]

I also own a pair of VR4 Jr's. I was running them with a Bottle Head Preamp and refurbished Dynaco 70 tube power amp. Being that power amp was only rated for 35W per channel, I never really experienced any "magic" with the VR4 Jr.s 

I sold off my tube gear and upgraded to a budget Marantz Model SR 4002 rated at 70 w/pc. This AVR got the VR4 Jr's. sounding much better and I was quite pleased for about a year or so. But then we had painters come in and I haphazardly connected the speaker terminals on the Marantz incorrectly and put that AVR in cardiac arrest. I was going to get it fixed but decided it wasn't worth it.

After researching things for about three months, I looked at AVR's that others have already suggested to you and settled on a Denon 2309 CI which is a 7.2 AVR which is rated at 90w/ch. The cost was about $500. The newer model can be had for about $550 and is rated at 100w/pc.

The thing that's nice about the Denon AVR's is that you can bi-amp the VR4 Jr's by using the outputs from the back surround speaker outputs thereby sending 360 watts total to the VR4 Jr's.

I don't have a dedicated listening room so my two channel music and HT are in the same room. I also use a a VS Center channel and two VS surrounds too.






Screwing up the Marntz AVR and buying the Denon reminded me of when I told the wife I was going to fix the door on the microwave. That got upgraded too and it was the best thing I ever tried to repair!

[disco]

I highly recommend Denon as well. I have sold many and they sound fantastic 

[garyleg]

 I highly recommend the Denon receivers. I auditioned many receivers and found the Denon sounded by far the best to me. I use an AVR5805 and biamp. It sounds amazing with my VR4s. It is probably out of your price range though. You could pick up a used 3806 for about $350. It even has HDMI and will receive the high resolution audio multichannel bitstream found on bluray. It also has the  Audyssey MultEQxt Room EQ which I found works surprisingly very well.
 I was discussing receivers with Albert VonSchweikert when I was dropping my VR4s off for an upgrade and he told me that he did a listening test with his speakers using a few of the popular brands of receivers and said the Denon won out, he even said that he uses one in his home theater system.

Hope this helps,
Gary

[varsharun]

Hi Gary,

I presume we are discussing budget receivers, probably mass market. Otherwise, I fail to see how Denon (a good brand no doubt) can compete with the likes of Marantz, NAD, Arcam etc.

-Arun

I highly recommend the Denon receivers. i GI auditioned many receivers and found the Denon sounded by far the best to me. I use an AVR5805 and biamp. It sounds amazing with my VR4s. It is probably out of your price range though. You could pick up a used 3806 for about $350. It even has HDMI and will receive the high resolution audio multichannel bitstream found on bluray. It also has the  Audyssey MultEQxt Room EQ which I found works surprisingly very well.
 I was discussing receivers with Albert VonSchweikert when I was dropping my VR4s off for an upgrade and he told me that he did a listening test with his speakers using a few of the popular brands of receivers and said the Denon won out, he even said that he uses one in his home theater system.

Hope this helps,
Gary

[es347]

I can't sit by and not defend Onkyo/Integra.  Integra is to Onkyo what Lexus is to Toyota.  I have owned multiple Denon AVRs as well as a B&K some time ago.  The Denon (a $1000 unit back in the late 90s) performed admirably but was easily bested by the B&K.  The setup I currently run in my HT is a the Integra DTC-9.8 pre-controller with a B&K Ref. 200.5 amplifier.  It's the best I've heard...haven't heard everything granted, but they are not for sale 

[ceedee]

Hello Hesparant,

Welcome here.

As we believe your VR 4 jr can handle a lot of brands.
As VSA always say. Put our speakers in any system, the sound quality of the music & film of the total system will increase.
But there is also one rule, the more you feed them the better is the result.
With respect, a $ 500 receiver will act at 'low level' with a bit more $ you will enjoy a lot more. Recently we are testing Anthem's new MRX Receiver connected to the VSA'. Wow, this is a good match. Just check out for your self.

http://www.anthemav.com/products/anthem/a-v-receiver/mrx-500

Have fun,

Cor

p.s. Gary,
As seen on the picture the VR 4 jr are rather close to the screen.
Did you try to place them a bit 'wider'? They will act more 'spacy' than.

[garyleg]

Hi Gary,

I presume we are discussing budget receivers, probably mass market. Otherwise, I fail to see how Denon (a good brand no doubt) can compete with the likes of Marantz, NAD, Arcam etc.

-Arun

Yes you are correct. I am speaking only of budget recievers that were in the price range he specified.
Gary

[audiogarry]

In the early 1990s, Marantz focused on higher end components and was owned by Phillips. In 2001, Marantz Japan acquired the brand from Philips. Afterward, Marantz & Denon merged into one company called D&M Holdings Inc. and continue to offer both brand names. Is one brand more the Lexus or the the Toyota of the two? If you could listen to both brands of the exact same models, wattages, etc. it would be for you to decide which one sounds the best. 

Most older folks (I'm in my mid-50's) would probably equate that the Marantz name is the better of the two brands based on the legacy built by Saul Marantz. But many things have changed in the electronics world, i.e look at computers, hi-def tv's, smart phones, I-Pods, etc. The quality of the sound coming from AVR's being built today may surprise many audiophiles, which is really great for those on a tight budget! 

[Hesperant]

Well I went through all of your recommendations and did some more research myself.

Thank you Everyone for the excellent advice.

I settled on a Pioneer Elite VSX 32.  I know it was a bit out of my range but it had some features I do like and solid reputation.  The Marantz was my next in line followed by Denon.  I figured put the money into it and you will get the audio joy out of it.

However I am currently not listening to my VR4jr but to Unifield 1 and .. they are astounding.

More to come (pics etc).

Hesperant

[bogiedr]

  I just added an NAD 375BEE to my VR2"s an WOW ... I highly reccomend NAD!!!