ARCAM AVR600 v PIONEER SC-LX82

[Anonymous]

Thanks for clearing that up for all of us Claire. Unfortunatly i am unable to listen to my speakers with the LX82, the only store in australia that stocks both of these is 1200 km away! So i have to make a well informed decision from people who know what they are talking about

 

[TKratz]

Clare Newsome:

Back when we were comparing them head-to-head, the Pioneer cost significantly less than the Yamaha, which gave it an advantage.

With the recent Z7 price-cuts, i'd say the Yamaha could take it on a shootout - but that would be our opinion. The Yamaha is a more refined listen than the Pioneer, without lacking muscle. Some may prefer the Pioneer's slightly more up-front approach.

That's very interesting Clare! Thanks for clarifying and sharing your thoughts on this

 

[Anonymous]

Prime Cuts:Thanks for clearing that up for all of us Claire. Unfortunatly i am unable to listen to my speakers with the LX82, the only store in australia that stocks both of these is 1200 km away! So i have to make a well informed decision from people who know what they are talking about

I wouldn't say I know what I'm talking about Prime Cuts.

But I can say that I am very, very happy with what i hear from my set-up, Movies and Music wise.

 

[pete321]

Clare Newsome:

It's also worth noting that Musicraft is a Yamaha pre-eminent dealer, and is being fiercely loyal to the (undeniably excellent) product.

I'm not, but having owned both, I'd agree with Musicraftt. I found the Z7 not to be as good as the AVR600 with stereo music but better in surround modes. So all told is the Z7 at £1300 a better buy than the Arcam, definately in my estimation, you won't get £1200 extra from an AVR600. In fact, my Z7 now excels with music after having a £200 upgrade by replacing the 16 stock NE5532 opamps with the far more musical LM4562MA. For a total of £1500 you can get an upgraded Z7 which will compete very well with the AVR600 in stereo and exceed it in surround in my opinion.

My Z7 is sounding very articulate with the better opamps, but never turning into brashness which a Pioneer may do with some recordings.

 

[The Lawnmower Man]

pete321:Clare Newsome:

It's also worth noting that Musicraft is a Yamaha pre-eminent dealer, and is being fiercely loyal to the (undeniably excellent) product.

I'm not, but having owned both, I'd agree with Musicraftt. I found the Z7 not to be as good as the AVR600 with stereo music but better in surround modes. So all told is the Z7 at £1300 a better buy than the Arcam, definately in my estimation, you won't get £1200 extra from an AVR600. In fact, my Z7 now excels with music after having a £200 upgrade by replacing the 16 stock NE5532 opamps with the far more musical LM4562MA. For a total of £1500 you can get an upgraded Z7 which will compete very well with the AVR600 in stereo and exceed it in surround in my opinion.

My Z7 is sounding very articulate with the better opamps, but never turning into brashness which a Pioneer may do with some recordings.



Are there online retailers that will do the opamps upgrade prior to shipping?

 

[pete321]

Not as far as I'm aware. Speak to Brent at Audioupgrades if you're interested, but it'll obviously invalidate your Yamaha warranty, although I was happy to take the chance as they're pretty reliable beasts. On my system the improvements are well worth it. For example, my Proac's bass sounded a bit flabby with the old opamps, so when listening to stereo music I used to avoid Pure Direct so I could let the sub deal with the low frequencies below 60Hz. Since the opamp upgrade, I'm able to use Pure Direct mode as the bass has tightened. It's not just the bass though, the whole frequency spectrum has improved. I also upgraded the opamps in my DacMagic, again a massive leap in performance. Opamp upgrades certainly seem to give quite a large imporvement considering their relatively modest cost. For Yamaha to have included LM4562's in the Z7 would have probably added about £50 to the cost, but I guess that would have brought the sound a bit too close to the Z11!