Help / Advice / Opinions on choosing the best amp

[admin_exported]

<p></p>

Hi, I know this is a question that probably gets asked a lot....

I am looking at getting an amp and have narrowed my choice down to 3 potentials.

I will get be getting a set of Tannoy EFX 5.1 speakers and due to the size of the room (5m by 4m) I will only be looking at running a 5.1 set up.

However I don't know which amp to go for....

The 3 I am considering are...

Dennon AVR-1507
Onkyo HTR508
Onkyo TX SR505E

Any comments or suggestions or feedback from people who already have these systems.

Also could someone confirm that the speakers are a good choice...

thanks

 

[Andrew Everard]

I'd suggest going for the Onkyo, which seems to be very good indeed. The Sony STR-DG range is also well worth exploring from what I've heard of it to date - the STR-DG510 and STR-DG710, covered here, would seem to suit well.

And yes, I'd have no problems at all with the Tannoy speakers in your room and with any of those receivers.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Sony's are nice but I think I like the look of the Onkyo more... but which

I have found the 508 for £199 or the 505 for £249...

 

[Andrew Everard]

The 505 is definitely the better buy.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that...

now another question I have been looking at options and have managed to find a set of Kef 1005's for £249.

Should I go for the Onkyo 508 with the Kef 1005's or the 505 with the tannoy efx's??

I am leaning more towards the 508 with the kef's.... as far as I can see the only difference between the 508 and the 505 is the 505 does 7.1 and the 508 only goes to 5.1 with the room I have 5.1 is more than enough

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Feklar i am looking at similar set up can you tell me where you found the Kef 1005's for £249 please i still getting prices around £280

Many Thanks Neal

 

[Anonymous]

No problems Neal,

http://www.hifix.co.uk/sku.lasso?r=1045511&item=357345bc071632dff616646b1dbc6563&rlog=kel

here is the web link you need....

Do what I did, take a copy and then go to your local Richer Sounds who have to price match them... they did try to say that they wouldn't to me cause I am in Leeds, and they said that I wouldn't travel all that way to get them... then I pointed out I travel a lot for work and can show them my expense claim for last month which puts me within 20 miles of the shop.....

They then said they would do the Kef 1005's for £250. Don't forget with the Kef's they don't come with any speaker cables so you will need to get some, and a sub woofer lead... Richer Sounds have a sub lead for £20 and I was looking at the gale 200 which is 99p per metre

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Feklar,

Many thanks i will try that i have a richer sound near to me.For spearker cable i got mine from audio visual online i found them to be well priced and the delivered with in 2 days.

Link to cable i have...£1.50 per meter

http://www.audiovisualonline.co.uk/dynamic/eshop_products.set/ref/968/ixos-xhs223-champagne-pc-ofc-speaker-cable/display.html

Many thanks Neal

 

[Anonymous]

You have been looking at the Denon AVR-1507 thinks thats what i am going for reading a lot of good things

You can get it for £179.99 and free delivery..they have some good prices on here KEF'S for £250 also

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/search.doSearch.cfm?search=Denon+AVR-1507

Cheers Neal

 

[Anonymous]

I have seen the superfi website....

hadn't seen the Kef's on there though...

they do also have the Onkyo 508 for 199, which I think is worth the extra £20 for the HDMI

and then the Onkyo 505 for £249.

I don't need the 7.1 so will be going for the 508 with the kef's I think...

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Feklar

Link to KEF'S

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/page/moreinfo.cfm/Product_ID/1764

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
The 505 is definitely the better buy.

[/quote]

Is this purely based on the fact it supports 7.1 rather than 5.1? Or are there any other differences between the two? They look identical, and the spec is the same bar the above factor. If this is the case I will be taking one of these and pocketing the £50 difference towards some KEF 1005s ;-)

 

[Anonymous]

Well I got my system last week...

I ended up going for the Tannoy Efx and the Onkyo 505 amp.

The reason I went for the Efx is the subwoofer would fit in the tv cabinet that we currently have and the kef sub would have been too big to fit in (width)

On looking at the systems there is not the only thing that both myself and the guys from Superfi where I bought the amp could see are that the 508 is a 5.1 surround and the 505 is a 7.1 Reasons I went for the 505 is the vain hope that one day I might make it to 7.1 surround. The other was that they didn't have the 508 in stock.

If you are going to a store to collect please go and check ahead. Also if you do go to a superfi store, they have a sale on at the moment... (well they did last thursday), and the Tannoy's are now £189.95 they didn't have any in stock but the Richer Sounds shop a couple of doors down did have them in stock and they price matched them.

Overall I think the 505 is great and the sound is lovely. However I did realise last night that the auto calibration didn't work correctly. This is my fault basically I tried to have a listening point right above a speaker so it has thrown it off.

Apart from that it is a great system, and I am really enjoying have the sky box plugged into the amp and having the amp convert the signal into a 5.1 surround . Last nights Family Guy was particularly good...

Hope that helps

also in the superfi sale were the Denon 1707 for £199 and the 1907 for £269.

the Onkyo won as it was the only one of them that can do the hdmi even though it is a pass through it will help when I get my next 'toys' of a HD TV, upscalling DVD and a sky hd box.