Pioneer AV receiver quick help

[tommytom]

HI,

I just listened to the new Pioneer LX58 AV receiver, and I was wondering if anyone knew if there was much of a difference between the 58, 78 and 88.

According to Pioneer website, all I can see is Air certification on the 78 and 10 watts per channel more, and a USB DAC on the 88.

The price difference is huge though, another £500 for each model up the range, therefore the LX88 is £1,000 more than the 58, and I can't believe it's for 10 watts per channel more, and a USB DAC.

Has anyone heard earlier versions to compare, i.e. last years 57, 77, and 87 ... or the years before...???

How much of a difference can there really be? the hardware DACs etc appear to be the same chips...

thanks

 

[abacus]

The larger models give you more features inputs/outputs and control, however for home cinema you will probably not notice much difference in sound, however when it comes to music then the Air Studios tuned models do give an improvement in sound with music. (I did double blind tests when I was comparing so as not to be influenced by other elements)

Is it worth the extra for you, only you can decide that by having a listen yourself? (I bought the 87 some months ago)

Hope this helps

Bill

 

[bigboss]

It really depends on the speakers you're using it with. Which speakers have you got?

 

[ellisdj]

If the LX88 blu ray player spec is anything to go by the LX88 AV Receiver will be awesome.

There is of old quite big jumps up from the the 50 range to the 80 range of Pio receievers.

Again might depend on the rest of your kit and budget. Bear in mind the AV Receiver is a decoder Dac preamp and amp. HDMI switcher video upscaler etc

Its the most imprtant part of the chain so the cheaper the reciever the cheaper all the bits inside doing all the duties above think about is £££ shared among all those things - the more ££ there is to start with the better the bits will be doing all those jobs - Generally speaking

Its the area I persoanlly would invest the most ££ into

 

[tommytom]

B&W CM10s floorstanders, and CM1 and CM Centre

I listened to some NAIM kit, superuniti and 172/200 combo, and they were awesome, but obvioulsy no 5.1 through that, and an extra £1,500. So I think I'm compromising, the Pioneer sounded great, not quite NAIM good, but the tradeoff to get spotify, 5.1 bluetooth, HDMI 2.0 etc I think is worth it.

The hard part, is asking people to quantify the sound difference. I have to buy the kit now sadly, so won't have the opportunity to listen to the 58 against the 78 or 88. As I say, Pioneers website shows no difference at all except air studios tuning, (though I don't know what that means...is that an EQ setting, or is there hardware that is superior???) and the 88 has the USB DAC which i wont use, but it seems that ALL the other hardware is the same... and are we talking slight differnces, or night and day.??/ 10%, or 2%? I would have said the Naim was about 15% better, tighter for instance...

Thanks for the repsonses guys...

 

[bigboss]

Only you can answer if the difference was only slight or significant. If I had B&W CM10, I would definitely go for the LX88.

 

[audiodarkness]

You have the speakers to justify the big amp. I've had a few AV amplifiers in my time, and always struggled to find much if any difference in the spec on paper!! However, this DOES NOT translate into audio differences. The components will be of higher quality, they will have spent more time tuning it, and the processing tends to sound more together.

As a slightly more hi fi example, I have just auditioned a Naim ND5SX vs the NDX. Both on paper do the same thing, with the same file support. But the NDX just sounds better.

 

[michael hoy]

I have the 85 and find this to be very good for both music and film, with the speakers you have the 88 will be more than worth it.

 

[tommytom]

when you bought the 85, did you listen to the 55 as well???

how much difference is there bewteen the 50 range and the 70 range and the 80 range is the question...

 

[michael hoy]

when you bought the 85, did you listen to the 55 as well???

how much difference is there bewteen the 50 range and the 70 range and the 80 range is the question...

I had a 72 but not listened to the 52, listened to the 55 and the 85 and listened to the 87 but not listened to the 88 yet.

The 85 sounded better to me than the 72, clearer audio and an open spatial feeling.

The 55 was good but not as good as the 72 and not as good as the 85, it was hard to put a finger on it, but to my ears the 85 is excellent at what it does.

The 87 did not sound any better than the 85.

Bear in mind that you have to make sure they are set up correctly to get the best out of them.

I have the Monitor Audio Apex speakers.