Starting... looking... audtioned... DOUBTS :-s

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone,

Dutchie is gonna buy his first "Home Cinema" receiver and speakers, thought it was gonna be easy read some reviews make up my mind and then audition everything. Sounded like a plan and it was a plan... Now I am doubting every decision I tend to make. Heard the Denon 1909 Yamaha RX-V863 with the KEF 2005.3 (the B&W m1 sets are to expensive here) and I cant make up my mind. My gutt feeling tells me to go for the Yamaha but also tells me Wait ya old gitt wait for the denon 1910 and decide then... Now the Yamaha has hdmi 1.3 and afaik not 1.3a is that something I should worry about? I have a Samsung 40LE656 the crystal thingie 😛 a Wii and will buy a ps3 in the near future as well. As I can get all the amps at around the same price I cant make a decision to me the denon 1909 looks better and prob has better upscaling abilities and hdmi 1.3a, but the yamaha I dunno its the name and all the fuss I guess, or wait for the denon 1910 and decide then? But then there will prob be a new yamaha around as well the 756 I think... and now I read hdmi 1.4 is gonna be around should I wait or that? Or should I just go out and buy it and just be happy with it? I will use the receiver I guess 90% film and 10% music...

Can some one plz help me a bit out at what I should look at of the specs of the receivers that would help a lot... I want to be kinda future proof as well....

Thanks

The desperate new toy seeker...

 

[d4v3pum4]

The Yamaha and Denon have the same HDMI v1.3 spec so you don't have to worry there. There is no difference to the user between v1.3, v1.3a and v1.3b. It refers to the testing only if I remember rightly.

Unfortunately you're buying an amp when a) they're in short supply and b) new models are about to launch. I personally wouldn't worry about upscaling in a budget receiver, leave it to your source or display. Whether you think the wait for the new models is worth it, is up to you. New models tend to improve over the old ones but there does seem to be a trend with the latest budget models in that they appear to be trading features for components. Some of the new Yamahas for example have spring clip speaker connections and also appear to be on a diet. I'm always suspicious when new equipment is lighter, as it tends to mean they're scrimping on the bits inside. I would not wait for HDMI 1.4. It has only just been announced and the official specs will be formally announced in June. It will be some considerable time before anything with v1.4 comes out. So in a nutshell, go with plan A. Get out there and demo and buy something, otherwise you never will. If you keep waiting, you'll always be wondering about the next feature. Remember amps are predominantly audio devices for producing sound. They keep adding bits on and that's basically how they keep getting us to buy!

 

[Anonymous]

Precisely my current predicament over the same amps, including whether to get the well acclaimed 863SE before they are all gone or risk waiting to see how the 765 or the Denon 1910 turns out.

I'm personally not interested in gimmicks or looks just the quality of the sound and noticable effects.

I'm quite sceptical about the upcoming 765 though I must admit, can it be as good as the 863 whilst getting an extra hdmi AND a tuner AND a £50 price drop together with a few other bits and bobs? (and that's before considering the 863 was originally £200 more than that originally)

As for the Denon, I'm slightly tempted to wait due to it's DP IIz decoding capability. However having read numerous experts claim that they can't detect any difference to the sound with or without the IIz extra 'high' front speakers I'm left wondering whether this is just another gimmick or whether future movie recordings will be able to actually use the IIz to give the "fly-over" and "rain effects" it claims it's for.

 

[Anonymous]

They have both amps on the shelves here so that won't be a problem. Just got a confirmation mail of Yamaha that the RX-V863 has HDMI 1.3b in it, but that wasnt the issue any more ty d4v3pum4.

Well I listened to them both and they both sound great, I am not used to much so everything sounds better and I can not really compare it to my standards...

If it was you and had to pick between the Yamaha RX-V863 or the denon 1909 what would you pick and why?

And what are the differences between the English AX-863 and the rest of the world RX-V863? I noticed that the WhatHiFi team is rather pleased with the AX863se but what about the RX-V863? Is it just as good?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi ClimaX I'm guessing you're probably asking the opinion of the other guy lol

but I doubt you'll find many people that will actually know if there is a great difference between a DSP AX863SE and a foreign market RX-V863 as I can't imagine many people will have tested them together. The UK version should have a different sound and the difference is described on the UK Yamaha website together with the reason for tuning it specially for the UK market.

I personally would be cautious of a UK dealer selling a non UK model but some people may actually prefer the different sound, as for whether the What Hi-Fi rating would have been different if they had been given a non UK model to test only they could say.

Personally I would either plug for the UK version 863 which is still available according to a few dealers or wait for both the new Denon 1910 and the Yamaha 765 to emerge next month.

The new Denon 1910 is going to be UK tuned apparently though the new Yam 765 this time will not be so make what you will of that.

At the end of the day it's down to which you like the sound of best or whether you're prepared to trust the reviews and let them tell you which is best in their opinion. If it's reviews you're going to buy on then the UK 863 is the best, the Denon falls slightly short and the new 1910 and the 765 have yet to be reviewed so know one yet knows.

So it's either listen and decide, buy the UK 863 or wait for a month or so really.

As I say I'm in the same boat and it's hard to part with the cash when it comes to the final decision

 

[d4v3pum4]

Pick the one that sounds best to your ears and fits your current and future connection requirements. If you ask for forum opinion, Denon owners will say, "Denon" and Yamaha owners will say, "Yamaha". The Yamaha has received the better reviews and are probably easier to setup but I have heard of issues with it's HDMI throughput and the autosetup can be a bit off. I'm sure if you google, some hits will explain it further.

Ultimately though, it's your system and you're going to be the one that has to live with it.

 

[Anonymous]

I am from the netherlands so we dont have an 863SE here only the RX-V 863 😛

I will roll a dice as I think they both sound great. And I can get the denon almost 100 euro cheaper so it will prob be the denon after all if IF I let the wife decide as well 😛