The rate your AV receiver for musical ability thread

[Paul.]

There seems to be a lot of rather long threads about the musical abilities of AV amps, some seem ill-prepaired for an AV amps musical compromise. I thought it would be a good idea for people to rate their AV amps for musical ability in a relative fashion so buyers know what to expect.

I.e 'X' AV sounds about as good as 'Y' integrated amp, or 'X' AV costing £1000 sounds about as good as 'Y' integrated amp costing £300.

I thought it would be nice for first time AV buyers if we keep the thread as relative as possible, so direct comparisons to kit from your experience would be a real benefit.

Ill start with the Onkyo 805 + 808, both retailed/retails for about £800, their amplifier designs are quite similar (whereas the 806 and 807 were a different design) and sound very similar musically to my ear. In comparison to the Marantz PM7200 which was approx £300 seven years ago (and still seems to fetch that much on eBay)

Detail= Onkyo wins over Marantz

Warmth/smoothness= Marantz wins over Onkyo

Overall= A tie, depending on weather you rate detail or smoothness as more important

Anyone own any of the recent award winners who would care to make a stereo comparison?

 

[Pistol Pete1]

Happy to add my 2 pence worth ti this excellent thread idea....

Using Marantz PM6010 KI amp with Tannoy DC2000 speakers and Marantz CD63 KI player....

Wow...detail, smoothness and bass delivery....loved the combo. (Wish i'd kept that amp!!)

Moved to the QA1030i 5.1 with Onkyo 606........

Oh dear, what have I done to my music!!! Everything has gone...detail, dynamic's, openness has all gone!! No timing or musicality left....

Demo'd Denon AVR1910 and 2310.....

Both better for music, but the 2310 offered more detail, depth in bass and openness to the vocals, so went home with one.....

Changed from QA 1030i to current KEF set up.....

Getting closer to the original system I had...great soundstage, detail and decent bass depth. Only problem is on certain tracks/music it gets a bit 'muddled' at higher volumes.....

Maybe 2 channel power amp or back to stereo amp (connected to the Denon 2310) next.....

 

[scene]

Well I bought an Arcam A85 from new, with Monitor Audio Silver 8i floorstanders and an Arcam DV88 to do duties of CD and DVD player. QED interconnects and Chord Rumour 2 speaker cables. Musical ability - superb (I play a mix of Classical, Rock, Metal, Pop mainly). Loved it every day.

But I wanted surround sound. So got an Arcam AVR250 and KEF 2005.2 eggs, with QED Silver Anniversary for the front three, and QED original bi-wire for the backs (split for the last 4-5m) For movies it was great in my 12'6" x 13" Victorian terraced living room. Music was OK. It lacked a little, but good enough. My wife thought that speech was a little indistinct

Moved into a mid-60s extended house, with a vast 6.4m x 5.8m (or so) living room. And the KEFs sounded a little lost, the centre channel definitely didn't cope. Tried my A85 + MA 8is and they sounded marvellous. So, in fits and starts got an RS-LCR + RXFX rears. Now musical ability, especially when set to Stereo Direct is fantastic, as good as the A85 - well done Arcam

And I haven't tried bi-amping the 8is yet...
I would say that my experience is that both the Arcams are consistently musical and when paired with sympathetic and appropriate speakers, like the MAs, sing...

 

[Anonymous]

i've only ever had one avr, a yammy rxv765. but i've had 4 stereo amps and they all sounded much better than the avr for 2 channel music..

 

[Anonymous]

for musical ability i would of thought it would be one of the usual suspects

• Arcam
• Denon
• Marantz
• Yamaha

personaly i would still use a stereo amp for music and an a/v amp for movies.

 

[AudioPlaya]

Big thumbs up for the Yamaha vx667, the WHF review is pretty much spot on, just turn it up and prepare to be pleasantly suprised - Yamaha have clearly put some effort into 2-channel music with this model... lots of audio options and a source direct mode that actually gives audible gains (source direct has often been something of a joke with AV amps).

 

[007L2Thrill]

Well my onkyo 875 sounds pretty good with music I would say it sounds as good as my Arcam 8 amp I had that cost if I recall £400 so the onkyo does really good, but against my Naim 5 pre and power amp it lacks the sparkle and power on lower volumes, basically in a different league, but what the onkyo does is fantastic bargain.

My onkyo 605 I had a long time ago did not have very good 2 channel performance to me, dry sounding no extended treble etc, I think my Cambridge Azur 540R AVR amp sounded as good as the onkyo 605 in 2 channel and both sounded around the same as a Cambridge audio A1 stereo amp cost £80.

Love to hear a £2000 or above AVR to see if they sound much better is 2 channel performance such as the pioneer LX83.