The very best home cinema receiver for music?

[swiftmick]

Hi, ok this question has been asked a few times I guess?

But what is THE best home cinema receiver for music?

Now this aint as straight forward as it seems, Let me explain. I need to know which is best music wise but at various price levels.

My problem is this, I dont give a flying F**k about how great surround sound sounds, If there is great steering of effects, no cross talk between channels. or how clear the dialog is?

I only care about how musical it is. Now things get a bit weird here. I have 6! yes 6! kids who demand surround sound while watching a film or TV.

Even Cebeebies has to be in Pro-logic II, I kid you not.

But I crave my good old stereo, Im happy, the kids can listen to whatever they want. Just give me a dam good stereo sound

So, home cinema receivers at various price levels that excel at music

Using the following equipment at the moment

Cambridge Audio 650 blu-ray universal thingy

Cambridge Audio 340 R Home cinema receiver

Mordaunt Short Avant 902i front speakers Bi-wired Qed anniversary

Mordaunt Short Avant 905i Centre speaker

Mordant Short Avant 903i surround speakers

And Two Rel Q 100e Subwoofers

 

[Paul.]

Why not go the preamp route? Buy the cheapest cinema amp that has preouts for the left and right, then buy a decent stereo power amp to run them?

 

[CnoEvil]

Arcam AVR750 would be my choice, followed by AVR600 and then AVR450.

 

[bigboss]

Arcam AVR750 would be my choice, followed by AVR600 and then AVR450.

+1. I would stick with 750 though, as other models have had reliability issues. Arcam got someone else to write the software on the 750 to address this. Check few reviews & user feedback, along with a demo.

 

[CnoEvil]

Arcam AVR750 would be my choice, followed by AVR600 and then AVR450.

+1. I would stick with 750 though, as other models have had reliability issues. Arcam got someone else to write the software on the 750 to address this. Check few reviews & user feedback, along with a demo.

The AVR450 is cut from the same cloth as the AVR750 so should be OK.......£4k is a lot to swallow for the 750, but if manageable, it should be top of the audition list. It is supposed to outclass the AVR600 by a noticeable margin, which would be one hell of an achievement.

 

[abacus]

Try the top 2 Pioneer as these have been tuned by Air Studios http://www.airstudios.com/ so as to make sure they are good with music.

Out of the cheaper home cinema receivers I have tried, I have not come across any that didn’t leave a lot to be desired with music.

I have not heard the Arcam 750, but I have heard the 600, and it was great with music, but left a lot to be desired with movies.

The only way to know if there is one out there that is suitable for your requirements, is to go and demo some.

Hope this helps

Bill

 

[swiftmick]

Thanks for the input guy's
Its got me thinking

 

[VoodooDoctor]

Marantz products are meant to be more musically inclined as well so worth auditioning their range.

 

[JamesMellor]

Could I suggest turning the question on its head , as in " what can go Crash ! Boom ! Bang ! for the kids while being small enough to live in the same room as my dam good stereo ? "

Just a thought before you blow a small fortune on Cebeebies

 

[sonicboom]

Coming to this a little bit late but hope this helps rather than hinders.

I used to have an Arcam dvd and amp set up. When the dvd packed in I got the Cambridge 751 and thought it sounded nice with the Arcam amp. Then the amp packed as well and I got the Cambridge 751R as a replacement. So I now run two Cambridge bits of kit where I once had Arcam. I think the Cambridge is very very nice musically and I don't think it is in any way inferior to the Arcam. Some reviews have suggested the Cambridge can be lively in the bass dept but I have not found that. I set one of the three optional filters and just leave it alone.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I would come at this from the same direction as JamesMellor. You could install a fairly discreet 5.1 system for the kids to watch TV with, and you could have as good a stereo as you like. At least then you don't have to worry about which receivers sound good with music, as you have a dedicated wo channel set up.

 

[RickyDeg]

I've home-auditioned tons of different brands of machines over the last 2-3 years and by far the vastly superior musical a/v amp (though not a receiver since it has no radio) would be the Primare SPA22 (newer model: SPA23). It was absolutely infectious with pure music! No surprise perhaps, coming from a Hi-Fi brand founded on the basis of music reproduction. It was one of those machines that just made music 'come alive' so effortlessly and it was a joy to listen to all day. It was vivid, transparent, powerful, insightful. It made my small Apex montiors sound a heck of a lot bigger than ever before with music. Sadly, for me at least, it wasn't quite what I was looking for with movies, but that's another issue. Please, whatever you do, if music is a top priority take the Primare under consideration at least.

It's pricey, perhaps like the Arcams, but screams quality through-and-through. Also, it's a modular construction, meaning it's somewhat "future-proof" (I know Primare have released new modules since this introduction so it doesn't appear to be empty promises). The fact that it completely rejects EQ and all kinds of excessive features I found refreshing. Primare focus soley on pure fidelity, and that's it. Although music is great in my current system I'm not gonna lie - there are times I miss the Primare.

 

[tonik]

I have the same question. I'm looking in to buying a AV receiver for my living room. But i'm not well informed in receivers because i'm new in it.

I'm looking for a receiver which can produce a good sound for music and concerts and it can do well when I watch movies. I have good stereo speakers from a micro hi fi that are right now connected to a AKAI AA-1050 but Akai is working incorrectly, and the speakers have a more bass and more high sound (created for micro hi-fi systems). But I want a clean sound with more natural sound system.(When I listen for example to Bryan Adams concert on a tv or a music cd, I got a feeling like I'm there) Thats what I'm looking in a natural sound. For now I'm interested in few receivers:

Yamaha RX-V575

Pioneer VSX-828-S

or Harman Kardon

But I'm not smart when it comes to speakers. What do I have to look first when buying speakers?

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Tonik - dont 'look' but listen! Can u not audition?

 

[tonik]

Of course I have to listen how have I forgot that hehe. But except listening what else? Sorry for a stupid question, I want to take everything in consideration.

 

[rendu]

If you decide to go the receiver route vs the pre-out and provided you have a nice budget, I would only look at 2 brands: Anthem and Arcam.

 

[tonik]

At my entertainment local store I found Arcam AV recivers. The price of a Arcam FMJ AVR360 is 1,260 pounds. How do you rate this price is it high or normal as everwhere?

I was looking as well at Harman Kardon. Has anyone have experience with thoose AVR?

 

[bigboss]

Tonik, don't be swayed over by the likes of Arcam & Anthem given your budget. You need revealing enough speakers to appreciate the benefits. What's your total budget for the entire system?

 

[tonik]

I really love to compare AVR before buying. So lets see, for a AVR I was looking to spend around 300 pounds (In Croatia 300 pounds is similar to someones month salary) And for speakers around 170 pounds.

 

[bigboss]

With a total budget of around £470, I would recommend £200 for AV receiver, & £270-300 for speakers including subwoofer.

 

[bigboss]

By speakers I mean 5.1 speaker set.

 

[tonik]

5.1 speakers would be a great deal. One question, I see that some speakers are more plastic from the outside, but others are more in wood. Does it have any difference in sound quality between wood speakers and plastic speakers?