Question Would a £1000 amp be okay for a £4500 system?

[Deleted member 2457]

I know the general rule is £2000 amp for £4000 odd system but when I upgrade I was thinking about a £1000 amp for asking price of say £600. So something like a Pioneer Vsx-lx503 for £599 down from around £1000. I would be picking a Denon amp though at a similar price reading the awards issue today and the way Pioneer amps have gone and Denon amps reviewing really well.

What would the differences be in sound or less powerful for example. I expect sound quality not to be as good it what say is the main difference between a £2000 amp and a £1000 one for say £600. Could some might not notice the difference? For example a Sony all in one home cinema for £300 sounded not too different from mine in my system for sound quality! The bass was a little loose on the £300 all in one but I thought it sounded like a system for much more, so surely a £1000 amp would be up to the task. I am not bothered about anything apart from a 5.1 system capable amp too would that make any differences?

I have heard a £1000 amp and a £500 amp through the B&W old MT30 speaker package and I was suitably impressed with both amps. Note this is for future reference for myself if anything goes wrong with my amp. If it wouldn’t be worth putting a less quality amp through my speakers them I will sell of my speakers and just buy an all in one system for cheap though. Cheers guys.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I know the general rule is £2000 amp for £4000 odd system but when I upgrade I was thinking about a £1000 amp for asking price of say £600. So something like a Pioneer Vsx-lx503 for £599 down from around £1000. I would be picking a Denon amp though at a similar price reading the awards issue today and the way Pioneer amps have gone and Denon amps reviewing really well.

What would the differences be in sound? Less powerful for example? I expect sound quality not to be as good it what say is the main difference between a £2000 amp and a £1000 one for say £600? Could some might not notice the difference? For example a Sony all in one home cinema for £300 sounded not too different from mine in my system for sound quality! The bass was a little loose on the £300 all in one but I thought it sounded like a system for much more, so surely a £1000 amp would be up to the task? I am not bothered about anything apart from a 5.1 system capable amp too would that make a difference?

I have heard a £1000 amp and a £500 amp through the B&W old MT30 speaker package and I was suitably impressed with both amps. Note this is for future reference for myself if anything goes wrong with my amp. If it wouldn’t be worth putting a less quality amp through my speakers them I will sell of my speakers and just buy an all in one system for cheap though. Cheers guys.

I was thinking about this product of the year amp and award winner:
https://www.ortonsaudiovisual.com/t...rs/denon-avrx3600h-av-receiver-7ch-black.html.

It says it’s new and has a £999 price so surely time to come down in price to roughly my budget of say £600. In the title it says 7 channel speaker but then in the description it says 9.2 so I wouldn’t want anything more than that. I would be setting it up too I got on fine with an all in one system so the time has come to learn how to do it, no more paying for it for me.

My dad reckons my speakers will never go wrong so that just leaves the amp and I never move it and take care of it so hopefully nothing will go wrong there either, I am aware though I wouldn’t get much for my speakers today, so being able to buy a suitable amp on a budget is important.

This would be my current choice the award winner for 2018 at £499:

Denon AVR-X3500H 7.2 Channel AV Receiver

Denon's AVR-X3500H offers the ultimate home theatre experience with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, plus unparalleled music playback options, thanks to built-in HEOS technology and Amazon Alexa voice compatibility for seamless control.

petertyson.co.uk

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I think I have found the answers to my questions with last year’s review:

Denon AVR-X3500H review

Denon is king of the AV receiver

www.whathifi.com

More than capable of driving PMC Twenty5 speaker reference package! Wow. I should be fine then I am reading this right?

 

[Tonestar1]

I think you'd be ok. Just make sure the amp you're buying doesn't have extra channels you wont use, That way you'll get best bang for your buck.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I think you'd be ok. Just make sure the amp you're buying doesn't have extra channels you wont use, That way you'll get best bang for your buck.

Thanks man - I will have a look into that. Cheers.

 

[chris661]

Just a quick FWIW, the transducers at the start/end of the signal chain (ie, microphones in the studio and speakers for us) are by far the worst part. They have frequency response wiggles, phase shifts, and plenty of harmonic and inter-modulation distortion.
Amplifiers and sources, by comparison, are very benign. Even moreso if you keep them operating in their linear region (ie, not clipping the amplifier).

So, to answer the original question, I'd actually recommend diverting more money towards the speakers and use a "lower end" amplifier.

Chris

 

[Deleted member 2457]

I was thinking about this product of the year amp and award winner:
https://www.ortonsaudiovisual.com/t...rs/denon-avrx3600h-av-receiver-7ch-black.html.

It says it’s new and has a £999 price so surely time to come down in price to roughly my budget of say £600. In the title it says 7 channel speaker but then in the description it says 9.2 so I wouldn’t want anything more than that. I would be setting it up too I got on fine with an all in one system so the time has come to learn how to do it, no more paying for it for me.

My dad reckons my speakers will never go wrong so that just leaves the amp and I never move it and take care of it so hopefully nothing will go wrong there either, I am aware though I wouldn’t get much for my speakers today, so being able to buy a suitable amp on a budget is important.

This would be my current choice the award winner for 2018 at £499:

Denon AVR-X3500H 7.2 Channel AV Receiver

Denon's AVR-X3500H offers the ultimate home theatre experience with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, plus unparalleled music playback options, thanks to built-in HEOS technology and Amazon Alexa voice compatibility for seamless control.

petertyson.co.uk

That Denon amp for £499 has sold out on Peter Tyson now - I am glad some of you have got a quality amp at a really cheap price.

 

[Deleted member 116933]

I know the general rule is £2000 amp for £4000 odd system but when I upgrade I was thinking about a £1000 amp for asking price of say £600. So something like a Pioneer Vsx-lx503 for £599 down from around £1000. I would be picking a Denon amp though at a similar price reading the awards issue today and the way Pioneer amps have gone and Denon amps reviewing really well.

What would the differences be in sound or less powerful for example. I expect sound quality not to be as good it what say is the main difference between a £2000 amp and a £1000 one for say £600. Could some might not notice the difference? For example a Sony all in one home cinema for £300 sounded not too different from mine in my system for sound quality! The bass was a little loose on the £300 all in one but I thought it sounded like a system for much more, so surely a £1000 amp would be up to the task. I am not bothered about anything apart from a 5.1 system capable amp too would that make any differences?

I have heard a £1000 amp and a £500 amp through the B&W old MT30 speaker package and I was suitably impressed with both amps. Note this is for future reference for myself if anything goes wrong with my amp. If it wouldn’t be worth putting a less quality amp through my speakers them I will sell of my speakers and just buy an all in one system for cheap though. Cheers guys.

Hi gel, for any real answer to be appropriate poeple should be asking what speakers you have, ie what's there loading and are they sensitive, i know you're an older member here but i really can't remember for the life of me what you have.

IF IF you had a speaker package of, i don't lets say 5k (forgetting the sub/s) thats 1k per speaker i'd be seriously considering about partnering them up with fair more that a 2k amp, it would more like 4-6k of amp (for AV). Any amp will drive speakers but theres a differance between driving and controlling. When i buy speakers they are always the cheapest part or a least equal in value to the amp (if it was stereo). Amps and source take up nearly the whole budget. I don't know where the notion of cheap amp expensive speakers came from but thats never been my train of thought and was told as such when starting out. Yes theres amps that punch above there weight but in regards to AVR you certainly get what you pay for given that a lot of the meney goes toward license fees on AVR's its very differecult to know where the money is being being spent by the manufacture.

I would say give your self pause mate. and ask what your trying to achieve

 

[Deleted member 116933]

I think I have found the answers to my questions with last year’s review:

Denon AVR-X3500H review

Denon is king of the AV receiver

www.whathifi.com

More than capable of driving PMC Twenty5 speaker reference package! Wow. I should be fine then I am reading this right?

Ive owned PMC's 20 23's and i can tell you that this amp is not man enough for them at least to not really control them they require a lot current not power to get them going. and would certainly do those speakers a massive disservice That package is certainly not what id partner with this amp at all, qaustics would be be more its speed or the monitor audio bronze level speakers

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Hi gel, for any real answer to be appropriate poeple should be asking what speakers you have, ie what's there loading and are they sensitive, i know you're an older member here but i really can't remember for the life of me what you have.

IF IF you had a speaker package of, i don't lets say 5k (forgetting the sub/s) thats 1k per speaker i'd be seriously considering about partnering them up with fair more that a 2k amp, it would more like 4-6k of amp (for AV). Any amp will drive speakers but theres a differance between driving and controlling. When i buy speakers they are always the cheapest part or a least equal in value to the amp (if it was stereo). Amps and source take up nearly the whole budget. I don't know where the notion of cheap amp expensive speakers came from but thats never been my train of thought and was told as such when starting out. Yes theres amps that punch above there weight but in regards to AVR you certainly get what you pay for given that a lot of the meney goes toward license fees on AVR's its very differecult to know where the money is being being spent by the manufacture.

I would say give your self pause mate. and ask what your trying to achieve

B&W FPM series speakers and B&W PV1 sub its in my sig too.
I suppose I was trying to get away with not to dissimilar sound quality at a cheaper price.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Ive owned PMC's 20 23's and i can tell you that this amp is not man enough for them at least to not really control them they require a lot current not power to get them going. and would certainly do those speakers a massive disservice That package is certainly not what id partner with this amp at all, qaustics would be be more its speed or the monitor audio bronze level speakers

AVForums just reviewed the Denon 3600 and paired them with reference M&K speakers:

Denon AVR-X3600H 9.2 Channel AV Receiver Review

The Denon X3600 is a 9.2 channel 4K Ultra HD AV receiver with Dolby Atmos, Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization Technology, DTS:X, DTS Virtual:X and the new IMAX Enhanced system. It also works with...

www.avforums.com

Does say they struggle a little though which is what you are saying. Cheers.

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Deal for those of you who missed out on the Denon 3500 on the Denon 3600:

Denon AVR-X3600H AV Receiver

The Denon AVR-X3600H AV Receiver immerses you in its 180w of power and 9.2 channel. With 8 HDMI inputs and 3 outputs and supporting for 4K, Ultra HD and seamless voice control via Alexa and Siri this is an absolute powerhouse and a must for any home cinema.

www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk

£100 off won’t be long before further money comes off too.