Yamaha RXV 1900 and Kef 3000 SE upgrade advice

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

I've got the Yamaha RXV 1900 running the KEF 3000 SE speaker package. I use it mainly for movies and music which come from the Apple TV.

I've been wondering what would be the best to upgrade next. I'm thinking'd there'd be more benefit by upgrading the speakers, maybe B&W 685 Theatre rather say the amp?

Tricky to know how the amp compares to some of the new kids on the block Onkyo TX-NR609, would it be a step back or not?

Thought I'd start investigating 🙂

 

[Frank Harvey]

You'll need to be looking at receivers around the £1,000 mark upwards to improve on it, so it's either a case of replacing it now with something discontinued, which means you might pick up something around £600/600, or for £1k you could look at receivers that were around £1,500-2,000 when new, or, keeping it for another 9-12 months and look at either the next lot of discontinued receivers, or the next new batch. Even though amps like the 609 are better featured, I wouldn't be changing a1900 for one.

As far as speaker's are concerned, you could upgrade your 3005 package bit by bit. The most important speaker's are e front three, so upgrading the front pair with something like Q100, Q300, or the floorstanding Q500's, will improve music for both movies and music. Updating the centre to match (Q200C) will keep the centre channel quality in line with the front pair. You can use your existing front pair as centre rears, and give yourself a 7.1 system if you wish, or even just your existing centre to give you 6.1. Many people have done this and are quite happy with that, sticking with the 3005's as rear speaker's as they're more discreet than normal hi-fi speakers. You may wish to update the sub for something more beefy, or even just add a second HTB2se for a more even in room response, lower distortion levels, and improved power handling (two sub's share the work one would have to do).

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much David!

Cleared up my thoughts on the amp. I'll definately be keeping the amp for now and look at the speakers you've suggested.

Would have been sick to the stomach if I'd taken a step backwards on the system!

Thank you so much 😉

Rich

 

[Frank Harvey]

No problem Rich.

The 1900 will easily drive the Q series. If it does what you need it to, invest in speakers, as they're not really going to change over time - processors will.

 

[fayeanddavid]

No problem Rich. The 1900 will easily drive the Q series. If it does what you need it to, invest in speakers, as they're not really going to change over time - processors will.

Just to confirm; I asked a similar question about my RXV 2700 a while back, and very strongly recommended to stay with it, yes newer avrs have a better feature list but the older Yamaha's like yours and mine seem to more than hold their own when it comes to out and out performance.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks both, I was really hoping this was the case.

Great advice, I can now start saving my pennies for the speakers 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

Getting very tempted by the: KEF 50th Anniversary 20% off

Would the promotion cover desktop speakers (JBL), or would that be taking the Michael a bit too much??

 

[Anonymous]

Got the ok from the Mrs, so if anyone is interested in buying:

Kef HTS3001 Satellite Speakers (pair) and HTC3001 Centre Speaker

See here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120780759368&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:GB:1123