Picking up a new AVR this year which one?

[Makaveli]

Hey i'm looking to upgrade my AVR and speakers this year since I just upgraded my TV.

I'm currently looking at this for the AVR.

Denon AVR-E400

http://usa.denon.com/us/Product/Pag...tId=avreceivers(denonna)&PId=avre400(denonna)

i've not decided on speakers yet but it will be a 5.1 setup.

Looking for suggestions, recommendations and thoughts!

 

[boomhower]

Good option. It has Audyssey which is the best room correction software out there, as far as I know it's the only one that does the sub as well. I prefer Denon and Yamaha.

 

[purbeast0]

i have one of the higher end denons and i love it.

 

[iRONic]

What's your total budget, OP?

 

[gus6464]

That's a good receiver. I set one up for my bother-in-law and got it at Fry's when it was $299.

 

[Accord99]

One negative against the Denon E series is that the binding posts are not compatible with many types of banana plugs.

 

[Makaveli]

What's your total budget, OP?

The budget is $500-$1000.

The Denon I posted above is going for $499 in canada.

I've looked at some of the highend denon's but i'm not sure I will need the extra features and such so choose this guy as the middle ground.

One negative against the Denon E series is that the binding posts are not compatible with many types of banana plugs.

As i've been doing research in the AVSforums i've seen this complaint. I however don't think it will be a serious issue for me.

I also need a recommendation for Speakers also guys in the same $500-$1000 budget.

general information i've picked up so far suggest you should spend 2x the bugdet of the AVR on the speakers.

And its ok to have a not so great AVR and high quality speakers then to have a high quality AVR and crap speakers.

 

[vshah]

yes, definitely spend more on the speakers. are you looking for a full 5.1 system including subwoofer in that budget?

newegg has some good deals on polk speakers right now. you could do something like:

2x Monitor 70 floorstanders for the front:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290208

1x CS2 center:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290212

1 pair Monitor 30 bookshelves for surround duty:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290200

adds up to $499, leaving you $500 for a quality sub, such as the svsound PB-1000:
http://www.svsound.com/subwoofers/ported-box/pb-1000#.UoUBm3CsjTo

 

[Makaveli]

yes, definitely spend more on the speakers. are you looking for a full 5.1 system including subwoofer in that budget?

newegg has some good deals on polk speakers right now. you could do something like:

2x Monitor 70 floorstanders for the front:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882290208

1x CS2 center:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882290212

1 pair Monitor 30 bookshelves for surround duty:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882290200

adds up to $499, leaving you $500 for a quality sub, such as the svsound PB-1000:
http://www.svsound.com/subwoofers/ported-box/pb-1000#.UoUBm3CsjTo

Thank you for this suggestion.

These look great and specs are good but one big issue. I'm in canada and newegg.com doesn't ship cross border.

newegg.ca has these items discontinued.

 

[vshah]

bummer....that is indeed why they are discounted - due to being discontinued.

svsound has an official distributor in canada, you should get the pb-1000 from there if you decide on it:
http://www.sonicboomaudio.com/box-s...-dsp-controlled-10-ported-subwoofer-p-53.html

 

[Exterous]

Thank you for this suggestion.

These look great and specs are good but one big issue. I'm in canada and newegg.com doesn't ship cross border.

newegg.ca has these items discontinued.

I don't know the prices locally but Canada has some fantastic speaker manufacturers: Athena, Paradigm, Energy, Mirage, PSB (Although Energy and Mirage are now owned by Klipsch) so I would check and see how much those are.

I would strongly suggest seeing if there is a place where you can go to listen to the different speakers as what sounds good to one person won't sound as good to another. And I'm not talking about a big box store but an actual audio store with a controlled listening environment. It could make a big difference in how much you like your purchase

 

[KentState]

Denon makes good units, but I'm very partial to Yamaha. I've had very good experiences with the last two models I purchased. RX-V2700 and now a RX-A2010.

 

[Makaveli]

I don't know the prices locally but Canada has some fantastic speaker manufacturers: Athena, Paradigm, Energy, Mirage, PSB (Although Energy and Mirage are now owned by Klipsch) so I would check and see how much those are.

I would strongly suggest seeing if there is a place where you can go to listen to the different speakers as what sounds good to one person won't sound as good to another. And I'm not talking about a big box store but an actual audio store with a controlled listening environment. It could make a big difference in how much you like your purchase

Great idea.

Currently looking at some speakers on this site.

http://www.2001audiovideo.com/en/ca...Speakers/sc456-Floor-standing-Speakers-Towers

 

[SNC]

Good option. It has Audyssey which is the best room correction software out there, as far as I know it's the only one that does the sub as well. I prefer Denon and Yamaha.

The Onkyo models with Audy does subs as well. I have been using Onkyo's since the early 90s I still have an SV610pro doing 2.1 duty in my office.

 

[boomhower]

The Onkyo models with Audy does subs as well. I have been using Onkyo's since the early 90s I still have an SV610pro doing 2.1 duty in my office.

I meant Audyssey itself is the only one to do sub correction. Several companies (Yamaha, Pioneer, etc) have their own correction software but don't do subs.

 

[SNC]

I meant Audyssey itself is the only one to do sub correction. Several companies (Yamaha, Pioneer, etc) have their own correction software but don't do subs.

It would have helped to have more than a few sips of java before posting. You are correct, I took your post to mean that only denon had Audy.

 

[Exterous]

Great idea.

Currently looking at some speakers on this site.

http://www.2001audiovideo.com/en/ca...Speakers/sc456-Floor-standing-Speakers-Towers

Some good brands there. Have you been to listen to any of them?

 

[Makaveli]

Some good brands there. Have you been to listen to any of them?

I'm hoping to do that this weekend.

 

[olds]

As soon as I saw "Canada" I thought of PSB for speakers.

 

[TheAdvocate]

OP, interested in comparing notes with you. I just ordered an E400 factory refurb to replace my aging 1609. Im picking up 4 additional HDMI ports and true HD / DTS sound as well as analogue upconversion and supposedly 4k pass through as well. I am keeping my 5.1 setup - 4x Polk walls, 10" polk sub and my NXG Tech center channel ( http://www.nxgtechnology.com/speakers.html ).

Im gonna do a powerline or wireless bridge for ethernet... primaily for pandora... though i will also have my blu rayplayer, roku HD, and my kids' wiiU hooked up to it.

It looks to be a pretty significant upgrade for my home theater... just hope its not a pain to setup and everything works okay.

 

[Meghan54]

If you haven't bought yet, consider NAD and/or Anthem. They're both well worth their price.

 

[queequeg99]

just hope its not a pain to setup and everything works okay.

I have found setup on modern Denons to be amazingly easy. The UI is pretty bare bones, but it's clear and it's not like you have to interact with it on a daily basis.

 

[olds]

... just hope its not a pain to setup and everything works okay.

I have found setup on modern Denons to be amazingly easy. The UI is pretty bare bones, but it's clear and it's not like you have to interact with it on a daily basis.

I have the 3313ci and just bought my first smart TV. Set up on the Denon was very easy but the TV did something to take over the volume control on the avr. I have to use the TV remote (when using tv with doubles as my monitor) and sometimes it controls only the tv volume and sometimes it controls the avr. Haven't figured out why yet.

 

[JackBurton]

I have the 3313ci and just bought my first smart TV. Set up on the Denon was very easy but the TV did something to take over the volume control on the avr. I have to use the TV remote (when using tv with doubles as my monitor) and sometimes it controls only the tv volume and sometimes it controls the avr. Haven't figured out why yet.

Turn off HDMI control on both devices, AVR and TV.

 

[queequeg99]

Turn off HDMI control on both devices, AVR and TV.

+1. I personally found HMDI-CEC to be a bit of a pain because my TV took control of the AVR when I didn't want it to. I ran into weird problems in which it took repeat attempts to turn my devices off and actually keep them off. If I didn't ensure that the TV turned off first, it would restart the AVR when I turned the AVR off. Unfortunately, this happened a lot since my TV's remote receiver is not the best (a Vizio M651-A2) and it often take a couple of button presses to get the signal to the TV. I understood what was going on and what I had to do. My wife, however, thought the home theater was possessed.

I originally enabled CEC so I could use the audio return channel to get surround sound from my TV's netflix app to the AVR. However, I now have a Roku 3 box and use that instead.