Advice on amp for 2.1 stereo (receiver, integrated or separates?)

[timbre-ho!]

Long time lurker, first time poster, hoping you can provide some advice. We are moving next month and will be relocating my home theater to the lower level of the house. The upper level will be music only, so I'm piecing together a new system. We will be listening to almost exclusively lossless rips of my CDs transmitted via Airport Express (optical out), along with some streaming radio (and possibly OTA radio). The stereo will be set up in a 18 x 14 living room, with 20' ceilings and one side open to the dining room and kitchen.

I've settled on speakers:
EMP E5bi bookshelfs
SVS SB-1000 sub

I'm struggling with the rest of the set up. I'm considering the following (budget is $400- $500):
- Stereo receiver, like Yamaha R-S700, plus an external DAC
- AVR... overwhelmed by the choices... concerned that amplification takes a back seat to all the I/O options... but perhaps there are AVRs that play stereo music really well?
- Integrated amp, the Marantz PM-6005 seems to check all the boxes but is outside my price range. Less expensive integrated amps seem to lack an onboard DAC which makes me feel like I'm spending a lot of money for something that cannot natively accept the one thing I want to plug into it
- Separate amp and pre-amp/DAC. I think I'd probably have to the used market here, but I'm open to it.

Would appreciate your thoughts and guidance!

 

[j_garcia]

Neither of those have bass management AFAIK, and the PM6005 doesn't even have a sub pre-out, so you'll be calibrating the sub yourself and running full range on the speakers. An AVR in the same price range will handle music similarly IMO, but has much more of a feature set than you'll get from an integrated. HOWEVER, I've found getting those features isn't a freebie and I find integrateds, being simpler, tend to also have better amplification on board since the cost didn't go into all those other features. Split the difference, forget the external DAC, and get an Outlaw RR2150.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Personally, for this budget, I would get the $400 Denon X2000 (MSRP is $700).

It's a 7.2 AVR, but you can use it as 2.0 just fine. 7Ch driven, it will be more like 90WPC, but into only 2Ch, it will be more like 120WPC. And you will never know what you will need in the future. You may end up needing 5.1. You never know.

 

[timbre-ho!]

Interesting point regarding bass management. I assumed the Yamaha would recognize if the sub was connected and divert the low end to the sub. Guess not. Certainly don't want to be running full range on the speakers...

The Outlaw is a bit outside my budget and it looks like its digital input is USB only?

 

[timbre-ho!]

Thanks AcuDefTechGuy. The X2000 is definitely on my radar!

 

[agarwalro]

Correctly setting up the distance, level and crossover goes a long way in getting the most of ones 2.1 setup. The AVR will be perfect for this.

Room correction while not required (and opinions on its effectiveness vary) is nice to have.

A dynamic eq (like a modern day loudness button) really helps make the sound not feel bass anemic at lower volumes. Again, AVRs have this.

IMO, integrated amps are best for people with a great analog source or those wanting to keep processing to a minimum.

 

[PENG]

The HK 3390 for under C$300 or HK 3490 if you can find one will give you over 100WPC of clean power and high current capability.

Amazon.com: Harman Kardon 3490 120-Watt Stereo Receiver (Discontinued by Manufacturer): Electronics

Harman Kardon 2.1 160W Stereo Audio Receiver | HK3390 | Visions Electronics

 

[ImcLoud]

When it comes to music systems I hate complicating things with an AVR and all of the video circuitry, extra buttons, ect ect. I know they have direct mode and can isolate things but I would rather have a simple dac and amplifier set...

Here is what I would do, scrap the sb1000 for an outlet sb112 nsd {I have heard both and own 2 of the sb12's, they are awesome}, for $529 its only $30 more than the 10' sub and has high pass outputs, so it will control your crossing for you, 2 problems solved 1 having a 10" sub and 2 crossing to your mains...

Next grab a nice 2 channel amplifier like the UPA 200 https://emotiva.com/products/amplifiers/upa-200 {you can get bstock if you call them and order ofver the phone and save a good amount}...

Now for a dac, you can go with an emotiva xda2 {also available in bstock} or something less expensive like the Audioengine d1....

So you will have a nice direct path, with volume control and integrated crossing to your mains....

I know some guys would rather throw a home theater receiver in there and call it a day, but this is for your formal music listening system, separate components adds a little class, and keep in mind resale value will be towards 90% vs an avr is hard to give away after 5 years.... You may never hear the difference between an HT receiver and the most expensive pre/amp setup in the world, just like you may never hear the difference between hooking up a car stereo headunit with a 12v power supply and a HT receiver but stuff belongs where it belongs, to me an HT receiver belongs in a room with a tv and playing movies, just like a car stereo belongs in a car, "music only" is just that, why confuse it with a bunch of stuff that has no use...

Good luck..


PS- a quick wiring run down for you incase it is confusing....
Your optical out will go into the dac's opt port, then the dac's analog outs will run to the sub, the subs high pass outs will run to your amp and your amps speaker leads will go to your speakers...

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I've owned pure class-A analog stereo preamps (Acurus, Bryston) with no tones or any video circuits. I've compared them to AVR in direct modes. I can't hear a difference.

In direct mode, I can't tell a difference between AVR vs pre-pro vs preamp.

Bottom line, AVR measure even better than some class-A pure analog preamps. The difference in measurement is inaudible to me.

IMO, there is no reason at all to believe that just because an AVR has video circuits or "longer paths" makes AVR any less musical.

So we are sharing our experiences.