Denon/Marantz vs Yamaha vs Anthem Thread

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Much thanks! I have absolutely no idea how it’ll sound. This is all entirely new to me.
The Pre-pro... I gave it so much thought and did a great deal of research. The Processor is a lot like a computer was in the early 90’s. You could buy a really really nice one, but in a year or two things had progressed so quickly that they became antiquated in no time. In the not to distant future, the advancements will slow and at that point I’ll buy into a McIntosh processor. Currently I just couldn’t rationalize it even though I really really wanted to. A stack of all McIntosh hardware is a thing of beauty IMO and I adore beautiful hardware.
Here’s my equipment list...
McIntosh MI254 (dig amp)
McIntosh MC303 (SS Amp)
McIntosh MPC500 (conditioner)
Marantz AV8805 (processor)
JL Fathom 13.5 (3000w)
B&W CCM7.5 (X2)
B&W CWM7.4 (X2)
B&W 804D2 (X2)
B&W HTM2D3 (center)
Sony VPL-VW695ES (4K projector)
Screen:
Screen Innovations Zero Edge[emoji2400] Pro
Fixed-frame projector screen with ultra-thin frame and LED backlight, Black Diamond[emoji2400] dark gray material (100")


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Definitely nice components.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Maria, from Fry's called and left a message on my phone this morning. She said that if i wanted to go ahead and place the order for the Yamaha unit I could get it for the price of 698 new and that she would also give me a free 50 dollar gift card to boot.

I'm going to place the order and see how it goes. That seems like an offer i cannot pass up. I originally wanted the 2080 but for that large of a price difference I don't feel the extra 2 channels and 30 watts is much of a difference to me to pay (considering I won't utilize that many channels at this given time.)

Wow. Where was Maria when you needed her BEFORE you bought the refurbished Marantz from A4L?

As we’ve said before, $698 for a Brand New Yamaha RX-A1080 is a great deal.

Do you have any Fry’s stores nearby?

 

[Ken32]

Wow. Where was Maria when you needed her BEFORE you bought the refurbished Marantz from A4L?

As we’ve said before, $698 for a Brand New Yamaha RX-A1080 is a great deal.

Do you have any Fry’s stores nearby?

Exactly! it took a complaint to the BBB to really get their attention! Seems to have worked!

The closest Fry's store is in Georgia. About 253 miles from me.

I'll just do it over then phone when i call her back and have them ship it.

I agree, I think it's a steal. Especially with that 50 dollar gift card as a bonus. I wonder if i should push my luck and ask if it can be applied to the purchase price of the Yamaha? My luck, they'd tell me to stick it.

 

[snakeeyes]

Exactly! it took a complaint to the BBB to really get their attention! Seems to have worked!

The closest Fry's store is in Georgia. About 253 miles from me.

I'll just do it over then phone when i call her back and have them ship it.

I agree, I think it's a steal. Especially with that 50 dollar gift card as a bonus. I wonder if i should push my luck and ask if it can be applied to the purchase price of the Yamaha? My luck, they'd tell me to stick it.

Maybe they’ll tell you to apply the gift card to certified hdmi cables. LOL

 

[PENG]

When you're taking REW measurements, is the microphone at the listening position (like with Audyssey and YPAO) or is the microphone directly in front of each speaker?

I have tried both, and some.. For comparisons I typically would put the mic at the listening position, at the exact (best I could manage) position of the 1st position of the Audyssey mic, as that's when Audyssey auto setup does its distance and level matching.

 

[PENG]

Oh, yeah, of course, count me in on going through all the good easy fun stuffs.

Obviously you are not one of those crazy scientist or engineer type, so yeah its easy to "go through" that part of the been there done that deal in terms of high end bdp, avp, amps and stuff (at least you skip dacs, as you know, I didn't) because you need mainly/only the willingness to spend $$$. Crazy audioholics could/would do worse spending also time and brain energy, Ryan may be heading down that path lol!!!.

 

[PENG]

Much thanks! I have absolutely no idea how it’ll sound. This is all entirely new to me.
The Pre-pro... I gave it so much thought and did a great deal of research. The Processor is a lot like a computer was in the early 90’s. You could buy a really really nice one, but in a year or two things had progressed so quickly that they became antiquated in no time. In the not to distant future, the advancements will slow and at that point I’ll buy into a McIntosh processor. Currently I just couldn’t rationalize it even though I really really wanted to. A stack of all McIntosh hardware is a thing of beauty IMO and I adore beautiful hardware.
Here’s my equipment list...
McIntosh MI254 (dig amp)
McIntosh MC303 (SS Amp)
McIntosh MPC500 (conditioner)
Marantz AV8805 (processor)
JL Fathom 13.5 (3000w)
B&W CCM7.5 (X2)
B&W CWM7.4 (X2)
B&W 804D2 (X2)
B&W HTM2D3 (center)
Sony VPL-VW695ES (4K projector)
Screen:
Screen Innovations Zero Edge[emoji2400] Pro
Fixed-frame projector screen with ultra-thin frame and LED backlight, Black Diamond[emoji2400] dark gray material (100")


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

You plan on using the 8805 in you HT system only right?

 

[sakete]

Question - for powering Revel F36 speakers in a 2ch setup, would a Yamaha A1080/A1070 provide more than enough power?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Question - for powering Revel F36 speakers in a 2ch setup, would a Yamaha A1080/A1070 provide more than enough power?

Minimum impedance = 4.64 ohms @ 162Hz.
Sensitivity: ~90dB/2.83v/min
Recommend power: 30W-200W


I don't see any measurements for the A1080, but I see one for the RX-A1020: 2Ch 8-ohm 1% THD 129W, 2Ch 4-ohm 1% THD 173W.

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/yamaha-rx-a1020-av-receiver-ht-labs-measures#ozCJFEwHe5eYxxTw.99

Yeah, I think the Yamaha RX-A1080 will do just fine powering the F36 for most home systems.

 

[sakete]

So a dealer just told me that YPAO and Audyssey wil downsample any playback signal to 48khz/24bit before applying corrections, whereas ARC doesn't do that. Is that true?

Also, with YPAO, he claimed I wouldn't be able to limit auto corrections to low frequencies only (e.g. < 500hz). Is that true? How is this for Audyssey?

He's a Revel and Anthem dealer, and well he's trying to sell me Anthem gear too expensive for me though.

 

[PENG]

So a dealer just told me that YPAO and Audyssey wil downsample any playback signal to 48khz/24bit before applying corrections, whereas ARC doesn't do that. Is that true?

Also, with YPAO, he claimed I wouldn't be able to limit auto corrections to
He's a Revel and Anthem dealer, and well he's trying to sell me Anthem gear too expensive for me though.

The Anthem MRX AVRs down sample to 48 kHz. Their AVPs down sample too, but could do 96 kHz.

 

[sakete]

The Anthem MRX AVRs down sample to 48 kHz. Their AVPs down sample too, but could do 96 kHz.

Thanks. That's kinda dumb they do that, as then hi res music would also be downsampled on playback. I doubt I can hear the difference between CD quality and hi res of the same recording/same master, but the downsampling may introduce artifacts. I may just need to do some other form of room correction with manual EQ as I want to preserve the original source material.

I saw I made a typo in my earlier post. Edited it now, but meant to also ask, is it true that YPAO can't be limited to only correcting low frequencies, e.g. only correct below 500hz or below 300hz? How about Audyssey?

 

[PENG]

Thanks. That's kinda dumb they do that, as then hi res music would also be downsampled on playback. I doubt I can hear the difference between CD quality and hi res of the same recording/same master, but the downsampling may introduce artifacts. I may just need to do some other form of room correction with manual EQ as I want to preserve the original source material.

I saw I made a typo in my earlier post. Edited it now, but meant to also ask, is it true that YPAO can't be limited to only correcting low frequencies, e.g. only correct below 500hz or below 300hz? How about Audyssey?

You can purchase the Audyssey Editor app that allows you to set the upper freq limit.

I don't see a problem with down sampling to 48 kHz with today's DSPs. There should be no loss and any resulting errors will be too insignificant to be discernible. I have never heard any negative effects but obviously someone with golden ears will tell you all sorts of things.

 

[sakete]

You can purchase the Audyssey Editor app that allows you to set the upper freq limit.

I don't see a problem with down sampling to 48 kHz with today's DSPs. There should be no loss and any resulting errors will be too insignificant to be discernible. I have never heard any negative effects but obviously someone with golden ears will tell you all sorts of things.

So this upper freq limit can't be set in YPAO I suppose, right? Only in Audyssey/ARC/Dirac?

And of course I could always go the manual route with REW + Mic, since Yamaha has a PEQ.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

And of course I could always go the manual route with REW + Mic, since Yamaha has a PEQ.

Yeah, YPAO Auto EQ alone will not allow you to limit the EQ Range.

With Yamaha, you can use YPAO first, then use the manual Parametric EQ to fine tune. This is what Gene does with his Yamaha.

For me, I only use the PEQ to adjust the Subwoofer EQ from 20Hz-100Hz.

I don't believe in messing with EQ above 100Hz.

 

[PENG]

And of course I could always go the manual route with REW + Mic, since Yamaha has a PEQ.

That may be good enough. If I have something like a RX-A3070/3080 that's what I would try first, before spending crazy on miniDSP or even Dirac.

 

[sakete]

Yeah, YPAO Auto EQ alone will not allow you to limit the EQ Range.

With Yamaha, you can use YPAO first, then use the manual Parametric EQ to fine tune. This is what Gene does with his Yamaha.

For me, I only use the PEQ to adjust the Subwoofer EQ from 20Hz-100Hz.

I don't believe in messing with EQ above 100Hz.

Will only using manual PEQ bypass the whole downsample to 48khz issue when streaming hi res files? I'm not too concerned about 96khz getting downsampled to 48khz, as that's a simple divide by 2 equation and should provide clean results. I'm a little bit more concerned about for example 88.2khz files getting downsampled to 48khz, as that's a division by 1.8375, which is not as clean and could potentially introduce artifacts in the sound. Since I'll probably end up getting Revel speakers, which are very revealing, I wonder if I'd be able to hear that sometimes, with some things just sounding slightly off.

Or.... am I just being ridiculous?

 

[sakete]

That may be good enough. If I have something like a RX-A3070/3080 that's what I would try first, before spending crazy on miniDSP or even Dirac.

Yeah, I will not be buying separate crossovers and stuff just yet. What is a good mic to get though? I happen to have an external soundcard (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Gen 1) which I use to drive my JBL LSR305 monitors for my pc, so it doesn't necessarily have to be a USB mic.

 

[PENG]

Yeah, I will not be buying separate crossovers and stuff just yet. What is a good mic to get though? I happen to have an external soundcard (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Gen 1) which I use to drive my JBL LSR305 monitors for my pc, so it doesn't necessarily have to be a USB mic.

The Umik-1 seems like a popular one for REW users. @RichB has used Umik-1 and the more expensive Omni Mic so may be you can ask him. I have no experience in using separate sound cards.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Will only using manual PEQ bypass the whole downsample to 48khz issue when streaming hi res files? I'm not too concerned about 96khz getting downsampled to 48khz, as that's a simple divide by 2 equation and should provide clean results. I'm a little bit more concerned about for example 88.2khz files getting downsampled to 48khz, as that's a division by 1.8375, which is not as clean and could potentially introduce artifacts in the sound. Since I'll probably end up getting Revel speakers, which are very revealing, I wonder if I'd be able to hear that sometimes, with some things just sounding slightly off.

Or.... am I just being ridiculous?

I would say OCD, instead of ridiculous.

I think you just might be able to hear the difference if you have magic golden ears like some people or if you are Superman.

Don't lose 1 second of sleep over it.