Do you think it's worth going with a separate AV Processor?

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moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
My Pioneer Elite AVR is coming up on 10 years and just thinking about possible replacements. I was first thinking about going with a separate processor as oppose to an AVR but not sure if it is worth the bang for the buck. I am interested in DIRAC room correction as well as 7.2.4. I have a minidsp 2X4 HD as well so the dual parallel subouts isn't an issue for me.

Interested in something like the Arcam 860.. the NAD is also nice but little pricy. Actually, very pricy. $3000 or under would be nice. The Anthem AVM 60 is also interesting.

Or should I just get a high end AVR...with 11 channels?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Personally I find Nad and Anthem both overpriced for what they offer. Boutique stuff. I'd go avr but that's me. Depends what features you want.
 
S

sakete

Audioholic
If you're going the AVR route, definitely don't get NAD. They make good power amps, but that's it and aren't very good in the pre-amp and processor space (severely overpriced for what you get).
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
sakete said:
If you're going the AVR route, definitely don't get NAD. They make good power amps, but that's it and aren't very good in the pre-amp and processor space (severely overpriced for what you get).
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Do they really make exceptional power amps, tho? Just a boutique brand IMO.
 
moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
I watched half of genes video of about 1.5 hours of him and a guy comparing the anthem,marantz, Yamaha, and bad av processors and the marantz with their audessey, placed last place. The Yamaha room correction according to them is old tech and needs upgrading.... The anthem or the arcam sounds nice for the price.... The anthem comes with a pre pro with amp channels at 7 and 11 with their top model. The anthem 7 channel might be a way to go since I already have some external amps.

Just not sure if it is sonically better to pay the extra cash for a separate processor via AVR.... I understand the cooling reasons of sepearating the amp section but not sure if it is worth it.... As I said... My pioneer has so far lasted 10 years and previous to that I had a Yamaha AVR that lasted just as long.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
moves said:
For the NAD M17 v2.... I agree. I prefer to read also but don't mind a video from time to time.
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That's a $6000 pre-pro, you would hope it would have good build quality. Exceptional compared to what other pre-pros?
 
moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
lovinthehd said:
That's a $6000 pre-pro, you would hope it would have good build quality. Exceptional compared to what other pre-pros?
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That is it... exceptional to the ones in the comparison. Marantz, Yamaha, Arcam....
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
moves said:
That is it... exceptional to the ones in the comparison. Marantz, Yamaha, Arcam....
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Exceptional build quality doesn't necessarily translate to audible improvements. A lot of what's being compared is objectively accurate, but I don't think you can hear it. Once you reach a certain point any competently built amplifier is going to sound great.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
moves said:
That is it... exceptional to the ones in the comparison. Marantz, Yamaha, Arcam....
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Exceptional how? Is it meaningful in terms of performance or longevity or value? Is it worth the additional expense over the Marantz or Yamaha? I assume the Arcam is similarly priced and usually gets equivalent praise as the other boutique brands....
 
moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
sakete said:
The NAD M17 v2 doesn't measure at all like what you'd expect for a $6k pre-pro:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-nad-m17-v2-pre-pro.8998/

My advice, stay way from NAD. Severely overpriced. The chassis of that thing is very well built... and the story ends there.
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Being in Canada, that unit would be close to $8000 CAD + 13% tax. To me if you're going to spend that kind of coin on a pre pro, the end HT would be around a 100k CAD or close to it. In my point of view, I would need to be making somewhere around 200K per year salary to make that somewhat reasonable.

I have a fair amount of coin invested in my system and I think that buying well built, long lasting components is worth while. Ex, I purchased a used 2 channel Mcintosh302 power amp for my mains and don't plan on every replacing it. Likely same for my speakers but we'll see... The main speakers are the highest cost item in the set and hardest to replace due to coin. Pre pros will get replaced to do new formats being released but the NAD is modular and can upgrade the cards without having to replace the entire unit.

I think spending somewhere under 4K CAD taxes in is what I am interested in.
 
moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
lovinthehd said:
Exceptional how? Is it meaningful in terms of performance or longevity or value? Is it worth the additional expense over the Marantz or Yamaha? I assume the Arcam is similarly priced and usually gets equivalent praise as the other boutique brands....
Click to expand...
Probably longevity. Not saying it will noticeably sound better... but hopefully last longer. However, the other reviewer in the video, mentioned the room correction experienced with the NAD was superior and that Audyssey was not that great compared to DIRAC and ARC.
 
S

sakete

Audioholic
moves said:
Probably longevity. Not saying it will noticeably sound better... but hopefully last longer. However, the other reviewer in the video, mentioned the room correction experienced with the NAD was superior and that Audyssey was not that great compared to DIRAC and ARC.
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Dirac vs Audyssey vs YPAO in the end will very much depend on the room you're in. I believe that Dirac is good, but I was able to get a pretty flat response in my room with YPAO, and I have the graphs to prove it.

So don't discount other room EQ software. It all depends on your room, and you'll always want to confirm with REW afterwards to see if it indeed made a difference.

I know of at least one example where Dirac made the sound worse (in the freq response graph anyway). There is no holy grail :)
 
moves

moves

Audioholic Chief
sakete said:
The NAD M17 v2 doesn't measure at all like what you'd expect for a $6k pre-pro:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-nad-m17-v2-pre-pro.8998/

My advice, stay away from NAD. Severely overpriced. The chassis of that thing is very well built... and the story ends there.

On that same site, a much cheaper Pioneer AVR measures much better.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link.... interesting information.... very pretty display though wow.
 
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