Hi All,
First time poster! I currently have an 11 yr-old Denon AVR (AVR-2313CI), which has treated me well. I was curious what the opinion of the group is regarding using this AVR to power a new set of Lintons vs. getting a new Audiolab 7000A or Marantz 40n? The Denon claims 135w into 8 but i'm guessing both the Audiolab and Marantz newer models would perform just as well from a power delivery perspective. Its kind of hard finding objective information on why you can easily find a 100+ watt AVR for MUCH cheaper than a 70 watt integrated but thats probably a whole separate topic.
Looking for opinions on whether the Audiolab, Marantz or other options in that price range would result in a pretty clear upgrade in sound quality at all listening levels driving the Lintons.
of note perhaps: i'm a Rock music guy from Pink Floyd through Tool and will be listening mostly thru CDs in a medium/large room. Trying to keep wires to a minimum for simplicity purposes and to keep my wife from doing too much complaining about my "junk".
Thanks!
Typically the AVR's are constrained in the power supply area...
They do perform better when driving only 2 channels as their power supply is then more "ample" for the two channels.
The result is that for the most part AVR's tend to get into trouble with difficult speakers, where integrated amps and/or power amps of equivalent price, tend to handle them more easily... BUT (and this is a big one) - AVR's benefit from massive advantages of scale in mass production... that means you get quite a substantial boost in W/$ - they are great value.
Also TOTL AVR's (like any luxury item!) - tend to depreciate massively... after 10 years, the surround, HDMI, DSP components are all obsolete... but the amps from 10 years ago, or even 30 years ago are perfectly fine!
If you are looking at a 15 year old mid-market AVR, vs a higher end Integrated new (to use for stereo)... then the Integrated might well win the battle.
If you are looking at a 15 year old TOTL AVR vs an equivalent new integrated, chances are the AVR would win the battle.
As an aside, a simple rule of thumb for power supply capacity (in an old world linear power supply... not SMPS!) - is weight=capacity, heavier is better. (yes this is a huge generalisation, and in some cases, vendors artificially inflated weight to make their products sell better... and weight also includes differences in case, heatsink, etc...)
My old Onkyo SR876 from about 15 years ago, was a beast - provide a substantial amount more power into stereo than into multi channel, weighed circa 50lb's, and handled difficult speakers with impedances dropping down below 2 ohm without trouble. Much of that 50lb's was the large transformer and capacitors in the power supply... Sadly it's HDMI board failed... but up until I sold it, the SPDIF input was working well, and it remained an excellent Integrated amp (as an AV amp, its function at that point was limited!)
