not impressed, what next

[Gouty]

Hey everyone, my current receiver is a Pioneer VSX-D814. It’s been a good reliable product for the last four or five years though I recently upgraded my speakers and wasn’t too impressed with the jump in sound quality. I don’t want to get all involved with the brands of the speakers but I will say the new ones should absolutely destroy my old hand me downs. I began to think that possibly they just weren’t reaching their full potential and that maybe the receiver was to blame. So I began to look at what Denon has to offer and I was just wondering that if I were to drop say somewhere between 1 to 1.5k on one of their products do think I would get a significant jump in sound quality? I know I didn’t give any info on the speakers but I was more curious about the jump in sound quality from my old Pioneer to a new Denon. Thank you for your help.

 

[no. 5]

Assuming that your speakers are reasonably easy to drive; it's unlikely that there will be a jump in SQ.

There may be a small bit of deference in the sound, but not one that would necessitate dropping a thousand dollars. the money would be better spent on speakers.

Alternatively, if your speakers are hard to drive, you could get an external amplifier to power them (I think your receiver has pre-outs).

 

[j_garcia]

There will definitely be an improvement, because I think your limiting factor right now, even without knowing what speakers you have, is the receiver. It won't change the nature of the speakers, but having enough power to do the job will make a noticeable difference.

So, on to the real questions - what speakers, have you calibrated them and how big is your room?

 

[no. 5]

it's unlikely that there will be a jump in SQ.

There will definitely be an improvement

Confuse the poor guy why don't ya'.

Just goofing, I do agree that if the speakers are under powered it will limit the potential of the system (hence why I said something about an external amp).

And it will be limited much more if the system is not calibrated properly.

 

[Gouty]

Is it worth mentioning the VSX D814 was only $300 new, roughly five years ago? Does that change anyone’s opinion?

 

[no. 5]

Well, a new receiver can make a deference, but you may not have to spend $1,500 to see the deference.

Again assuming that your speakers are easy to drive, there wont be a "jump" (i.e. a HUGE improvement) in sound quality, but a better receiver is a positive force in overall sound quality.

 

[sholling]

You really aren't giving us anywhere near enough information, but at 100w/ch the Pioneer has plenty of power to drive most speakers just fine. So no, with mainstraem speakers a $1,000 Denon isn't likely to make much if any difference in how your system sounds.

You didn't tell us what's missing or wrong with the sound. Given a bit more information such as old speakers, new speakers, type of music and what you're missing/not liking I'm sure we could be of more help.

 

[gene]

Before changing out gear again, perhaps you should address your room acoustics and speaker placement. These are often the most overlooked and most direct reason why people are unsatisfied with the fidelity of their systems.

 

[riceaterslc]

what type of sources are you listening to? TV? Radio? CD? do they all sound just marginally better? the same?

 

[Seth=L]

Speakers may dip to low impedances regardless of their nominal ohms ratings. The 814 has a small power supply, small caps, and two ICs for all 7 channels. It doesn't weigh well with the big dogs. If the speakers dip in ohms it can sound compressed and lose dynamics. You may try borrowing an amplifier from a friend and connect it to the preouts and see if it makes a difference.

 

[tubesaregood]

I believe a new receiver will make a difference. I don't know about anyone else, but I can even hear a difference from one high end to the next - there's a definite difference (not of overall quality but of characteristics) between my Denon amps and my Spectro Acoustics. So I think there would be improvement upon spending a bit more for a better receiver. After all, not many of you would power your $500 bookshelf speakers with a Korean budget HTIB amplifier, now would you?

 

[Gouty]

The old speakers were a couple of floor standing Bose 501 Series 4‘s. To be honest they weren’t terrible, I just thought the details could be better and the base tighter and punchier. The rears were a couple of bookshelf Polks, nothing special though again not terrible. I replaced all five of them with Aperions, a 533 vac for the center and four 533 towers for the remaining. My sub is an absolute joke and I despise it, I’d love to replace it with a decent SVS but the speakers drained my current budget, though it’s next on my list.
I use my speakers for movies, music and videogames. What I was wanting out of the new ones was to be able to put in an album I know like the back of my hand and hear details I’d never picked up on, like hearing the music again for the first time and that really didn’t happen. So that then lead me to thinking my receiver was to blame, considering how favorably the Aperions had been reviewed by people who do that sort of thing for a living. I didn’t think I’d be nearly as hard to impress as those well trained ears. So all told I’ll have spent roughly 2.5k on new speakers (sub too) and thought maybe they needed a similarly priced receiver to make them sing.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Is it worth mentioning the VSX D814 was only $300 new, roughly five years ago? Does that change anyone’s opinion?

No, unless you are exceeding its design limits by the new speakers, your listening volume, the room, or the quality of the recording.

It doesn't appear that you changed your acoustic space at all, no sound reinforcement, absorbers, etc.
We have no idea of the speaker's impedance, its sensitivity, your listening distance, room size, and volume habits. So, who knows is that receiver is at fault or not?

 

[davo]

If you still have your Bose speakers around you could plug them into the 'B' outlet on the amp (assuming it has an A/B capability) and do a direct comparison. I did this test when I spent $1800(aus) on a pair of floorstander's and compared them to the $400 pair I already had.
Needless to say, as the volume got louder the difference was more and more apparent. It got to the point where the cheapies sounded like pure distortion in comparison to the clarity of the more expensive ones.