Marantz or Rotel?

[rnatalli]

I agree with j_garcia. Pioneer tends to be a bit on the bright side and from what you described, that's what you heard. Rotel is pretty neutral and I'd say Marantz is warm. It's all a matter of taste and you did the right thing by doing a direct comparison and figured out what you like. If you still have a chance, give Yamaha a listen. You might the way they sound.

 

[outsider]

I was very surprised with the SQ from the Elite receiver. I had fully expected the Rotel receivers to sound much better, but they didn't. After seeing the standard Pioneer offerings in Best Buy, I didn't really expect much out of the Elite line, but I wasimpressed with the build quality, performance, and SQ of the top-end receiver and DVD player.

The Rotels definitely had a more neutral (with a bit of brightness) sound, but the top-end Elite had a slightly warmer sound.
The other Elite receivers (90, 91) didn't sound nearly as nice as the 84 (soon to be replaced by the 94). Maybe the lower-end Pioneer receivers have a brighter sound? I haven't listened to one in years....

As for Yamaha, they are nice; my current receiver is a Yamaha. But, they tend to be brighter in sound, unless that has changed. Still, I would have given them a listen had I been able to do so along with the Rotel and Elite receivers, but my dealer doesn't sell Yamaha. And I really don't feel up to either a)hauling my speakers all over town or b)buying a receiver just to bring it home to try it out. Although I suppose that would be the best way to audition new gear....I wonder how lenient those return policies really are?

 

[Seth=L]

"who has my DBT's?"

In all seriousness fellas, you are really digging a deep one here.

Yamaha is not bright, Marantz and NAD are not warm, Rotel isn't mostly neutral but a tad bright. The acoustic differences among amplifiers based on the same topologies are neutral across the audible spectrum unless they are 50 years old or made by "Theater Research".

Now the new digital amplifiers do sound different, but not many have delved into that for audio. Rotel does have a class D power amplifier available, and is quite powerful for its relative size, but it lacks grunt for low impedances (tough loads).

Now this isn't to say all class B or class A/B amplifiers sound the same with certain speakers, because they don't. Pairing 4 ohm speakers with 87 dB @ 1watt/meter with a low level receiver is not going to produce good audio playback in a sound system. Bigger and more stable amplifiers will handle the loads presented by more difficult to drive speaker systems.

If a sound system sounds to bright or edgy on the highs it could be a few problems. A. would be the speakers themselves which carry the largest effect on the SQ of any sound system, B. would be the room's acoustic properties that can be adjusted with acoustic treatments such as diffusers and acoustic panels, C. would be the source material, the selection of movies or music effect the SQ, not every recording is the best and there isn't much you can do to correct it with most music and movies as your options will be limited, D. would be the amplification. If the amplifier is not equiped to handle the demands of the load (speakers), the system will not perform as was intended.

If the system sounds bright to you perhaps the speakers are the source of the brightness, or room acoustics. Careful selection in the material you will listen to for fidelity can improve those SQ factors, and lastly, but not least ample power for the speakers in the room can have an affect even at medium to lower levels of output.

OP, what speakers do you use with your Yamaha receiver? Also what model is the Yamaha receiver you are presently using?

 

[wire]

"who has my DBT's?"

In all seriousness fellas, you are really digging a deep one here.

Yamaha is not bright, Marantz and NAD are not warm, Rotel isn't mostly neutral but a tad bright. The acoustic differences among amplifiers based on the same topologies are neutral across the audible spectrum unless they are 50 years old or made by "Theater Research".

Now the new digital amplifiers do sound different, but not many have delved into that for audio. Rotel does have a class D power amplifier available, and is quite powerful for its relative size, but it lacks grunt for low impedances (tough loads).

Now this isn't to say all class B or class A/B amplifiers sound the same with certain speakers, because they don't. Pairing 4 ohm speakers with 87 dB @ 1watt/meter with a low level receiver is not going to produce good audio playback in a sound system. Bigger and more stable amplifiers will handle the loads presented by more difficult to drive speaker systems.

If a sound system sounds to bright or edgy on the highs it could be a few problems. A. would be the speakers themselves which carry the largest effect on the SQ of any sound system, B. would be the room's acoustic properties that can be adjusted with acoustic treatments such as diffusers and acoustic panels, C. would be the source material, the selection of movies or music effect the SQ, not every recording is the best and there isn't much you can do to correct it with most music and movies as your options will be limited, D. would be the amplification. If the amplifier is not equiped to handle the demands of the load (speakers), the system will not perform as was intended.

If the system sounds bright to you perhaps the speakers are the source of the brightness, or room acoustics. Careful selection in the material you will listen to for fidelity can improve those SQ factors, and lastly, but not least ample power for the speakers in the room can have an affect even at medium to lower levels of output.

OP, what speakers do you use with your Yamaha receiver? Also what model is the Yamaha receiver you are presently using?

Hehe
I think its the Yammy itself that has to go and go get a Sunfire .

 

[Seth=L]

Hehe
I think its the Yammy itself that has to go and go get a Sunfire .

LOL!

Allow me to provide a good example of what I mean. Let's say the OP owns Klipsch speakers, we will say from the Reference series. Let's also say the receiver is a RX-V1600 which is a good receiver, but a horrible mate for the Klipsch RF-7. The reason is the very fluctuant load the Klipsch puts on the receiver's amplifier is more than it can take at moments and would certainly cause clipping. Most speakers that are rated for 8 ohms nominal don't stay at that impedance the move depending on the frequency (lower frequencies tend to lower resistance).

 

[zumbo]

It all depends on set-up. IMO, no receiver sounds good "out of the box". If the Pioneer sounded better, it was set-up better. I would pick Rotel over Pioneer. Way over.