Advice regarding a suitable AVR

[xmod]

Hi all,
I have a 5mx5m carpeted living room, walled on three sides. I currently have a Sony (see my problem?) str-db795 feeding Bose 301 fronts, Jensen rears and Acusound center and sub. I have recently aquired some wonderful old B&W DM 330's which have opened my eyes as to just how poor the Bose are. The Bose are now the outdoor speakers.
I am feeding a Panasonic G10 plasma AND a Panasonic projector. I am inputing PS3, XBOX, Wii, Austar HD, Panasonic HDD Recorder, WDTV Live and Audio/video from the desktop over an ethernet cable. Thank God for the Harmony One remote!
So, I need 2 HDMI out, second zone output with digital and analogue audio, networking capability and an android app for a giggle but MOST importantly I want to give the B&W the best chance I can. They are rated to 100w and so is the Sony.
Best answer I can find so far under $1000 is the Yamaha RX-v771 which ticks all the boxes bar one. It is rated at 90w. Am I going backwards or will the quality of the amp over the Sony show through and make the B&W feel like they have had a facelift?
Right students, thats enough homework for one day, I expect your homework on my desk promptly.
I thank you in advance.

 

[markw]

It sounds like you've done your homework on finding a well built receiver with all the features you need. Good job. Perhaps better than you know.

As for that power issue, in the real world there's virtually no audible difference between 90 and 100 watts. In fact, to make a barely audible difference you need to double, or halve, the power. So, if you were "satisfied" with the power of your current Sony, you won't feel any loss here.

But wait, there's more.

The way receivers are marketed, as you go up the chain, power isn't the thing you should be looking for. You should be looking for the features you need. As you noticed, going up the chain, the power ratings really don't change too much, do they? ...but the number of features, inputs, outputs, etc, do increase, don't they? If you wants gobs of power you really have to invest some serious $$$ into a receiver, as you may have noticed.

Well one of the "features" that Yamaha has is preamp outputs. This allows you to add external power amps to that receiver and still use it as a control center. That's the most economical way to get the features you need and the power you want.

So, get that Yamaha and enjoy it. If you ever feel the need for more power, and nobody would fault you, there's a plethora of power amps out there just waiting to fill your needs.

 

[xmod]

Mark,
Thank you so much for your prompt and eloquent reply. My point about the "quality" of the relative amps springs from listening to a 40w/2 channel Rotel amp powering some B&W 685's at our local dealer. Apart from inspiring a deep yearning for better gear it showed me power isn't everything. Are the Discrete amps in the Yamaha going to be noticably different to the 8 year old Sony's?
Certainly life will be easier with the Yamaha because of the amount of connections, networking and second zone but will it help the B&W's?. I am finding I have gone from only using the system for movies to playing all my cd's and mp3 music again with just the B&W's because I love the sounds again. (I think the audiophile bug may be nibbling...)
Thanks again,
Chris

 

[markw]

Mark,
Thank you so much for your prompt and eloquent reply. My point about the "quality" of the relative amps springs from listening to a 40w/2 channel Rotel amp powering some B&W 685's at our local dealer. Apart from inspiring a deep yearning for better gear it showed me power isn't everything. Are the Discrete amps in the Yamaha going to be noticably different to the 8 year old Sony's?
Certainly life will be easier with the Yamaha because of the amount of connections, networking and second zone but will it help the B&W's?. I am finding I have gone from only using the system for movies to playing all my cd's and mp3 music again with just the B&W's because I love the sounds again. (I think the audiophile bug may be nibbling...)
Thanks again,
Chris

No guarantees, but my spidey sense tells me that you can go confidently from the Sony to the Yammie with no regrets.

 

[timoteo]

An 8 yr old Sony is not a good piece of equipment. The DACs in it are not going to be what the Yamaha has. Yes the Sony is "rated" at 100w but its not going to be as powerful as the "90w" in the Yamaha. I wont get into all the reasons but like mentioned, you wont regret it & no you wont be taking a step back AT ALL!

But i stead of that Yamaha have you considered an RX-A1000? Its last years model but an excellent one at that.

 

[xmod]

Thanks for the reply. I have actually just started to look at the Aventarge range and realized how badly we are getting ripped off in Australia. Considering our $ is worth a touch more than yours we are paying double (!!!) what you pay in the States. Infiniti Electronics in Florida are selling the RX-A810 for $605, we pay $1599 here and I assume they came out of the same factory. Even allowing for shipping, AC transformer and probable warranty issues, its a bargain. Enough complaining.

I was looking at the RX-V771 locally for around $1000 but if I can step up to the A810 for less I will be a happy camper. You have the A2000 I see but still used an Emotiva to pre out to your 683's. May I ask why? Was it power or clarity you were after? At least I will have the pre-outs for future use.

I had a look at the specs for the RX-A1010 and there isn't a huge difference of features or power to justify the extra money

 

[xmod]

Happy at last

So this is how the story ends.
Managed to get a Yamaha RX-V771 for $810 at the local Joyce mayne. EVERYTHING now plugs into the Yamaha with just a HDMI up to the Plasma and projector. Sound wise.... umm... a little underwhelmed at first but a weekend of tweeking and tuning has done wonders. The upper range clarity is a lot better than the Sony (sounds like new tweeters)! but the bass seemed a bit too civilized. Audiophiles please don't cringe but I ended up running the front speaker pre-outs into the old Sony amp which is set to Direct to power the B&W's. This has given me excellent bass and upper range clarity. I know.. I Know.. but it works.
Please listen to the live Hotel California from Hell Freezes Over by the Eagles, its a great stereo tester.
The other interesting bit of news is that although Yamaha will sell you a $150 Ipod dock ($250 for wireless), the Android/Apple App will let you play your entire music collection through your house wifi system. Just look for the music symbol in the upper right hand side of the app screen. Another bonus is the Yamaha doesn't consider this to be a digital signal so it can play in Zone 2. We had Chrissy drinks here at the weekend and my phone, which has about 1600 songs on it, just got handed around all night and everybody got to play DJ outside while the kids still had Xbox/PS3 inside. From the same amplifier. Very cool. i'm a happy Yamaha customer.

 

[96cobra10101]

Sounds cool. If you really want those B&W's to sing you should invest in an amp. I'm an Emotiva fan. A 2 channel UPA 2 is less than $300 shipped. They're out of stock right but was told you can reserve one and they'll call you when they're in.

 

[PENG]

The UPA won't make much difference but the XPA may, depending on a few things such as room acoustic conditions, listening habbit, type of music etc.

 

[96cobra10101]

The UPA won't make much difference but the XPA may, depending on a few things such as room acoustic conditions, listening habbit, type of music etc.

Beg to differ. My UPA 7 goes much louder than than my old Onkyo's (105 wpc) ever dreamed of. I'm also pretty sure Onkyo makes a better Avr amp than Sony. Plus, if he could.get that Emo to run at 4 ohms, he'd double the Sony in power.

 

[xmod]

4 Ohms?

If the speakers are rated 8 Ohms wouldn't running 4 Ohms into them be.. ummm..... bad? I know halfing the ohms doubles the power but only if the speakers are rated for it. The Sony has a switch on the back for 8 or 6 Ohm, would switching it to six increase Watts by 25%? Hope someone can help.

 

[96cobra10101]

I don't know what your speakers are rated but most amplifiers run safely at 4 ohms. If you speakers are 8 ohms then that's what the amp will see.