7.1-2, 9.1-2 AVR recomendations.

[Rob_63]

I am currently using a Pioneer SC-1222k, this is a 7.2 receiver I am using in my main setup. I have JBL L series speakers (880's, 810's, LC2) for the front and 4 ES80's for the surround and rear surrounds. It took a while to get used to the GUI and learn my way around the remote but now that I have I am fairly happy with the receiver except for one thing, I cannot run the speakers I have for 2 channel listening with this w/o sacrificing the rear surrounds. (and the "B" speakers do not have any LFE separation so no sub output) I really like how cool the D3 amps run in this along with the energy savings over older units so I would like to stick with an AVR that has this feature.

I have two 15" Premier Accoustic subs in the back of the room behind the couch (daisy chained) and will probably keep them both there so having a dual sub output is not imperative.

I am going to replace my aging LG 60" Plasma with a new 60" or 70" LED very soon, and I would like to relocate the Pioneer to my bedroom with a set of Athena I have had stored for a while.

The last receiver I had was a Marantz SR 6003, which I really liked since it was simple and easy to use, but bought the Pio for the 3d capability. The Marantz had switchable A + B front speakers which both had sub output included. The "music only speakers" I have are Martin Logan motion 12's, they are more enjoyable to me for 2 channel use than the JBL's, IMO the midrange is better defined (not immensely but enough that I like them better) but like the 880's the lowest bass notes need assistance so having LFE to the "B" speakers would be needed, and I keep the internal sub crossover at 50 hz.

Now my question for you fella's who keep up with all the latest receiver technology, Are there any 7.1 or 7.2 AVR's out there that I can run a second set of "B" speakers without sacrificing the rear surrounds and have LFE output? I would be willing to give up the Front Height speakers, but since I have added the rear surrounds in the 7.1 configuration I don't want to go without them now. Or is a 9.? with 11 speaker output necessary to do what I want?

I have a budget of about 1,000 for another receiver, but if I could get one cheaper I won't complain.

I was looking at the Pioneer Elite SC-55 or 57 (9.1) Pioneer SC-55 9.1-Channel Elite A/V Receiver, Refurbished but like my current Pioneer it doesn't have any LFE separation for the B speakers.

I found a mint condition Denon 5803 on CL for 800 (or maybe less if he is willing to haggle since I have to drive 2 hours to get it), and even though it is pre- HDMI I could use it with all analogue and digital inputs however it also uses the rear surround outputs for B, but with its 200 WPC amps along with the mint condition it was somewhat tempting. (but probably a beast to supply current to)

So basically I am looking for an AVR with digital amps (minimum 100 WPC rms), "B" speaker capability with LFE output also and W/O losing any of the 7. channel outputs. Do I need to go back to Marantz for this or does Denon or HK or even Onkyo if they have the bugs worked out of the video chip issues?

I realize this was long winded, if you made it this far thanks so much for your time,

Rob

 

[Rob_63]

EDIT:

I tried but could not find an edit button for my original post, so I have to put this edit in the second post.

It seems I was wrong about my Pioneer SC-1222k speaker hookup, after spending a few hours researching AVR spec sheets I went back to my Pio PDF and found that the "B" speakers are hooked up to the Front height/front wide outputs, not the rear surrounds. I must have gotten the hookup posts confused when I was experimenting with Bi Amping the JBL speakers, they used the rear surrounds posts not the FH / FW posts. So I can have the second set of "B" speakers and still have the 7.2 surround with all 4 surrounds.

However, there still is the issue of no LFE separation to the B's. Is there any way short of running the speaker level wires through a sub then to the speakers to achieve this? I do have an extra sub around, a BIC PL-200 that has speaker level inputs, however I would rather the PA subs since they are a bit more musical, but they only have line level inputs.

I did manage to research the DENON, Marantz and Harmon Kardon AVR's that are within (and the ones more expensive) and found that the Marantz SR7005 has the A or B front speaker selection (like the SR6003 I had) without giving up the rear surrounds but I can't find if the B's have an LFE signal. I would imagine it would since the SR6003 I had did. I believe the only thing this lacks for me are the digital amps.