A good AV receiver to go with B&W 686 S2?

[Alex2507]

What Class D means

Audio Amplifier Classes (A, A/B, D, G, and H): What are the Differences? | Audioholics

how would 686 S2 sound on that Yamaha

The Sound of Audio Amplifiers: Can you hear a difference between Amps? | Audioholics

If your friend wants the Marantz I think you should just let him get it. The chances of him being able to distinguish between any of those receivers in a blind test is unlikely. In many cases it comes down to the feature set that one wants.

I'm all for what Swerd said about getting as much power for the Kuna (haha) but I will say that I've heard a 2 channel 20 watt Class A amp costing well in excess of $1,000 USD power a dozen or so different speakers in a pretty big room to adequate SPLs (sound pressure levels). I think that amp would be distinguishable from a $500 Pioneer rec'r with a Class D 5 channel amp section ... maybe.

So much has been written by so many different people all saying the same thing that it's easy to find good information with a search. You can search out Adam's threads for some revie ws he's done on a variety of rec'rs and see what he has already had to say on his preference for the room correction that Pioneer offers. I know PENG likes the Denons and if you sniff around it won't take long to figure out why.

 

[PENG]

Oh, ye, needed to google it before, so Class D is a term for FET, or MOSFET amps? As I was talking with a guy that works at least 50 years in electronics, audio and video stuff and he told me that these amps are the best amps you can find... Tho not sure how 35W Pioneer you told me can be better then that Yamaha (seems for that price it can't)?

That guy with so much experience is entitled to his opinion for sure but in my opinion that Yamaha or the Marantz are better than that pioneer in terms of real world power output driving those B&W 686 S2 that has relatively low sensitivity and dips to around 5 ohms. As for sound quality, like Alex said...

 

[PENG]

So much has been written by so many different people all saying the same thing that it's easy to find good information with a search. You can search out Adam's threads for some revie ws he's done on a variety of rec'rs and see what he has already had to say on his preference for the room correction that Pioneer offers. I know PENG likes the Denons and if you sniff around it won't take long to figure out why.

Thanks for those linke. I do like Denon, and Marantz, and Yamaha's. Not sure if I would upgrade to the replacement of the AV8801 so at some point I may switch back to a Denon (oops, or Marantz) AVR. Heck, may even sell all my power amps but one or two.

 

[vedranius]

Has anyone heard anything about Van Den Hul cables? As I can't find anything about them on forum...
Thanks!