hopjohn said:
Both companies have good customer support and respectable return policies. Perhaps audition each of them and then decide.
Buckeye, I'm not picking on you, so please don't take this the wrong way. it's just that I'm really growing tired of the implication that a recevier will sound bright, warm, cold, frigid, in comparison to another. The whole idea is to pass along the signal as unaltered as is possible. The receiver isn't going to smooth out anything with the possible exception of equalization, and of course with that you introduce a new set of problems.
My advice is to concentrate on speaker placement initially and worry less about what tonal effects the receiver will have. If the sound doesn't truely impress consider delving into the realm of room treatment, where a real difference can be made.
.....Hopjohn, I say outstanding on your analysis of what's important concerning the signal throughout....
.....I suspect Harmon-Kardon originated as a mail-kit effort....I remember my Brother at age 5 building an AM plastic radio from them by mailed kit....the receivers of HK, that I personally have heard through the years, gave me the impression they came from a kit company also....but let me say I haven't heard any HK for at least 20-25 years....back when I did hear them, I didn't hear a coming together of the presence in the highs especially, and I can see a bright room taking HK receivers to a higher level per resonance length....a bright room "can" have a compressor-effect of "desired" reverberation for a pleasant effect indeed, as verified by the experience of hearing multiple trombones in a BRIGHT school men's restroom back in jr and high schools, haha....buddy, we looked forward to it at State and Regional band gatherings, haha.....blend and brightness to burn....
.....Samurai Buck, however, is a big boy, and will be here today to speak for himself.....
.....Privateer, you're among friends who are watchin' you swim upstream, Buddy....lose the arrogance, turd....your knowledge of higher end equipment is desired....you're coming across as a guy who puts on his 500 ensemble of casual clothes, jumps in his Beemer, and drives with the top down to his friend's house to tell his friend he's bought a pair of speakers that cost 1000 bucks more than his friend's........YOUR friend, mule.....
