AVR advice 2021 September, KEF Q950

F

Faustblix

Audioholic Intern
Hi guys,

Finally, after such a struggle and years of hard work, I was able to put down for the KEF Q950, with q650c. Going for 150s, and in ceiling as well in the near future.

The boss lady understood and agreed that an amp upgrade is necessary too... So I think that I could get away with $1400 CAD... What's that,... bout $100 USD now? I'd just about given up on being able to upgrade, so I've not kept up with all the new amp news.

Last I'd been tuned in were those vids where Gene warned of some dishonest specs to look out for. Keen on yamaha this round, conscious Denon are awesome as well.

Looking for a recommendation to drive these puppies with ease, eventually a 7.2.4, with all the right tech. Above all what I care about most is lifespan. Very open to being proposed NAD gear as well. Like the modular way they went.

If it's a waste not to spend more, I can make it work, to save for a better avr. Interested in your feedback.

Thanks guys.
 
-Jim-

-Jim-

Audioholic General
Hi Faustblix,

Typically we ask what you are going to do with the system so we contour our selections to fit. Also what is the mix going to be => 100% Movies, or 50% movies and 50% music; or 25% Gaming, 75% TV Sports, etc. What are the room dimensions? Larger rooms require more powerful receivers. A 7.2.4 HT system is typically in a larger room. Where are the main seating areas? Is there row seating or couches, Lazyboys, etc. Is the room enclosed or open to another area? Etc.,

The KEF Q950 are quite easy to power at 91 dB, with the Q650 at 87 dB, and the Q150s at 86 dB less so. However, if you are in a large room and love your Metallica played at concert levels ( o_O ) with tons of Bass, you may need to up the power. I notice no mention of Sub Woofers in your post other than "eventually 7.2.4". Care to advise why? In a Home Theater system they are critical components, and will assist greatly in keeping the amplifier for the main speakers smaller, and more cost effective.

There are 3 main recommended HT Receivers for most folks here => Denon, Marantz, and Yamaha. Personally I also like Sony in certain budget applications, but you really can't go to far astray with a Denon. (I have 2 systems with Denons). I'm assuming you are in Canada (like me!) so your purchasing choices are somewhat limited, and 7.2.4 HT Receivers can be well beyond your present budget.

So let's define the room and your needs before chasing a 7.2.4 HT Receiver. Checking into Subs would also be helpful.
 
F

Faustblix

Audioholic Intern
50% movies, 40% gaming, 10% music.
My tunes are on 8 hrs a day while working, shure iems. Wife's not into the same music.

Room is about 24 ft wide, 60 deep.

Standard sofa.

Thinking on svs 3000 micro pair. Didn't include because its a whole other ball of wax i need to go check out in shops till satisfied. Open to sub recommendations. I've never been too much of a bass head, mostly because of lack of quality bass in my life. Ideally would want something isolated, doesnt shake the house... Something that can hit you in the chest without the neighbors hearing it.

Buying a house shortly, but don't want to be ampless during however long that will take.

Thanks again, and yup! Canadian.
 
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Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
That's a big room! You need to take your seating distance into account. Those AVRs are fine if you're 5m or 6m away. If it's just the sofa and no theatre seating you'll likely be ok but more seating further back might require more power, depending upon how loud you like it.

I would not recommend the SVS Micro, especially in a room that size. They are really more suited to a small den than a home theatre room. The bigger the space the more output you need to pressurize it. People often underestimate the benefits of good subwoofers. I've been down that road. Started with none, added an inexpensive Klipsch 10" and then stepped up to an SVS 12" (SB-2000Pro). Don't regret the purchase one bit.

I was surprised at how much deep bass content modern music has. Not so much the classic stuff from the 70's and 80's but I recently picked up two CDs from Said The Whale and there are some wonderful deep tones running through the music that my main speakers would not handle well. Same applies if you're into classical or pipe organ music. There are musical benefits besides the movie sound effects.

The challenge will be your room size. At those low frequencies, the wavelength is longer than typical room dimensions so a subwoofer actually pressurizes the room to reproduce those frequencies. The bigger the room, the more pressure you need to recreate. The 3000 Micro will be woefully under powered. I can see people recommending two SVS PB-3000 for a room that size, but budget and size limitations need to be considered. I would be looking at two PB-2000Pro if within your budget. Not that much more than the Micro but will blow it out of the water. Note that SVS prices are going up substantially Oct.4 so decide soon! If you're on the west coast Hsu makes some great subs too around the same price range.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Thinking on svs 3000 micro pair.
I would not buy the Micro. It's more of a lifestyle product that emphasizes form over function. You will not get good deep bass performance from them, especially for movies. Any particular reason for choosing those?
 
F

Faustblix

Audioholic Intern
Thanks for the heads up on the micros guys. I'm quite ignorant when it comes to quality bass. I have to go back to the shop to pick up these 3 this week or so. I can see what subs they have on demo. Will see if I can find a thread on here of bass test tracks the community uses to help with that.

Regarding the avr... Seems there's really no abracadabra. I've just gotta spend a few hrs digging. I just hope whatever I land on lasts 8+ years.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Quality bass tends to come with large drivers in appropriate sized boxes (which tend to be large). Might look at this article as you have an extremely large room https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/subwoofer-room-size . The Micro 3000 is a sub intended for a very small room, under a desk, that sort of thing. Certainly not appropriate for your size room even if you had several of them, plus they don't dig particularly deep, doubt would even keep up with your Q950s. In your size room I'd want at least several very large ported subs. Volume of space comes into it, and even with just 8 ft ceilings you are at 11,520 cuft!

Anyways I'd go with avr brands as suggested, and if you go with Denon start at the 3700 as it has pre-outs (the 2700 does not) so you have flexibility with any added amplification you need.
 
Eppie

Eppie

Audioholic Ninja
Thanks for the heads up on the micros guys. I'm quite ignorant when it comes to quality bass. I have to go back to the shop to pick up these 3 this week or so. I can see what subs they have on demo. Will see if I can find a thread on here of bass test tracks the community uses to help with that.

Regarding the avr... Seems there's really no abracadabra. I've just gotta spend a few hrs digging. I just hope whatever I land on lasts 8+ years.
There is a thread called Subwoofer Candy that has tracks with deep bass but it's mostly links to YouTube videos. You'll need to be able to stream YouTube or download some of those tracks onto a format the store can use.
 
F

Faustblix

Audioholic Intern
Great note on the preouts. I've never had enough to delve into additional power so it wasnt top of mind, and it should definitely be. Will check for them on yamaha as well.

All the others don't hold a torch these days? Pioneer, onyko, marantz, just gone the way of the dinosaur?

Thanks again for the bass tracks guys. I'll get some on my phone before I go back and bring a cable.

Regarding the room size, once we buy the next house, will have free reign to move walls around and add treatment. Rn it would be a waste to modify this place. If i can locate the ideal room dimensions for the Q950s/150s, I'll tailor the space accordingly in the end game. Thanks for the sub room-size article! Will do some homework tonight.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Onkyo/Integra and Pioneer are one company now for home electronics, and Onkyoneer has been making a lot of changes due poor financial performance last few years; particularly Onkyo USA has shut down and they're partnering up with Voxx (Klipsch and some other audio brands) for US distribution/services. They still have product coming out but many of us are just letting things settle out for now, altho the are offering avrs with the Dirac room eq feature, which could be very interesting. Marantz was mentioned before, it's currently a sister company to Denon and share a lot of features...but often priced a tad higher for essentially the same feature set. Depends on the deal you can get to an extent. Personally I have two Denons, an older Onkyo (when they still used Audyssey like Denon & Marantz do) and a very old Sony (pre-hdmi).
 

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