Best AVR? and Bi-Amping

[rivrbyte]

Still searching for a AVR. Is there anything on the market in the $500.00 range that seems to be free of any issues whatsoever? The more I read about the new Onkyo's,and other units like Pioneer and Yamaha having problems, I'm somewhat confused on which brand to get.

I was looking at the Onkyo 606, 706 ,or the 806 AVR's, and noticed this on the 606 * below.

On the rear of the AVR they have the right/left FRONTS, and right/left SURROUND inputs, a center, a sub and right/left Surround back speakers for BI-Amp for front speakers is this necessary? How would one go about hooking this up? I only have a 10x12x8h room,so I won't be using any other zones. The underlined is confusing...it says surround back for bi-amp front speakers?


* From Onkyo Spec page-

Bi-Amping Capability for High-Impact Movies and Music

The TX-SR606’s surround back speaker channels enhance the ambience and sound effects of movies. They can also be used with the front left and right channels to provide two separate amplification channels for compatible bi-amping speakers (i.e. those with two sets of input terminals). In effect, two separate channels drive the woofer and tweeter of each front speaker. This improves sound quality by maximizing power to the low-/mid- and high-range frequencies, respectively. It also gives you a more powerful, dynamic soundfield for two-channel music and movie sound effects.

For my small room, I was thinking that I don't need a monster $1300.99 marantz 7002, or even an Onkyo 805 for $1,062.99, but something lower in price.

 

[rnatalli]

The Yamaha 663 and Pioneer 1018 are both in that price range and have had few issues. Any Denon will also be quite reliable.

 

[TLS Guy]

Still searching for a AVR. Is there anything on the market in the $500.00 range that seems to be free of any issues whatsoever? The more I read about the new Onkyo's,and other units like Pioneer and Yamaha having problems, I'm somewhat confused on which brand to get.

I was looking at the Onkyo 606, 706 ,or the 806 AVR's, and noticed this on the 606 * below.

On the rear of the AVR they have the right/left FRONTS, and right/left SURROUND inputs, a center, a sub and right/left Surround back speakers for BI-Amp for front speakers is this necessary? How would one go about hooking this up? I only have a 10x12x8h room,so I won't be using any other zones. The underlined is confusing...it says surround back for bi-amp front speakers?


* From Onkyo Spec page-


For my small room, I was thinking that I don't need a monster $1300.99 marantz 7002, or even an Onkyo 805 for $1,062.99, but something lower in price.

You don't need to worry about passive biamping. It is a complete waste of time, and the blurb over sells it. You don't need that feature.

 

[PENG]

The 606 should be good enough for your room even if you have hard to drive speakers. The 706 or the Denon 2309 will get you the ability to add external amps should that become necessary for any reasons. Denon AVRs seem to have less reliability issues reported on forums such as this, but they may cost a little more than Onkyo and Yamaha in general.

As for biamping, theorectically it allows the high (or high & mid) frequencies and the low (or low & mid depending on the specific speakers) to be amplified by different amps and travel on different cables. To implement such scheme fully, it is best you use separate amps as well as active crossovers external to the speakers. Even then it is debatable whether the electrical differences would yield any audible improvements.

 

[rivrbyte]

ok, so in theory, I would have to get another preamp to power those back surrounds in addition to the main AVR? For now, I have a 9wx12lx8h room, and I may move this to the bigger 20wx18wx8h room and do the 7.1 thing, but at present, any AVR I get , it will be only 5.1 coming from the Bluray....is it worth getting 2 more channels for s fuller surround,or is everyone fine with 5.1? Thanks.

 

[PENG]

ok, so in theory, I would have to get another preamp to power those back surrounds in addition to the main AVR? For now, I have a 9wx12lx8h room, and I may move this to the bigger 20wx18wx8h room and do the 7.1 thing, but at present, any AVR I get , it will be only 5.1 coming from the Bluray....is it worth getting 2 more channels for s fuller surround,or is everyone fine with 5.1? Thanks.

Any of the AVRs you listed can do 7.1. In your smaller room 5.1 is good but in the larger one 7.1 will be better.