Help a Girl Out . . .

[gellor]

if you want more bang for the buck, you can probobly get a 3805 for the same price as the 2806.

you said it would cost you aroun $825 right? i think you could find a 3805 on the internet for that.

not exactly sure what the drawbacks are, but it would give you a little more power, and its still a great receiver.

$779 at Abes of Maine
http://www.abesofmaine.com/viewproduct.asp?id=dnavr3805

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

I'm with Nick. Unless you really need more power, save your money. Myself, the money I save on needless audio indulgences goes to more software (music) and live events.

A rule of thumb I heard somewhere is if you are consistently turning the volume knob up past the mid point (don't know what that would translate to with digital volume controls...past the 0dB point?) you probably need more power.

I'm married too to a non-audiophile wife but we have enough other things in common to compensate! Going on 20 years now. Hope you have a long and contented marriage too.

Of course, depending on how geeky you are, audio DIY might be fun eventually!

Back to making more MDF dust for my speakers...

 

[j_garcia]

I am probably the lone voice here, but IMO you will hear no difference between the receivers mentioned. Receivers are way down the food chain of things that impact the sound in your livining room. Remeber that 95% of what you hear in your living room is speaker choice and room acoustics. The power differences between them so small as to be inaudible. The Klipsch speakers you are buying are very efficent. The only reason to go with the more expensive receiver is if it has have specific features that you need otherwise put your money where it will acutally have a direct audiable impact on what you hear and that is speakers and room treatments.

IMO, the 2105 will not have quite enough juice to fill a moderate sized room even with Klipsch speakers. Having enough power is never a bad thing, but having too little is definitely a problem. There are other factors besides power that make a higher model a good idea, such as better DACs, better build quality, etc... Not to mention the fact that you will actually be more likely to keep the higher model for longer (amortization over a longer time period makes its total cost lower) vs running into a situation where the lower model becomes the weak link in the chain. She already has speakers well covered, so there should be a decent receiver driving them.

I agree the 3805 is probably a good idea too, because great deals can be had with the 3805 now out. I do think one should purchase the most power they can reasonably afford, but I also say NEVER pay MSRP - shop around for the deals, go with last year's model, whatever, but make your money WORK for YOU so you get the most out of it.

LOL. Yup, I'm sure I'm a girl. I'm just am a geeky girl. I go to work everyday at my tech job, my favorite hobby is reef aquariums, I love sci-fi/fantasy/horror movies, I watch football on Sundays, I like video games and electronic gadgets, and buy powertools whenever the opportunity presents itself. All more male type traits I suppose.

Do you happen to have a sister?

 

[edwelly]

So, I told him I loved the flowers, but next time I'd prefer a weedwacker.

HA HA HA - I am still laughing at loud - thank you.

I cannot say enough good things about Parts Express. I had originally bought all Monster Calbe stuff, close to $600 worth. A couple weeks ago, I bought a DLP and needed some new cables. I looked into Monster as this stay with what I already had but I was blow away by the cost of a single HDMI cable. I ran across this wite and we told to try Parts Express. I ended replacing ALL of my cable withe their house brand, Dayton Audio. I couldn't be happier with my cables.

I am a lucky guy as well - my wife likes this stuff too. Not as much as yuou do, but she is pretty ok with most everything I get. I bought an Outlaw ICBM and she wanted to know why I spent $200 on it. After I explained it to her and let her hear the difference, she was more than OK with it.

 

[beta5alphamu]

yeah I agree go with Blue Jean cable and you should definitely consider the Denon 3805.

 

[MDC]

Great TV

I've had the Hitachi 55" UltraVision for about a year. Its a great set.
One suggestion -- you may have to adjust your room lighting. The screen is VERY reflective. Try overhead lighting instead of table lamps. You may also want drapes or black-out blinds (I have the latter).

 

[techigirl78]

For eveyone mentioning the 3805. I'm going to go to an AV store closer to my house after work that is changing locations and having a "blow-out" moving sale. My brother said they had some good deals when he stopped in last week, so maybe I'll luck out.

I know a few of you mentioned acoustics, I think that will be challanging. I haven't had much time to look into all the specifics on room acoustics, but I think mine will be difficult. I'm going to map out my room this week before everything comes and we're going to try and figure out the options. It's going in my basement where there will be three cement walls. I did apply thick texture paint to the cement walls, so I hope this diffuses some of the sound. The remaining wall and ceiling is tongue & groove pine, which I believe also will help to diffuse some of the sound. The floor is carpeted and has ultra thick premium padding underneath. The problem remains to be the two fish tanks in the room. I am summing it up correctly by saying that there needs to be a good balance between the reflective and diffusing services, correct? Also, the fish tanks and cement walls would be reflective services and the furniture and carpeting would help to diffuse sound. Correct? Will the texture paint help on the walls? I also have a floor to ceiling stand with DVDs, this helps to diffuse sound as well, correct? Any help or pointers to some good articles would be appreciated.

I've had the Hitachi 55" UltraVision for about a year. Its a great set.
One suggestion -- you may have to adjust your room lighting. The screen is VERY reflective. Try overhead lighting instead of table lamps. You may also want drapes or black-out blinds (I have the latter).

That's works well in the room it is going in for me. It is lit with recessed lighting, no table lamps. I also have the adjustable recessed lights to direct them as needed. I'm also going to sew some blackout curtains for the small basement windows.

 

[mulester7]

The problem remains to be the two fish tanks in the room

.....she really knows how to hurt a guy named mule, huh?.....

.....TechieGirl, as to room accoustics....you'll never make an 18 X 24 room sound like a 12 X 12....as long as you have decent amounts of absorbing-surface coverings opposed to reflective, a down-firing sub will have more room issues than front-firing fronts, surrounds, and center....some will now quote Richard Pierce and the Toole guy....

 

[techigirl78]

I went to the store having a sale, no 3805 and the 3806 floor model was $1050. So much for a "big sale" where everything needs to go.

So, now you all got me obsessing over this darn receiver and the fiance' seems set on the 2106. I checked denon's site and compared them all: http://usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/257.asp?compareitem=226&compareitem=237&compareitem=356&compareitem=376&compareitem=554&imageField.x=67&imageField.y=21

It seems that the flagship models (5805 & 4806) have HDMI hook-ups and such that should work well with HDDVD and my TV, correct? I also assume this means that these features will likely be available on next year's 3807/2807 models, correct? I'm thinking that in the next 1 to 1 1/2 years I could get the 3807/2807 with HDMI hook-ups and use the 2106 in my living room and get some other speakers for that room (I don't have a decent system in my LR either - homemade speakers and a lower-end receiver from 10 yrs ago and I like to listen to music while I clean). Mind you, it's a small room 13'X17' with 7' to 8' ceilings that this is all going into, so I'm not sure how much power I need. This is all of course, if I'm not happy with the 2106.

 

[techigirl78]

.....she really knows how to hurt a guy named mule, huh?.....

I'm not that great mule. I am still a female and I have flaws . . . such as my affinity for feline critters. I have 4 and looking to get another soon for my christmas present to myself (http://www.savannahcatbreed.com/f3_kittens.shtml).

Hopefully you don't say ya like hybred cats as well.

 

[korgoth]

thats cool. If you wanted to save money though i think the internet would be the way to go.

you can find much better deals online than in most shops. if you wanted to upgrade receivers in a year to hdmi, then you might want to get something used for now. There are many receivers for around 500 that would most likely beat the 2106.. in bang for the buck at least...

i wouldnt be able to tell you of them all without going back and looking at each, but i know you can get a refurbished HK630 or a 435 for around $400-450, with the full manufactures warranty. on ebay. The watts are more similar than it might look.

there is definately nothing wrong with your choices now though.. it all depends on if you want to put that extra effort to save a couple hundred bucks. HDMI wont necessarily improve your video quality anyway, its just more convienient to have audio and video in one cable. It might help quality but from what ive heard the jump im quality usually isnt really noticeable. Not with today's media anyway.

 

[techigirl78]

It is true that the 3805/2805 sounds better then the 2106 even at lower levels, correct? He thinks I want more power just to play it really loud during football games, but I thought the 2805 sounded better then the 2106 when I compared them at the store. I assume the 3805 would sound even better.

I found a few sites with the 3805 for around $750.00. They all got good customer reviews. The only other receiver I really seemed to like brand-wise was the marantz. I definitely didn't like the yamaha and the hk just didn't sound right with the speakers I liked.

 

[mulester7]

It is true that the 3805/2805 sounds better then the 2106 even at lower levels, correct? He thinks I want more power just to play it really loud during football games, but I thought the 2805 sounded better then the 2106 when I compared them at the store. I assume the 3805 would sound even better.

I found a few sites with the 3805 for around $750.00. They all got good customer reviews.

.....$679 at UBid....bid it and get one.....

 

[mulester7]

.....$679 at UBid....bid it and get one.....

.....TechieGirl, this is manufacurer refurbished....but we're talking of the company Denon....this one would be fixed per the wrong, and everything else checked out with but a few hours on the unit....I would not hesitate, with the home-factory at Denon guaranteeing the refurbishment......

 

[korgoth]

honestly dont know if its supposed to sound better or not at low levels.. its going to be louder at low levels of course. I read some post saying louder translates to better during blind tests.. with trained ears and untrained.
but as far as distortion and all that i have no idea. id assume the amps were pretty similar.

i think its more that with the 2106, you just might not be able to play as loud as youd want when all your speakers were powered.

but i actually think youll be fine with the receiver you have.. its just always better to have a little more than needed. That way you wont be at risk of clippin the receiver and blowin a tweeter.

 

[techigirl78]

honestly dont know if its supposed to sound better or not at low levels.. its going to be louder at low levels of course. I read some post saying louder translates to better during blind tests.. with trained ears and untrained.
but as far as distortion and all that i have no idea. id assume the amps were pretty similar.

i think its more that with the 2106, you just might not be able to play as loud as youd want when all your speakers were powered.

but i actually think youll be fine with the receiver you have.. its just always better to have a little more than needed. That way you wont be at risk of clippin the receiver and blowin a tweeter.

If that's the case, I'll just stick with the 2106. The quality in the sound is what matters most to me. I like it loud, but I don't really ever see myself cranking it that high.

It has a 2 yr man. warranty versus 90 days refurbished and we got the 5yr extended from the store. The store also paid me 70% of my TVs original costs four years after purchase when the surround sound feature on the TV started to make a slight rattling sound and couldn't be easily fixed, so I know they stick to their word. I still have the TV minus one feature I never used very much, so I came out ahead. Funky things seem to happen to my stuff, like the refrig, washer, dryer, TV, and pumps all broke more then 90 days after purchase within the past few years - all covered under warranty and fixed/replaced/reimbursed at no charge to me.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Just be sure you're not going to get hit with restocking fees.

As far as the speaker cables and ICs are concerned, if you enjoy DIY go for it. But as I have (and I really enjoy DIY) you will find that it is less expensive to just buy it. Get some Sound King speaker wire and Dayton ICs from Parts Express.

If it doesn't help her out, even a small loss may be preferable to wasting it all, or the hassle of selling it?

 

[mtrycrafts]

I am probably the lone voice here, but IMO you will hear no difference between the receivers mentioned. Receivers are way down the food chain of things that impact the sound in your livining room. .

Remember me? You are not alone

 

[techigirl78]

If it doesn't help her out, even a small loss may be preferable to wasting it all, or the hassle of selling it?

The sales guy said I could return the PowerCenter without a stocking fee. I also found a $50 mfr rebate online for it, so that drops the price to $350. If that's what you were referring to.

Remember me? You are not alone

I'm going to keep the receiver, so no need to return it now. On to the wiring and acoustics for me. If I change my mind after it's setup, then so be it, I can pay a restocking fee if required, but I believe I have 30 days based on my receipt.

 

[mulester7]

Remember me? You are not alone

.....thanks for the warning....you heard TechieGirl say she didn't like the sound of two receivers different brands, and did like the sound of two totally different brands....you think they didn't use the same signals?....with the same speakers?....and the speakers moved?....if all surround-receivers sounded the same, life would get dull, and it's all about staying solvent, and appealing to the large majority....the differences are in the manufacturer's choices as to build quality, imo....for me, it would be either Yamaha's pre-pro's, or Denon's pre-pro's....comments, please......