Help me to decide on these two Yamaha Pairings

[Audioholic72]

I'm considering buying a new Yamaha A/V Receiver and Blu Ray Player. I received a $750 gift certificate from work for my 20th Anniversary plus some Christmas money. I am considering these two pairings:

Yamaha RX-V681BL (A/V Receiver)
Yamaha CD-S681 (Blu-Ray Player)

or

Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A860BL (A/V Receiver)
Yamaha AVENTAGE BD-A1060 (Blu-Ray Player)

All of these units have the features I want, including phono stage and the CD Direct feature and analog outs on the Blu-Ray players. They will be used as a 2-channel set up for now, but I may be expanding into a multi-channel set up in the future.

I could buy either pairing but as you know the AVENTAGE units are considerably more expensive so I would have to dig in to my own pockets if I decide to go with those, while I could buy the standard Yamaha units using none of my own money, which would leave more money available for speakers.

My question is are there any valid reasons why I should go with these Aventage units over the standard ones? I sure wouldn't want to miss a perfect opportunity to get the better quality units but I don't want to be needlessly wasting my money either. I can always wait on getting better speakers later if I decide to go with the Aventage units.

 

[Mark of Cenla]

Only you can really answer that question. Would the Adventage gear sound better? Maybe a little bit. Would they last longer? Who knows? I would go with the "standard units." Most think it is better to spend more on speakers than electronics. Most modern amps/receivers/AVR's are going to sound fairly similar. Good luck. Peace and goodwill.

 

[3db]

I'm considering buying a new Yamaha A/V Receiver and Blu Ray Player. I received a $750 gift certificate from work for my 20th Anniversary plus some Christmas money. I am considering these two pairings:

Yamaha RX-V681BL (A/V Receiver)
Yamaha CD-S681 (Blu-Ray Player)

or

Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A860BL (A/V Receiver)
Yamaha AVENTAGE BD-A1060 (Blu-Ray Player)

All of these units have the features I want, including phono stage and the CD Direct feature and analog outs on the Blu-Ray players. They will be used as a 2-channel set up for now, but I may be expanding into a multi-channel set up in the future.

I could buy either pairing but as you know the AVENTAGE units are considerably more expensive so I would have to dig in to my own pockets if I decide to go with those, while I could buy the standard Yamaha units using none of my own money, which would leave more money available for speakers.

My question is are there any valid reasons why I should go with these Aventage units over the standard ones? I sure wouldn't want to miss a perfect opportunity to get the better quality units but I don't want to be needlessly wasting my money either. I can always wait on getting better speakers later if I decide to go with the Aventage units.

Have you performed a side by side comparison of the feature sets between the non A series and the American series? If they are comparable save your money and go with the non A series.

 

[Diesel57]

Adding to what 3db stated l would do a side by side comparison and go with what meets the features you want and positions you to add other components if and when you decide to do so. Take a look around, there's going to be some great sales in place...

 

[speakerman39]

The 681 does NOT have Multi-Point measurement capability whereas both the 860 and/or the 1060 do. To me, that is a significant difference. All things being considered, I would opt for the 860. Or, perhaps try to find an 850. Best wishes to the OP!

Cheers,

Phil

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

One glaring features which I did notice in different is A860 has all channel pre-outs, while 681 only for sub. This may not be that import for you for as the most of typical speakers would be absolutely fine with amplifiers built-in into avrs (disregard few watts difference - it's meaningless) but A860 will allow later on to use external amplifiers, while for V681 don't. You could use Zone 2 on 681 to amp to mains, but it's designed to be not as convenient and it's only 2 channels.

For example pretty much all electrostatic panels require very beefy amplifier.

 

[3db]

+1 on the multipoint and the multichannel inputs. Those two alone wowould make me go for the A series.