Help Picking A Receiver!?!?!?!

[Hotfist95]

hello i need big time help with picking out a midrange receiver. i have a sony STR-DE897 receiver that cost around $200 with BOSE Acoustimass 10 Series 3 speaker system. i am having problems with this setup because i'm not getting all the surround sound that i want from it. i know these speakers can push alot but i am not getting that effect with the sony receiver. i was told to change out the receivers but it's kinda hard for me to hear different ones being in the military stationed overseas in England and don't have a best buy around to just go test out receivers. and the base store has only 2 receivers out on display so can anyone please help me find a good midrange receiver. i was thinking of the harman avr347, any opinions on that? i have a PS3, xbox360 and watch bluray movies.

 

[rnatalli]

Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, and H/K all make good receivers. It comes down to features and price. I would switch out your Bose speakers as well if you want good sound.

 

[Seth=L]

Welcome to AH.

Your limitation is your speakers, speakers don't push they take. The receiver
shouldn't be limiting the surround experiance. Bose has done very well for itself by having some of the best marketing and establishing themselves as a great audio company. Most members and other audio techies would agree that Bose is overhyped and overpriced for their performance. Getting satelite speakers with a small subwoofer (or power woofer system) is no match for full size speakers with good subwoofer. To be perfectly honest, you can spend less than $1000 on speakers alone (new speakers) from many reputable manufacturers (JBL, Infinity, Definitive Technology, Paradigm, and so many others it's an endless list) that would sound better than Bose that cost twice the amount. A speaker manufacturer in England offers a subwoofer/satelite speaker system that would be a great performer for around $1000 USD. Mission offers a system that would do this, as well as Kef.

Let us know what you think.

PS.
I among other members would greatly appreciate if you would use the default font and size settings, thank you.

 

[Seth=L]

Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, and H/K all make good receivers. It comes down to features and price. I would switch out your Bose speakers as well if you want good sound.

The receiver should not be limiting the performance what so ever, it really is the speakers and that's it. Now with some different speakers the receiver being upgraded could make a difference, but speakers should be addressed first IMO.

 

[rnatalli]

Checkout http://www.orbaudio.com if you're interested in something small like Bose cubes.

 

[Seth=L]

Checkout http://www.orbaudio.com if you're interested in something small like Bose cubes.

Indeed. Good choice if small is necessary and offers far superior sound to Bose especially for the price.

 

[rnatalli]

Being in England, you have access to some good british speakers like Mordaunt-Short, Mission, Monitor Audio to name a few. Like Seth said, the speakers are the real bottleneck of your system. If you need more information regarding what pros think of Bose speakers, go to any reputable forum like this one and search for Bose. You will hear the same thing everywhere. The good news is that Bose has a high resale value as so many believe them to be the best. Switch them out and you'll notice a world of difference.

Assuming you're US military, I will take a moment to say thank you for your service to our country.

 

[Addy]

k first of all bose is fine they sound good.. there just very much soo over priced. but i have them... price 1799.99 got them for 799.99 they sound great and i have no complaints. i dont get why every one hates them that they would recommend people to spend another 1000++ dollars just to upgrade their speakers when their receiver is obviously lagging
just my 2 cents

 

[rnatalli]

k first of all bose is fine they sound good.. there just very much soo over priced. but i have them... price 1799.99 got them for 799.99 they sound great and i have no complaints. i dont get why every one hates them that they would recommend people to spend another 1000++ dollars just to upgrade their speakers when their receiver is obviously lagging
just my 2 cents

Orb offers a package for $798 and it will outclass Bose at any price. If I had Bose speakers that retailed for $1,799, I would have sold them long ago and used the money to buy superior speakers at a fraction of the price and use the rest to upgrade the electronics. Bose has good resale value so someone out there will give good money for them. So basically you're getting better speakers and better electronics hence better sound without spending a penny. Not a bad deal really.

Switching out the receiver will only marginally help. If he doesn't like the sound, he could hook up a Bryston amp to his Bose and it probably still won't sound good. Speakers have the biggest impact on how a system sounds.

 

[Seth=L]

k first of all bose is fine they sound good.. there just very much soo over priced. but i have them... price 1799.99 got them for 799.99 they sound great and i have no complaints. i dont get why every one hates them that they would recommend people to spend another 1000++ dollars just to upgrade their speakers when their receiver is obviously lagging
just my 2 cents

Bose doesn't make performance speakers. They have a frequency gap of about 200hz between the woofer module and the satelite speakers, and the top end falls off because of the 2" paper drivers they use to cover the upper frequencies. The woofers in the bass module are also paper, very thin inexpensive paper with cheap stamped baskets. If the Acoustimass system retailed for $500 it would be almost reasonable, anything more than that is not worth it.

If you read the OP you will read that the sound system (as a whole) is not satisfying the listener. Only if the receiver is faulty in some freak way that allows it to work but not sound right could the receiver be to blame for the lacking sound experiance. It is the speakers, and there is no getting around that.

 

[Hotfist95]

Thank U all for your help it is realy good to find out that even though i,m far away from home there still people out there that will help thank you.

 

[Seth=L]

Thank U all for your help it is realy good to find out that even though i,m far away from home there still people out there that will help thank you.

Let us know if you would like more help with selecting speakers or pairing them with a new receiver if necessary.

 

[Addy]

room acoustics is also a major problem you could have the best set up and yet still have it sound poor