Help: Yamaha Z9, Onkyo NR-100, or Sunfire TGR-3

[zzww]

Hi, friends,
I'd appreciate your opinons on
Yamaha RX-Z9, Onkyo TX-NR1000, and Sunfire TGR-3
They have very similar retail and internet prices but I cannot make a decision on which one to buy. I am more in music than video.
I have the Energy Veritas 2.4i speakers. My currect receiver is Yamaha RXV-2500.
Would I get noticeable difference if I upgrade to one of the above receivers?
Thanks,
ZW

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

No. Your Yamaha is one of the best pre pro's available. Go buy a separate 2 channel amp (if you're a music guy) if you are looking for more power, or consider an external sound processor and/or adding room acoustic panels. Behringer sells processors that will make your Yamaha sound like a tube amp. Acoustic panels will deaden the room and eliminate problamatic room resonances.

 

[Seth=L]

No. Your Yamaha is one of the best pre pro's available. Go buy a separate 2 channel amp (if you're a music guy) if you are looking for more power, or consider an external sound processor and/or adding room acoustic panels. Behringer sells processors that will make your Yamaha sound like a tube amp. Acoustic panels will deaden the room and eliminate problamatic room resonances.

Yes, keep your 2500, no sense spending money on receivers that don't even have HDMI 1.3 when you have an excellent receiver already. The Z9 doesn't ever have HDMI. If you get the itch to upgrade, wait for a decent priced Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer Elite...etc, that has HDMI 1.3 and processes the new surround formats DTS-HD, Dolby Digital Plus and TrueHD.

 

[MichaelJHuman]

And waiting for HDMI 1.3 seems pointless.

Yamaha is going to have problems selling anymore Z9 models, when the 2700 has so many more features. It lacks the power and 9-channel amplfication though.

Seems if you need more power, you can add QSC or Behringer pro amps for cheap, along with being able to power up both presence channels and rear surrounds.

 

[Seth=L]

And waiting for HDMI 1.3 seems pointless.

It may seem pointless to you. Why exactly is it pointless?

 

[zzww]

Thanks so much, everyone, especially Bukeyefan 1 and Seth=L.
I'll look into the amplifier option.
ZW

 

[MichaelJHuman]

It may seem pointless to you. Why exactly is it pointless?

I wrote a thread about the uselessness of HDMI 1.3 on avfsorums. Most people seem to concur with my assessment.

* No Deep Color sources; besides, I have my doubts about any improvements by adding colors
* Due to advanced content, high def players decode and mix audio; the audio can be sent via HDMI/PCMl; Not only do people not need to transmit something like TrueHD over HDMI bitstream, it would seem as if they either won't be able to, or would lose advanced content
* Not needed for 1080p (common misconception)
* The auto lip synch MIGHT be useful, if implemented; it's optional though
* The new color space (I forget it's name) is used on a few Sony cam-corders, and one announced TV; and that's about it

 

[Seth=L]

I wrote a thread about the uselessness of HDMI 1.3 on avfsorums. Most people seem to concur with my assessment.

* No Deep Color sources; besides, I have my doubts about any improvements by adding colors
* Due to advanced content, high def players decode and mix audio; the audio can be sent via HDMI/PCMl; Not only do people not need to transmit something like TrueHD over HDMI bitstream, it would seem as if they either won't be able to, or would lose advanced content
* Not needed for 1080p (common misconception)
* The auto lip synch MIGHT be useful, if implemented; it's optional though
* The new color space (I forget it's name) is used on a few Sony cam-corders, and one announced TV; and that's about it

I guess we can't really know, at least until we see and hear it for ourselves. I am still hoping the DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD will be better than the converted LPCM.

 

[MichaelJHuman]

In theory, it should be identical. At some point TrueHD gets converted to bits suitable for a DAC. Does it really matter where it happens?

HDMI/PCM is capable of 196/24.

 

[Seth=L]

In theory, it should be identical. At some point TrueHD gets converted to bits suitable for a DAC. Does it really matter where it happens?

HDMI/PCM is capable of 196/24.

I guess, but then again we just have to wait and see.