I have 3 AVR's sitting here - undecided & confused which to keep

[ThunderClap]

Hello all, can you give me some direction - I have 3 receivers here that all sound pretty damn good.

Sony DN 1070

Yamaha - RX- A750

Pioneer VSX - 1x101

All in that low - mid price range

What in your opinion is the best? most powerful? what are the true watts per channel? I'm having a hard time understanding what is legit / nonsense.

CNET says the Sony is their #1 AVR for 2016

Thx

 

[lovinthehd]

Pick an avr by the features you want/need. The power differences among avrs are generally trivial, only a few dB difference in real use (it takes a doubling of power to gain merely 3dB in spl, which isn't much). If you do compare wattage make sure they're close to the same basis of measurement (use the manuals rather than advertising too).

 

[ThunderClap]

That's just it I can't tell / decipher which is best tech/ amp wise?

Aren't Pioneers dressed up Onkyo's now?

 

[lovinthehd]

That's just it I can't tell / decipher which is best tech/ amp wise?

Aren't Pioneers dressed up Onkyo's now?

What do you mean tech/amp wise? The Pioneer may be using class D amps, might be a difference tech wise...

Yep, Pioneer is now a division of Onkyo (Gibson) but the brands' avrs are still separate/different from the little I've paid attention (and Onkyo uses their own AccuEQ and Pioneer still has MCACC....might be interesting what Pioneer does with their distributorship of Dirac somewhere down the line).

 

[ThunderClap]

What do you mean tech/amp wise? The Pioneer may be using class D amps, might be a difference tech wise...

Yep, Pioneer is now a division of Onkyo (Gibson) but the brands' avrs are still separate/different from the little I've paid attention (and Onkyo uses their own AccuEQ and Pioneer still has MCACC....might be interesting what Pioneer does with their distributorship of Dirac somewhere down the line).

I can't determine which amp will drive the speakers hardest / best - 7.1 or 2.1

 

[lovinthehd]

I can't determine which amp will drive the speakers hardest / best - 7.1 or 2.1

What speakers? How loud do you listen?

 

[ThunderClap]

Kef q100 I like it pretty loud

 

[MR.MAGOO]

If you haven't already done so, a Google or Manufacturer's website search for specifications?

 

[lovinthehd]

Kef q100 I like it pretty loud

You may need more than avr depending on how loud and at what distance, try using this spl calculator http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html

 

[ThunderClap]

The pioneer sounds best @ 80 wpc driven why ??

 

[Tankman]

Those 3 units you have are pretty close to each other in specs,features, but umm, you must take into consideration your speakers sensitivity, source, room acoustics will and do affect the sound quality. If your speakers are very sensitive like 90+ and up you shouldn't need a ton of power for them to play loud.
unlike speakers with low sensitivity like 88 or so, 4 ohms speakers need more power to drive as opposed to 8 ohm speakers. But that's a nice dilemma you have in my book trying out 3 units can be lots of fun.

 

[lovinthehd]

The pioneer sounds best @ 80 wpc driven why ??

How did you compare them? In your room with your Q100 speakers? It could be something as simple as level differences related to gain structure if you didn't level match the units, or you may have preferred the processing in the Pioneer if that's something you used to compare.

Your speakers are rated 86dB (2.83V/1m) so to get really loud with some overhead you may want to look at avrs with pre-outs so you can add power amps later, altho with those speakers you may reach their limits even with an avr. Did you try the spl calculator?