2010 $1000 A/V Receiver Comparison Guide

A

admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
For many years now, you could say you weren't really playing with the big boys until you stepped up to a $1000 receiver. All of these receivers will have HDMI 1.4 inputs and outputs, all of which support 3D. You're going to get an onscreen display over HDMI standard and can expect video upconversion and scaling from analogue to HDMI 1080p. While your entry level receivers have to cut a lot of corners and at the $500 price point you find manufactures picking a focus, here, you get a lot more. Networking, multizone, THX certification, auto setup and calibration, and tons of extras. To help you out with your decision, we're taking a close look at offerings from Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, Sony, and Harman Kardon.


Discuss "2010 $1000 A/V Receiver Comparison Guide" here. Read the article.
 
3db

3db

Audioholic Slumlord
Nice to see Yamaha back in the game again with a solid receiver. I would liek to point out because it wasn't mentioned in the review that the YPAO for teh Advantage line is multipoint. This started with the RX-V1900/3900 series.
 
anamorphic96

anamorphic96

Audioholic General
The spec for the Sony not having discreet amps seems to be incorrect as well. Models from the 810 on up have discreet outputs in the amp stages.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
corrections made. Keep the critiques coming when needed. As you guys could imagine, its very difficult to get accurate information on products just solely looking at online specs and user manuals. For example, hardly anyone documents if their receiver has HDMI pass thru during standby, which IMO is a critical feature, much more so that 3D!
 
Z

zumbo

Audioholic Spartan
I love the the part in the conclusion "superior Yamaha". Has a nice ring to it.;)
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
hardly anyone documents if their receiver has HDMI pass thru during standby, which IMO is a critical feature, much more so that 3D!
Oh, Geez -100% True. SO Many folks want this. It's mind blowing AVR makers don't put more attention to this feat.
 
GlocksRock

GlocksRock

Audioholic Spartan
Looks like Yamaha and Denon have some really nice gear at that price point.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
If have to take educated guess, my bet Denon uses Analog Devices for it's video scaler and very probable it's from ADV734x family

Hint is on Denon website - "NSV Technology" icon has AD logo in it :)
 
C

chpwaman

Audioholic Intern
Are you sure the 3311ci cannot do HDMI standby passthrough?

"Denon has continued with their focus on HDMI with 6 in/2 out 1.4a connections. They support 3D and ARC but not Standby Pass-Thru."
 
AVRat

AVRat

Audioholic Ninja
Yes it does, see pg. 82 of the manual.:) The table on the first page of the article says it does.
 
DenPureSound

DenPureSound

Senior Audioholic
The Denon AVR-3311CI does do HDMI Standby Pass-Thru, as I own one, and it is a very nice AVR.
 
A

AVDOCTOR

Audiophyte
What about the sound?

Dr. Sidney Harman passed recently - happily and productive until his 90's. The very first REAL piece of Hi-Fi I ever heard was a mid-fi Sansui Integrated Amplifier from a Philips 212 turntable to a pair of JBL L-100's. My point here is not ONLY that I'm as old as, well, cassette decks for a grand. I noticed you made mention the H/K was " a dated remake " of an older model, but also that it was third heaviest of all of the entries. That's one of the reasons I have owned only one 2 channel system that did not have a Harman amplifier - stereo or multi channel - out of at least a dozen in my life. I worked in the industry at both sales and management levels before a back injury sidelined me a while back, and that offered a LOT of objective critical listening to different amps. Harman Kardon amps spound better because of 1) high current amplifiers 2) with low to almost no negative feedback applied, and 3) ultrawideband frequency response - out to 100k plus. Now none of these ideas would be considered "new" as you seem in search of in the survey, however they are a more expensive way to build an amp - sans a lotta chip sets! So you go ahead with all of the bells and whistles, I need my A/V receiver for listening to SACD's and Blu Ray films as well as, well, you mentioned what you felt they left off. And the street price is a bit less than half off, but not by much - as there IS a model AVR3650 shipping soon.
Whatever you end up with, I pray that it brings you more joy than pain. Do yourself a favor, listen to a H/K, and I promise you won't care that it doesn't say "THX" on it anywhere! God bless you . . .
 
LAB3

LAB3

Senior Audioholic
I love the the part in the conclusion "superior Yamaha". Has a nice ring to it.;)
:) so far my Yamaha RX-V1900 HD AVR has been a plug and play. No firmware upgrades etc. :D Denon, H/K and others all something to offer too.
 

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