Need Advice.... Home Theater Receiver Upgrade

A

AdamOne

Audiophyte
Hello all,

New to the forum. In the market to buy a 4K capable receiver now that I've upgraded the TV and other devices. My current setup is a Pioneer Elite SC-65 and a full 5.1 Bowers and Wilkins CM series speaker setup.

I want to maintain the quality that this Pioneer Elite has but I'm nervous about buying another now that Onkyo has bought them. I would prefer to keep it a 9.2 (for any future upgrades to my speaker system) but will consider a 7.2. Also, I'm currently bi-amping my 2 front towers which I'd like for the new receiver. It's used mainly for gaming/movies/music (in that order, yes I know poor choice of speakers for what it's mainly being used for) one issue I'd like to try and avoid is input lag for gaming which I currently have using the SC-65. To avoid this, I ran an HDMI straight to the TV with digital optical running from the Xbox to the receiver. I also want to avoid sacrificing quality for capability for this issue if possible.

My budget is $800-$1200 and my main focus has been a Denon or Marantz but I am by no means an audiophile yet so I'd love to hear others opinions on what my best bet would be. Thanks in advance everyone, excited to hear your opinions.
 
Y

yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
First off, I’d get rid of the biamping. Passive biamping offers very little benefit.

Secondly, what 9.2 config are you using? Heights or wides? What speakers?


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William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Hi Adam. I would also agree with yep that biamping is a waste of cable with little to no benefit. In any case though, I’ve seen the denon x4300 on sale for 799.99. It’s a great deal and should power those B&w’s without much trouble. Which by the way, are a fine choice for whatever you use them for. Great speakers will enhance any experience, no matter what it is. Also, I’ve never noticed any issues in gaming by going through the avr in “pass through” since it doesn’t do any processing, and fwiw, with the new avr I’d try using hdmi through the avr without the optical and see what happens. It will simply your life and also you’ll be able to playback lossless audio found on blu ray disks. Wouldn’t worry too much about ponkyoneer either. AFAIK they’re still operating separately. Onkyo has also gone above and beyond to fix many avr’s(mine included) outside of warranty, and addressed the hdmi board issue, which also struck other brands. Also, accessories for less has factory refurb units that are a great bargain.
https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/avreceiver/home-audio/receivers-amps/home-theater-receivers/1.html
 
A

AdamOne

Audiophyte
Towers: Bowers and Wilkins CM9 x2
Rear Bookshelfs: Bowers and Wilkins CM5 x2
Center: Bowers and Wilkins CM Centre 2
Sub: Bowers and Wilkins ASW610

I don't think I'm running heights or wides since I'm only using a 5.1 setup. The other channels/zones are being used yet. What's the difference between biamping and passive biamping?
 
A

AdamOne

Audiophyte
Hi Adam. I would also agree with yep that biamping is a waste of cable with little to no benefit. In any case though, I’ve seen the denon x4300 on sale for 799.99. It’s a great deal and should power those B&w’s without much trouble. Which by the way, are a fine choice for whatever you use them for. Great speakers will enhance any experience, no matter what it is. Also, I’ve never noticed any issues in gaming by going through the avr in “pass through” since it doesn’t do any processing, and fwiw, with the new avr I’d try using hdmi through the avr without the optical and see what happens. It will simply your life and also you’ll be able to playback lossless audio found on blu ray disks. Wouldn’t worry too much about ponkyoneer either. AFAIK they’re still operating separately. Onkyo has also gone above and beyond to fix many avr’s(mine included) outside of warranty, and addressed the hdmi board issue, which also struck other brands. Also, accessories for less has factory refurb units that are a great bargain.
https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/avreceiver/home-audio/receivers-amps/home-theater-receivers/1.html
Looks like a great receiver, really good price. I initially bought my Pioneer Elite from Best Buy as an open box item and had a failing hdmi board which thankfully I bought their protection plan for 3 years.
 
Y

yepimonfire

Audioholic Samurai
Towers: Bowers and Wilkins CM9 x2
Rear Bookshelfs: Bowers and Wilkins CM5 x2
Center: Bowers and Wilkins CM Centre 2
Sub: Bowers and Wilkins ASW610

I don't think I'm running heights or wides since I'm only using a 5.1 setup. The other channels/zones are being used yet. What's the difference between biamping and passive biamping?
Real biamping involves an active crossover between an amp and preamp vs passive crossovers found internally. This solves a ton of the problems with passive networks.

Passive biamping has some minor benefits, such as eliminating the interaction of the two networks at the amplifier and obviously, dedicated power for the woofer. In two way setups, this is pretty much useless, since tweeters generally only need a few watts anyways, in a three way setup, where the terminals are split between the mid/tweeter and the woofer networks, it might translate to slightly more headroom, since both midrange and mid bass, which are the most power hungry frequencies, have their own amplifier. Whether or not the extra amp is worth it is up for debate, and the extra power benefit can be obtained simply by using a more powerful amplifier.

If you have the extra amps in the avr that are going unused, you might as well biamp, but I wouldn’t sacrifice a channel pair (such as surround back or height) for the minor benefits of passive biamping.


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