Onkyo TX-SR603X & BA VR's

[vtpaul]

Hi group,

I am finally taking the leap into an HT setup. After several auditioning sessions, I've settled on a Boston Acoustic setup of VR3's for my mains, the VRC center and VRX surrounds. I have heard some good things about Onkyo's TX-SR603X. Does anybody have a feel for how this receiver would drive thr VR's? My brother has always had good luck with Yamaha receivers. Does anyone have a suggestion on a comparable Yammy I might want to check out?
Thanks!

 

[j_garcia]

603 would be good, but might want to step up to the 703 for a little more piece of mind - you'll then have preamp outputs so you can add amplification down the road if needed. There was a deal posted not too long ago on the 703 for a pretty good price.

Yammie RX-V2600 can be had for around $500.

How big is your room and what is the budget? What about a sub?

 

[NGL_BrSH]

The whole VR series is very "bright". A little too bright for my likings since my ears seem to be very sensitive to the high frequencies. Thats my personal preference, not saying they're bad speakers at all. Whatever makes you happy.. but I also have noticed the recent onkyo products to have bright characteristics of their own. The full onkyo lineup this year seems to lack some power for dynamics and it seems to be very bright. That being said, i would think that linking VR's and Onkyo together would be a treble machine. If thats your cup of tea, go get your deftones CD and enjoy

If you don't enjoy alot of tweeter i would perhaps look into anything else than Onkyo, INTEGRA or sony recievers this year to match with the VR's.
The VR's are a very efficient speaker as well so you don't need a ton of power.
If you're looking for good clean 2 channel power, I have just recently demo'd the Marantz PM7001 and found it to be a very good sounding amplifier and this would be an excellent choice to match up with the VR's. (i demo'd it on Bostons, Deftechs, energy's, NHT's)

Yamaha would be a good choice for HT, and if you want a well balanced sound my personal preference would be NAD.

It's really all relative to what your acoustical goals are and your piggy bank.

my 2 cents.

 

[vtpaul]

Hey guys, thanks for the input. I have a rough idea of what you mean by "bright", but I think that may be what I like. Some Klipsch I heard sounded farther up the scale but I think my ear is happy with the VR3, but now I will probably really hear it when I go back and will start second guessing myself!
Maybe I'll check out some Yammys to offset the speakers some.
My room is about 18x14 and we'll be facing the tv on a 14 wall, with a fireplace angle on one corner. Not the best setup, but thanks to windows and doors, the only way it will work.
On the sub front, I was thinking of holding off til we move to a bigger place. I can get the BA PV700 for 299, but I wasn't sure if that was a great deal. From my reading it seems I don't need to match the sub and there might be better ones out there for the same price.

 

[j_garcia]

Yamaha are what I consider "revealing" these days, not so much bright; as much or more than Yamaha. I found the BAs to be north of neutral (a large percentage of speakers fall into that category to me), but not so much so that I would call them overly bright.

Can't recommend any Sony receivers except the ES line personally (and even those wouldn't be anywhere near the top of my list).

In a room that shape, I would actually say that is the better position, allowing you better options with surround placement. I recently heard a system in a ~19'x14' room with the setup along the 14' wall and it worked well.

For a sub, I am not familiar with BA's subs, so I can't comment on them, however when you are ready for one, come back here with a budget and room size and we'll get you going. There are a few options in the $300-400 (and under) range that might work for you now too.

Don't second guess yourself unless you bought Bose