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RedCharles

Full Audioholic
I'm probably upgrading from a LX102 to a LX701. I spent 250 on the LX102 a year or so ago (Display model Best Buy), and I just spent 700 on the LX701 (display model Best Buy).

I can hear an improvement. It sounds like there's more space between the sounds. More presence. Separation.

LX701 seems superior to my other receiver as well, the old 94-TXH, but I haven't tested them side by side.

I'm disappointed that the 701 only has one crossover. I was under the impression that MCACC pro gave each channel its own crossover. I have SVS Ultras across the front, and DT 600s for my height channel and surround channel. I want to run 60hz and 150hz, but instead I'm running the crossover at 80 hz for everything. SB 2000s seem fine. The DT 600s seem fine.

I might return the LX 701 though. It was 700 bucks. I spent 800 on a nice laptop this year. I spent almost 700 bucks on my last computer retrofit. I could buy a set tires for 700 bucks. I could build a garage door for 700 bucks. I know some receivers can cost a whole lot more, but it seems like a lot to pay for an incremental improvement.

I'm going to listen to it all weekend and then switch back to the LX102 to see if I can really hear the difference, or if I'm just fooling myself.

Are the 701, 801, and 901 prone to breaking? Or are they reliable?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I think my old Pioneer had that fixed crossover for all speakers, too....but it died an early death and never went back to Pioneer either. $700 isn't all that much for a full featured 9ch avr, tho I too would expect separate adjustment of crossovers (and I looked at your manual and it does seem to have only a universal setting). Can't speak to newer reliability, mine was hdmi that crapped out (and the avr continued to work for a while with some other inputs but those failed after a little while too). Personally they're off my list.

Your impressions of differences are likely more to do with it being new than anything, but without a proper comparison (basic pure direct, blind, level matched) hard to know. If you do return it I'd look at Denon myself. If the room eq is important to you I think Audyssey XT32 does a good job (even XT I thought was better than my Pioneer's Advanced MCACC but I believe they have improved upon MCACC since I had the Pioneer too). Then again nothing wrong with running crossovers at 80hz....and seems your sat's specs would accommodate that reasonably....
 
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RedCharles

Full Audioholic
So did some listening tests in Direct mode and equalized the volume using my DB meter.

I listened to a John Wick scene, and I could hear differences, but they were not good or bad. Perhaps I picked the wrong scene to listen to.

I then listened to Pink Floyd's Time. I zeroed in on the drums between 60 seconds and 120 seconds, and I went back and forth many times. The LX700 definitely produces a clearer image, and the drum beats were coming from between the speakers. The drum strikes on the LX102 took up a larger area, but they were above the speakers. The drums on the LX102 didn't sound as "tight". I don't how else to explain it. With the 701 I could "see" the sound of the drum strikes as they moved across front better.

Then I listened to the start of the climatic chase in The Man from Snowy River. It's a stereo track and the imaging was better when the horses galloped across the screen; the sound of the hooves was more localized, more precise.

I should also add that the bass on the LX 701 was more controlled during the "Time".

The 701 is better. But I'm not sure the improvement is worth $700 to me. Originally, I had planned to get two rear height speakers and a separate amp for the my LR channels. My current receiver, the LX102 cannot do pre-amps and cannot do 5.2.4.

When I took my SVS Ultra's to my friend's house and hooked them up to his Rotel gear, the treble was way too hot. So I've scrapped the idea of hooking up the SVS Ultras to a separate amp. On a side note, his Arial 5's sound amazing, and are what got me into audio.

I'm sort of leaning toward taking the 701 back. I would still have to invest about a 150 bucks and whole day of work to get 5.2.4 going. And a separate amp for the Ultra bookshelves will probably make them intolerable, so I'm not going to be using the pre-outs on the 701.

~850 dollars is a lot for two more height channels and better imaging. I'm still thinking about it.
 

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lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Hard to see why you'd judge the use of external amps generally with your speakers with testing them in your friends' room on his gear. Your comparison is interesting but doesn't mean much to me as I wasn't there and you don't have a proper comparison setup either, lots of factors can get in the way the way you're going about it.
 
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RedCharles

Full Audioholic
Well, I bought some new speakers for rear height. Ran the cable. Set them up. Everything worked. And then I updated the firmware...big mistake. Worked fine for about a day.

Now my volume is stuck at -40 because of something called Sonos. Receiver reads "SonosVolumePreset". I didn't ask for this. What the @$#% is Sonos?

It's so stupid, I'm positive that Microsoft is involved somehow.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Well, I bought some new speakers for rear height. Ran the cable. Set them up. Everything worked. And then I updated the firmware...big mistake. Worked fine for about a day.

Now my volume is stuck at -40 because of something called Sonos. Receiver reads "SonosVolumePreset". I didn't ask for this. What the @$#% is Sonos?

It's so stupid, I'm positive that Microsoft is involved somehow.
LOL not sure how you got there but I'd first just unplug it for a while, what's called a soft reset, and, if that didn't work, then a full factory/microprocessor reset as per your manual.
 
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RedCharles

Full Audioholic
Sonos controls were grayed out in the menu. I had to reconnect to the internet in order to disable Sonos. Anyway, problem solved.
 
G

Gmoney

Audioholic Ninja
Red, that’s the Slant, of HT moving up to food chain cost well, More money. That unit you have is a good one, But I believe you could do a lil better with a Denon unit say their 3500 or 3600 for about the same money spent. or maybe check out Accessories4less they have Refurbished units give them a look over. Just a note Amazon has a Yamaha TSR-7810 going for 299.00 unit has Atmos DTS-X and pre-amp outs to boot. Comes with a years warranty.
 
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RedCharles

Full Audioholic
I'm at the end of my return window. I've been fine tuning the LX 701 for past few weeks. Did some more AB testing against the LX 102 this morning. And the difference is night and day clear. I was considering returning the LX701, and buying the LX 303 9.2 Regular MCACC for 400 bucks from Amazon. It would save me 300 bucks and still have all the connections I need to run my 5.2.4 set up.

However, the AB testing I did this morning convinced me that paying 300 more for the LX 701's MCACC pro and better amp section is easily worth it.
 
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Gmoney

Audioholic Ninja
I'm at the end of my return window. I've been fine tuning the LX 701 for past few weeks. Did some more AB testing against the LX 102 this morning. And the difference is night and day clear. I was considering returning the LX701, and buying the LX 303 9.2 Regular MCACC for 400 bucks from Amazon. It would save me 300 bucks and still have all the connections I need to run my 5.2.4 set up.

However, the AB testing I did this morning convinced me that paying 300 more for the LX 701's MCACC pro and better amp section is easily worth it.
Have you looked at LX503? 549 new on Amazon. Two years newer unit.
 
everettT

everettT

Audioholic Spartan
Have you looked at LX503? 549 new on Amazon. Two years newer unit.
Unfortunately the RC on that unit is less than desirable. Heck before the current implementation the unit didn't have preouts.
 

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