Pioneer VSX-82TXS replacement

[Timetaker]

Hello experts!
I'm hoping you might find joy in helping me decide on my next HT step (if not joy than sympathy!)! I recently upgraded my television from a sexy 1080p plasma to an OLED and now have a crushing need to upgrade my AVR as it can't handle the 4k/HDR content. My current set up is

Receiver - Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS
Fronts - Def Tech BP7004
Center - Def Tech (in line with the other def tech speakers, unable to access)
Rears - Def Tech BP-12X
Sub - Bic Acoustech PL-200

I recently bought a house and have found my setup doesn't fill my living room as well as I'd like, so I'm looking to get a bit more power out of the upgrade as well. It's been some 10 years since I bought my system, so I'm extremely out of the loop at this point and don't know what a good deal is anymore (or even if the numbers are still comparable).

The room in question is about 24x18 and I'm looking for near ear splitting sound; mostly used for games/movies, but when I use it for music I want to hear it loudly, making people flee.

My questions are;
is the Denon - X3300 comparable / better than the VSX-82TXS in raw power? (its obviously well recommended on the forums and has quite the upgraded feature set over a 10 year old AVR)

Can my speakers handle a massive power upgrade (one that might include an amplifier? I scored a 5 on the "do you need an amplifier" matrix) The specs have them listed as "up to 300w" where the current receiver only outputs 130w (Denon at 105w)

Do you have any specific recommendations for alternate receivers? I'm willing to go up to ~$2000 if it's worth the money, but am far from an audiophile (but can respect quality sound!) and am not a power user for blue tooth / spotify / chromecast features as I have other tools that accomplish all of those.

I've been looking at a PL-89II speaker set for ~$1300; would that be an upgrade to my 10 year old BP7004s?

I plan on spending the next couple of months listening to examples, but would love a place to start!

Thanks so much for any guidance!!

 

[lovinthehd]

How about just feeding your avr the sound feed from your 4k video source via optical (or does it have dual hdmi?) and connecting your 4k video source directly to your tv with hdmi? What is your 4k source(s)? BIC rates their 89II speakers at 98 dB sensitivity and if as accurate as DT's rating of the 7004s of 92 dB, you effectively quadruple your amp power. Much easier to use higher sensitivity speakers if you want loud, and you may not need a power amp to get there.

Most avrs are more similar in power output in terms of dB, some better at lower impedance loads than others; your speakers will determine how far that amp power goes even more. Each doubling of power is only a 3dB gain....so the difference in amp power (assuming you've used the same spec basis for the power rating) between your Pioneer and the Denon is very small, about 1dB.

I do like that Denon 3300 and it has a full Audyssey suite of features, too. It has pre-outs so if you really think your speakers need (or can handle) more power, then you can add an external amp later.

ps Is that room enclosed or open to others? May need to rethink your subwoofage, too.

 

[Timetaker]

My understanding is that the optical is a lossy sound with downgraded performance compared to HDMI. I am using a PS4 pro (optical out runs 5.1 straight to the receiver atm) which is my main concern and loses Linear PCM on optics in the settings, Chromecast Ultra (no optical option so it is routed through the tvs 2 channel mixer) and a PC (AMD R390 vcard w/ sound over HDMI). I plan to soon purchase an Xbox S which will over capacity the inputs on the TV; though the receiver has enough optics.

The biggest problem is the TV only supports a 2 channel audio passthrough on optical (LGOLED65B6P). I tested through various sources and wasn't able to ever get a 5.1 from the TV. I looked for the HDMI output and was depressed when there wasn't one!

I'm unfamiliar with high sensitivity speakers - essentially they sound much worse, but generate much higher volume? If I did the Denon 3300 with the dual zones, I could just set them both up and activate "worse sounding zone 2 high sensitivity speakers" when blasting music?

Any way of specifically knowing if the speakers can handle more power than just the specs? I know when I turn my amp up to +0 DB they start sounding horrible, so we don't do it! I assume thats a power issue and the speakers can handle more power if we threw more at them.


For the PS; it's kind of enclosed with a 4 open doorways to other rooms. I've never felt like I capped out the sub as the speakers usually start sounding bad before the sub does. I thought it was a pretty high end sub; does adding a second one fix any concern there or is upgrading the one I have the only solution?




Thank you so much for the reply! I never have people around that I can actually discuss this stuff with so it's great to talk to someone that knows what they are talking about!

 

[lovinthehd]

My understanding is that the optical is a lossy sound with downgraded performance compared to HDMI. I am using a PS4 pro (optical out runs 5.1 straight to the receiver atm) which is my main concern and loses Linear PCM on optics in the settings, Chromecast Ultra (no optical option so it is routed through the tvs 2 channel mixer) and a PC (AMD R390 vcard w/ sound over HDMI). I plan to soon purchase an Xbox S which will over capacity the inputs on the TV; though the receiver has enough optics.

The biggest problem is the TV only supports a 2 channel audio passthrough on optical (LGOLED65B6P). I tested through various sources and wasn't able to ever get a 5.1 from the TV. I looked for the HDMI output and was depressed when there wasn't one!

I'm unfamiliar with high sensitivity speakers - essentially they sound much worse, but generate much higher volume? If I did the Denon 3300 with the dual zones, I could just set them both up and activate "worse sounding zone 2 high sensitivity speakers" when blasting music?

Any way of specifically knowing if the speakers can handle more power than just the specs? I know when I turn my amp up to +0 DB they start sounding horrible, so we don't do it! I assume thats a power issue and the speakers can handle more power if we threw more at them.


For the PS; it's kind of enclosed with a 4 open doorways to other rooms. I've never felt like I capped out the sub as the speakers usually start sounding bad before the sub does. I thought it was a pretty high end sub; does adding a second one fix any concern there or is upgrading the one I have the only solution?




Thank you so much for the reply! I never have people around that I can actually discuss this stuff with so it's great to talk to someone that knows what they are talking about!

Lossy is not a huge difference IMO and you are only 5.1 so thought I'd ask, but if you want lossless audio or 7.1 then an hdmi equipped avr is the way to go.

High sensitivity speakers can sound good, low sensitivity speakers can sound bad...always depends on the particular speaker.

 

[lovinthehd]

On the sub no that is not a high end sub, there are many better, but if it suffices work on better speakers for now....