Question about THD% in new receiver purchase

[sab30]

I am completely upgarding my HT (even built a room specifically for it) I need a new receiver and based on budget and reviews I settle on 2 choices:

Yamaha HT5790
or
Pioneer 1014TX-K

Both are THX certified and get great reviews. I did notice that the Pioneer had 7% THD at 110 w while the Yamaha only had 4% THD. I was told this was Total Harmonic Distortion and the lower the number the better. For the extra $100 would this make the Yamaha better in terms of sound quality that I would notice.

Thanks in advance for your help..much appreciated for a newbie!!

 

[MDS]

4% and 7% is excessively high (might have just been a typo on your part). I bet the THD is actually .04% and .07% respectively. Even my low end Onkyo TX-SR502 is rated at .08%.

Supposedly we can't detect THD until it is greater than 1% and most receivers in the class you mention are rated under .1%. The short answer is that the THD ratings are a non factor - they are sufficiently low as to not be audible. Choose between the two based on other factors such as ease of use, features, and the remote control.

 

[sab30]

Thats right..sorry

Yes it is .07 and .04 THD%. Thank you for your reply. The other feature was that the Pioneer is actually about $200 cheaper than the Yamaha. They are both THX certified and get rave reviews so unless anyone has ahd problems with the Pioneer 1014 TK-X or absolutely raves about the Yamaha then I will side with the Pioneer. If anyone has any comments about these 2 receivers I would welcome them.

Thanks again,

SAB

 

[gene]

You can't always go by published distortion measurements since you may not be comparring apples to apples.

Check out our article Product Managing Receiver Platforms for more info. There is more to amplifier performance than a simple THD test into a resistive load. If you are comparing similarly priced receivers decide based on features, build quality and weight to help narrow your decision.

 

[crashguy]

You will NEVER hear any difference in perceived sound quality of any piece of audio gear with a difference of 0.03%. That's like measuring a mile in 1/4 inches. Totally insignificant. Don't even worry about looking at THD specs when trying to choose an amp or AVR. The manufacturers can make THD anything they want it to be (within reason). Depends on how they want to market their stuff. An amp rated at 0.5% and an amp rated at 0.00005% THD will sound the same to the human ear. I have read research in old STEREO REVIEW magazine that suggested that the average listener couldn't hear distortion in a direct A/B comparision until it reached closer to 5%, which is 100 times what you are talking about.

What you should look for in an amp/receiver is quality construction and features you like.

I posted before reading Genes reply....I guess we share the same opinion on this....fingers tooooo quick.