Rationale to spend more?

[watchdog]

Sorry for the Newbie rationale but, I am undertaking what many of you have already gone through and what others may also be taking on. I am outfitting my remodeled living room into a home entertainment area from the ground the up....albeit on a limited budget. Also, from this main area located in the basement, I have prewired for a 5.1 surround and also prewired for an addtional (4) pair of speakers elswhere in the home/outside. My big concern is not wanting to "cheap out" on the surround sound project given it represents a very very small % of the overall remodel yet is the culmination and high visibility of the project.

Here's my question:

"CAN I justify spending $1800 on an Outlaw 990/7125 system versus a relatively inexpensive Onkyo 605 BECAUSE the Outlaw performs more like a system costing much more, has outstanding resale at 70-80% (low downside user costs) AND will perform much better.......than most all sub $1000 systems."

Weigh in with comments please if you can provide personal experience.

 

[jcPanny]

HT room

Watchdog,
The A/V receiver or amp requirements for your room depend a lot on the speakers, the size of your room, and your total budget. The speakers are the most important audio component so I would select them first and find a receiver or seperates with the power and features you need.

I am currently using a Yamaha receiver as a pre-pro with an Emotiva LPA-1 amp. The amp is more capable of powering my 4-ohm Onix Ref 1 speakers and I use 2 of the amps channels to drive 5 pairs of speakers and my distributed audio system. You can get this setup for <$1k and it might work well for your room.

The Onkyo 605 receiver you list has a lot of the latest HDMI features but it doesn't have pre-amp outputs which are necessary for an outboard amp.

 

[davidtwotrees]

Nice point, JCP. Comparing the Outlaw to the 605 isn't really fair......you are comparing a fairly "hot" setup with an entry level HT receiver. If you go a few steps up the receiver chain you will get some pretty amazing electronics. For a thousand bucks you can get a whole lotta receiver........and down the road if you want to upgrade your system with a seperate amp like JCP has you can. This forum has taught me that an expert would much rather you put your HT money into speakers. If you bought a Denon 2807 receiver for $800 and put that extra thousand into your front speakers, you will get a much greater return than putting your money into amps and pre pros......

Now if this is funny money from the bank, buy the Outlaw and get some nice fronts too..................

 

[Joe Schmoe]

If you need a rationale to spend more, you are in the wrong hobby!

 

[abefroeman]

has outstanding resale at 70-80% (low downside user costs) AND will perform much better.......than most all sub $1000 systems."

The 990 will only have high resale as long as the 990 is the top of the line outlaw component. Go look at the used prices on a 950. They are nowhere near 70-80%.

If you want separates you can go get a used 950 and some Behringer amps and you will end up with sound quality on par with the 990/7125 system, for about $800 total.

I would recommend picking out your speakers first. Then picking out the features you want in a receiver (HDMI?, DVI?, multiple zones?, etc.) then find a solution that most cheaply satisfies your needs.

 

[fmw]

There is no rationale. In fact, I recently switched from separates (Marantz Pre/Pro and QSC power amps) to a receiver. I get the same sound, more advanced signal processing and remote control convenience. All for $500.

I suppose if someone has hotel-meeting-room sized HT and very inefficient speakers then more powerful amps than a receiver has might be necessary. For almost every home installation it isn't. So the reason to buy goes beyond performance or rationale. It goes to things like pride of ownership, cool factor etc. I'm not saying that's bad. I'm just saying a rationale isn't a part of the equation.

 

[ccotenj]

"i WANT it" is a perfectly good "rationale"... it may or may not be "rational" though...

as long as you aren't taking food out of your family's mouths, and can still pay the mortgage, "i want it" is a fine rationale by me... who cares if there's a vocal segment of the audioholics population who believe you are wasting your money? it's your money, not theirs.

look at it this way. is there really any "rationale" for buying a lexus/bimmer/mercedes/etc. over a econo-box? no, not really. most every modern car is reasonably safe and will get you to the mall in the same amount of time. so by the definition of many here, all cars are equal.

 

[agarwalro]

As mentioned, your speakers will dictate the capabilities of the receiver/ amp . 8ohm speakers with good sensitivity are easy to drive and any receiver will be able to handle them. 4ohm speakers with lesser sensitivity will be tougher to drive and will require a higher end receiver or a dedicated amp.

Your budget should be divided as follows,
50-60% Acoustics (Speakers, Subwoofer, Room Treatments, etc.)
50-40% Electronics (Receiver/amp, CD/DVD/HD-DVD/DB Players, Display/ PJ, etc.)

Regarding receiver/ seperates, one option is to get a mid range receiver ($750-1000) and a 2 channel amp for the Mains (or 3 channel amp for the Mains and Center).

 

[cfrizz]

I have a Denon operating as a prepro & ended up with a 5 channel Sunfire amp. I had to go through 2 other amps before I landed the Sunfire. If I knew then what I know now, I would have gotten a 5 channel amp from the start. So you are ahead of the game in that aspect!

Lots of people do it this way. I am constantly debating whether or not I want to get a separate prepro. My system sounds great, but a part of me really wants a matching Sunfire prepro!

So if you have the money for the separates, get them. I will ALWAYS have a minimum of 200wpc separate amplification regardless of what other changes I make to my system because lots of power really helps all speakers which is why I went from a 2 channel to adding a monoblock, to finally getting a 5 channel monster!