Receiver Selection

[maraldo]

Hi. Looking for financially unbiased guidance (I don't really have an A/V shop with someone I trust) on selecting a receiver. I have a dedicated home theater (102" Carada screen, Sony VPL-HS51A projector) and I am looking to upgrade my receiver. I am willing to pay 1K - 1.5K for the equipment and have it narrowed down to the Denon AVR-3806 or the Yamaha RX-V2600. I would like to run a single HDMI cable from the receiver to the projector and I will have a HDMI in from a DVD player and a cable box. AI will be running seven channels, Polk RTi10's in the front, CSi5 in the center, FXi3's for the surround, and the RTi4's in the back with a Paradigm sub. Any suggestions/recommendations/criticism would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Dave

 

[Nomo]

Either of those receivers are good choices. My biased opinion goes toward the Yamaha.
Those Polk speakers, while having great sound, can tend to be pretty power hungry. You may want to consider keeping some money aside for the possibility of at least a 2 channel amp to take some of the load being put on the receiver at higher volumes.

 

[maraldo]

Thank you...I was leaning that way due to the HDMI upscaling but I have limited experience with Yamaha. Do you think the 2-channel will be enough...i guess the pull will be predominantly with the RTi10's.

Thanks again.

 

[Nick250]

Can't go wrong with either I think. I have the 3806 and really like it. But if you are going to use Aydyssey Auto EQ it's a pain in the butt to get set up optimally because the documentation is horrible. I would not change receivers now because I have just about worked through it. However, now that I have kinks just about worked out I have to say that with Auto EQ my front sound stage has never sounded better. Smooth and absolutely seamless. Terrific for Concert DVDs which I watch a lot of.

Nick

 

[maraldo]

Thanks...sounds like a good win-win situation. Do you have any thoughts on the setup w/out the Aydyessey?

Thanks again.

 

[jcPanny]

Receiver options

Both of those models are great options and will offer comparable performance and features. For what it is worth, the Yamaha will upscale and deinterlace any analog video input to 720p or 1080i and the Denon will not. Have to step up to the $2k Denon 4306 for this feature.

 

[ironlung]

Don't listen to the DVD upscale crowd!!!

I would like to run a single HDMI cable from the receiver...

This may be wishful thinking. HDMI is not a one wire solution yet. Are you aware of the problems with the current lot of HDMI recievers? Check out the top two sticky threads in the GENERAL AV Discussions section. If the HDMI handshake issues are ever sorted out they are still HDMI 1.1 recievers that will NEVER be digitally compatible with TrueHD and DTS HD sound formats.

I would sugggest a Denon 3805 or Yamaha 2500 to get through the next 3-5 years. They are essentially the same as the 3806 and 2600 without the HDMI and cost 800 dollars less. Unless you upgrade often and have money to burn. I don't think the other posters are doing you a favor with the rosy comments. HDMI 1.3(witch is not released yet) or skip the HDMI.

 

[htjunky]

how about the new pioneer's that are on this website's home page. they seem to be pretty nice looking receivers! hell i'm even going to be considering them.
http://www.audioholics.com/news/pressreleases/PioneerVSX84TXSireceivers.php

 

[mike c]

my "SD to 1080i converting" DVD player actually improved the picture on my Savage Garden "Superstars and Cannonballs" DVD.

I don't know if the 2600 is as good but this player is only about 100bucks.

I decided to skip the 2600 because:
1) I had an external amp, therefore did not need its internal amp sections
2) the only advantages it had left for me was Parametric EQ and the UPSCALING. I decided it was too much money to pay for those two benefits.

I ended up directly connecting the player to the TV.

 

[Nick250]

Thanks...sounds like a good win-win situation. Do you have any thoughts on the setup w/out the Aydyessey?
Thanks again.

I found the setup without auto EQ straight forward, no troubles.

Nick

 

[ironlung]

El Paso

how about the new pioneer's that are on this website's home page. they seem to be pretty nice looking receivers! hell i'm even going to be considering them.
http://www.audioholics.com/news/pressreleases/PioneerVSX84TXSireceivers.php

They don't mention HDMI 1.3...