Sony5200ES, or Marantz SR8001, or Pioneer 84TXsi

[StanVlna]

Hello Everyone!
I cannot decide between these receivers. Your help and comments are appriciated.
Stan

 

[j_garcia]

To drive what speakers in what size room?

 

[StanVlna]

Hello j_garcia, the speakers are Definitive Tech Studio Monitors 450 as L+R and Definitive Tech BPX as surrounnds. They all have 61/2 midrange and 1" tweeter. Room is medium size but very oddly shaped.

 

[j_garcia]

Any of those receivers should work then. I'd lean towards the Marantz 8001 myself, in fact I'm conisdering upgrading to that receiver also for HDMI capability.

 

[nextivity1]

I have similar questions as the original poster and I'm somewhat of a newb so I could really use some help.

As you can see by the picture, my media area is an absolute mess. I have HD Digital Cable, a SD DVD, a SD TIVO, Slingbox Pro, and a Wii. All the video is connected to my 47" native 1080p LCD HDTV, all the audio though my old Yamaha receiver. I want a nice, pretty solution that does not require 4 different remotes and this rat's nest of wiring which means it's time for this receiver to go.

The big stream of cables coming out of the wall is my house speaker wiring. Two cables are for ceiling mounted subwoofers in the media room and I have three pairs of speakers in other rooms (none of which are currently hooked up due to receiver limitations). My quandary I'm looking for a AV receiver that will take care of this mess but after reading dozens of reviews, it appears that one does not exist (at least in the sub $1500 range).

My two must-haves:

• 3 HDMI inputs, 1 HDMI output, and good SD and HD up scaling to 1080p (I guess 1080i is ok).
• 2 zones of powered output - don't want to purchase another amp.

I also have no clue how to tie in three sets of speaker cable (for the other rooms) into zone two on a receiver. Can I terminate the ends before attaching? Twist all the wires together? It looks like some receivers have spots for terminated cabling, some have places to twist speaker wire on, and still others have optical/composite audio outs. I'm clueless as to how to go about this.

I just want some way to attach three sets of stereo speaker cabling to zone two. I will turn down speakers that I'm not using at the source - that should save on required power right?

Was looking at the Sony STR DA5200ES but sounds like the up conversion sucks. Also looking at the Pioneer VSX-82TXS but I'm confused by the dual zone information contained in the reviews. Any advice, assistance, explanations are appreciated. Especially about how I can get my whole house speakers up and running with a dual zone system.

 

[j_garcia]

This really needs another thread all your own...

You cannot tie the speakers for the other rooms together and connect them straight to the receiver, this will overload it. You need either an impedance matching speaker selector or you need to use impedance matching volume controls in each room for each set of speakers. The vol controls could be a problem since everything is already installed and wire run, so a switch might be the way.

The Marantz has 4 in 2 out for HDMI. Not sure about scaling, but your display is going to do that for you anyway, so why worry about lower signals?

I'd skip Sony all together when it comes to receivers. ES line is OK, but still not where I'd look.

The color of your wall looks identical to what I just painted my dining room

 

[nextivity1]

Couple of questions:

An "impedance matching speaker selector"... can you describe what this is in a bit more detail? I assume it's something like the old cable AB switches? Let's you choose which speaker you want to run? If so, that's not something that I want.

Perhaps I do need a separate amplifier. I assume I can plug all my speakers into the amp, and then plug that into the "second zone" of any high end receiver and be ok? Any suggestions in this area would be helpful. Obviously I don't want to spend a ton of money on this piece, I just want to hear music where ever I go in the home.

You also mentioned that my display will do the scaling. Correct me if I'm wrong, but my TV won't upscale to 1080. So any 480i input is going to look jaggy and crappy. Hence the reason I want it upscaled... I own a DVD player that upscales to 1080 and it is a noticable difference on my other 720p HDTV (although I have not had a chance to try it on my new 1080p screen).

 

[no. 5]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my TV won't upscale to 1080. So any 480i input is going to look jaggy and crappy.

the TV will scale to 1080, as that is its native resalutaion. and it will look jaggy if the TV internal scaler is crappy.

 

[bandit]

That Sony just had a very good review in Sound and Vision magazine. Its video capabilities (scaling/etc) is what they liked best.

Bandit

 

[PENG]

If you like the 5200ES because of its look, specs, and features, go for it. The SQ of the mid level ES receivers are as good as the more popular Denon, Yamaha, Elite products.

 

[j_garcia]

Upscaling is not going to make it look like high def...you are still dealing with the same original signal quality, so scaled or not, regular TV doesn't always look great - that is a simple fact.

Connecting a bunch of speakers to a single terminal will result in overloading the amp - power isn't free. So to protect the amp, you have to use something in between that distributes the load evenly. Russound and Niles as well as a few others make both IM vol controls and switch hubs like these: http://www.russound.com/speaker_selectors.htm

 

[Excalibur$2006]

Pioneer

I've done my research - I've picked out but yet to purchase the Pioneer 84 txsi. It appears to have what I want in the most complete cost effective package. I'm not trying to figure out if I should buy from a MSRP site (Authorized) or take a chance on an internet site and save $500 or so. It doesn't appear to be any legit resellers out there. At least I can't find any. Where are you going to buy your receiver from?