Which is better Yam HTR-5990 or HK Avr 140

[cabron1]

Need your help:

Large room about 500 sq ft
Athenas F2 ( front ), c1, b2 rear surrond
Velodyne Dps-10
60% Home theartre ; 40 % music

I want a reciever that works well with the speakers; features such as HDMI , YMPOA, etc not that important to me.

Price; Yam HTR 5990 I can get for ( $800 CDN), and HK AVR-140 ($400 CDN )

Which one should I buy.

Thanks

 

[tomd51]

Cabron1;
You're not really comparing apples to apples here. One receiver is double the price of the other. The Yamaha's performance and features are obviously going to be much better than the HK's.

While I would strongly recommend the 5990, you may want to compare it to something more it's equal, such as an HK AVR435 or AVR635... -TD

 

[RLA]

60% Home theartre ; 40 % music

Hello if you were comparing receivers at the same price point from Yamaha and HK I would still go with the Yamaha. Build quality, reliability and Yamahas proprietary processing make it an easy choice over the HK. The 5990 is an older model and is being replaced with the 6090. The 6090 drops THX certification and adds 1080p HDMI 1.2 up conversion.
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/productdetail.html?CNTID=451765

 

[no. 5]

I totaly agree with RLA.

also, as you have a large room the more powerful Yamaha would seem to be the better choice.

 

[cabron1]

Is the Yamaha a true high current amp. I know the HK is. My speakers are rated for 100 wps, and fronts 250wpc.

Is the Yamaha a true High current amp?

 

[cabron1]

http://www.yamaha.ca/av/Receivers/HTR5990B.jsp

http://www.harmankardon.com/specifications.aspx?cat=REC&ser=&prod=AVR 140&sType=H

I really appreciate all your comments,please keep them coming.

thx

 

[zumbo]

http://www.yamaha.ca/av/Receivers/HTR5990B.jsp

http://www.harmankardon.com/specifications.aspx?cat=REC&ser=&prod=AVR 140&sType=H

I really appreciate all your comments,please keep them coming.

thx

RLA is a dealer. Pretty sure he don't need the links. no.5 is up on gear as well.

Is the Yamaha a true high current amp. I know the HK is. My speakers are rated for 100 wps, and fronts 250wpc.

Is the Yamaha a true High current amp?

Don't buy into "High Current", or any other hype that a company may use to sell their receiver. IMO, Yamaha or Denon are the only clear winners in mid-fi receivers.

 

[no. 5]

Don't buy into "High Current", or any other hype that a company may use to sell their receiver.

yeah, I like to think H/K's markiting came up with the "high current" thing to explane why a 40wpc H/K reciever could best a 100wpc Sony.

I rember reading a Sound & Vison review of a midlevel H/K reciever, and being a bit amused that this "high current" reciever could'nt handle a 4 ohm load - somthing that (to my knowldge) a midleve Yamaha reciever has no truble with.

 

[zumbo]

I rember reading a Sound & Vison review of a midlevel H/K reciever, and being a bit amused that this "high current" reciever could'nt handle a 4 ohm load - somthing that (to my knowldge) a midleve Yamaha reciever has no truble with.

You bet! My Yamaha 1400 had no problem driving all five of my 4ohm speakers. And Yamaha didn't recommend doing so. Quality!

 

[cabron1]

I respectfully disagree.

I first connected the HK to my speakers and listened to my fav. music. I then did the same with the Yamaha 5990. I find I get louder and clearer sound from the HK. That is fine, however, I must admit, the Yamaha is a complex beast to figure out. Maybe I don't have it set up optimally. I used the YPAO auto setup.

I am puzzled. I like the sound from the HK but, the Yamaha should better.

I welcome your comments and advise.

Thanks,

 

[zumbo]

1)You took both home?
2)Listened in 2-channel or 5.1?
3)What was the source?
4)If not at home, where?
5)How did you have the HK set-up?
6)If you listened in 5.1, did you have the speakers set to small?
7)What was the crossover set at?
8)Was there dead silence when you ran YPAO?

 

[no. 5]

I am puzzled. I like the sound from the HK but, the Yamaha should better.

well, more watts does not mean that it will sound better to your ears, and it's the one that sounds good to you that you'll want to live with.

but agan, just because of the size of the room, I would go with the Yamaha. if the H/K had pre-outs for all channels you could add a power amp, but unfortunately it does'nt.

 

[cabron1]

1)You took both home?

Yes I took both home.


2)Listened in 2-channel or 5.1?

5.1

3)What was the source?

pvr, cd, dtv reciever

4)If not at home, where?

at home, same speakers, same room, same components; the Yamaha is a complex animal to set up. The HK out of the box, sounded great,

5)How did you have the HK set-up?

Large main, small rears, small center, 5 ch stereo, the HK had a lot of juice, the yamaha just doesn't have the quality or the quantity.

6)If you listened in 5.1, did you have the speakers set to small?

see above

7)What was the crossover set at?

40hz;; the f2 bottom out at 35, and the b2's bottom out at 50 hz


8)Was there dead silence when you ran YPAO?

yes, but I am going to try it again.

 

[zumbo]

All speakers need to be set to small. Set the crossover at 80Hz. I run mine @ 60Hz, but my centers FR goes down to 50Hz. Your center FR only goes down to 60Hz, so 80Hz is best for you.Your crossover setting has no effect on the mains if they are set to large.

Also, 5 ch stereo is not for loud playback. That is to be used for low volume, like with company talking. (background noise) Playback music in it's recorded form for best results.

 

[VegaDog]

Hk

Once again people under estimate the true sound of HK, unless you have owned both types of receivers then your opinion doesnt count! Well i have, I owned a 5960, and now i am running a 3 year old AVR 135, and the sound difference is what brought me to HK, their ratings are very conservative, and the HK will never give you any problems. My Yahmaha got so damn hot i could cook steak on it. YPAO who cares? Set it up the way you want it. In my experience you have to go with what you want to hear.

 

[blustarr]

I too bought the HTR5990 yesterday at Future Shop here in Canada for $800. I then went to a smaller but reputable shop and ended up buying the Yamaha RX-1600 which is the sister model. I was told the RX-1600 had an aluminum faceplate (as compared to the plastic one on the HTR) as well, it offered a second remote for the multi-room operation. Sonically and visually, I dont think there is any difference between the two. Apparently the HTR is the major retail version which they have out there so they dont piss off the smaller stores that are trying to compete.

Anyways, I previously had a Pioneer Elite VSX-24TX THX unit for about 5 years and it really was a decent unit. Paid a small fortune for it (approx $1200). It only had the S-Video input as the highest quality then. The main reason for upgrading was the switching and also my old HD Sony Rear Projection TV (57") has only two component video inputs.

The with the YPAO microphone and autosetup features, it was a breeze to configure. The difference is quite noticable, where it sounds more clearer than the Elite. The highs are muchmore richer and natural. Bass is a bit boomer but yet lower than the Elite. I think for the $797 price tag, I got a real bargain. Now I just have to find a buyer for my old Elite.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Is the Yamaha a true high current amp. I know the HK is. My speakers are rated for 100 wps, and fronts 250wpc.

Is the Yamaha a true High current amp?

Be very careful with this claim. What does it really mean? What power can it really deliver, RMS, into what impedance loads? Claiming high current may combine all the channels current ratings. So what, if it cannot drive difficult loads to high power. HK cannot do this mostly. while a huge number may be impressive, better find out what is really behind that number, what do they really mean.

 

[cabron1]

I am an electrical engineer. I did a senior year project on amplifiers. What I know is that the most output ( amps ) is generated with a single output transistor. Impedance varies over the frequency range, 8ohm frequency is nominal; it actually varies quite dramitcally over the 20 to 20khz range.

It is easy to design and build an amp which is inexpensive, without discrete outputs. In the 80's it was much more expensive, and the easiest way was to use discrete transistors on the output. Did you ever notice that amps from the 80's tended to deliver more power and greater volume. In the 80's it was much more common to have amps rated less than 100 Wpc. Not any longer; god knows what the rating means these days.

If I had my choice I would want discrete transistors on the output. One transistor per channel.

Check out this link; yamaha does build these types full featured amps, so does HK.

http://www.yamaha.ca/av/PDFs/Receivers/RXZ9lit.pdf

Wonder how much the RXZ9 is.

What most consumers like myself need is also features, these features at times out value the true job of an amplifier.

 

[no. 5]

Wonder how much the RXZ9 is.

for thoses reading this that have not looked up the price, it's $4,499.

 

[zumbo]

If a receiver with the power of seperates is what you are after, have you checked-out Adcom?

http://www.adcom.com/prod/shopdisplayproducts.asp?hid=0&cid=37&sid=3