Which receiver to power Polk Audio Monitor 70

[alessandro]

I recently moved and am building a sound system from scratch.
I purchased a pair of the Polk Audio Monitor 70 and am not 100% sure about which receiver to go with.
I don't want to go with a 7.x channel receiver, just need a 5.1.
I'm thinking about the Onkyo TX-SR507.
Any help/recommendation will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

What is your budget, and which other speakers do you plan to get (for center and rear speakers)?

Don't worry about 7.1 versus 5.1. 7.1 receivers are becoming the norm, and you can set them up as 5.1 receivers. So, if you find one that you like, it won't be a problem using it with just five speakers and a sub.

 

[alessandro]

Welcome to the forum!

What is your budget, and which other speakers do you plan to get (for center and rear speakers)?

Don't worry about 7.1 versus 5.1. 7.1 receivers are becoming the norm, and you can set them up as 5.1 receivers. So, if you find one that you like, it won't be a problem using it with just five speakers and a sub.

Thanks.

I would like to stay within $500 for the receiver. I haven't given much thought to the center and rears yet. Open to suggestions.
My only issue is that this is going in the living room, which backs to kitchen where there is an island between the living room and kitchen, but not back wall.

 

[Adam]

For $500, you can get the Pioneer Elite VSX-21 (third party merchants via Amazon is one way, but no factory warranty) that is a nice unit.

You can also get the Onkyo TX-SR707, which is the Audioholics receiver of the year this year. Onkyos seem to be notorious for running hot, so I shy away from them, but I wanted to point it out. 6th Avenue Electronics had it for $470 three days ago, and Amazon had it for $480 a couple of weeks ago. So, you can get it for under your budget if you catch it on sale. The 707 has more features and more power than the 507, but which is best for you comes down to what you want in a receiver and how much you want to spend.

 

[alessandro]

Thanks Adam.

I was considering the Onkyo TX-SR707 as well.
I will look into the Pioneer Elite VSX-21.

 

[styrbjorn]

FWIW I recently bought the VSX-21 and am very happy with it. Sounds great, easy setup, and drives my B&W 683's beautifully, at least to my untrained ear.

 

[rnatalli]

The Onkyo 707 and Denon 1910 are my choices in the $500 range. If you don't need 7.1 or video upscaling, I'd go with the Denon 1610/590 over the Onkyo 507 as it uses Audyssey MultEQ vs. 2EQ on the 507.

 

[RedBank]

how about the 607?

For $500, you can get the Pioneer Elite VSX-21 (third party merchants via Amazon is one way, but no factory warranty) that is a nice unit.

You can also get the Onkyo TX-SR707, which is the Audioholics receiver of the year this year. Onkyos seem to be notorious for running hot, so I shy away from them, but I wanted to point it out. 6th Avenue Electronics had it for $470 three days ago, and Amazon had it for $480 a couple of weeks ago. So, you can get it for under your budget if you catch it on sale. The 707 has more features and more power than the 507, but which is best for you comes down to what you want in a receiver and how much you want to spend.

Hi Adam...

I am actually in the same position as the OP is...I was looking at the TX-SR607 (at NewEgg for $399) bc the 707 is just a little too much for me if I want to get some speakers as well (actually I am going to start of with a new center).

So my general question would be...why wouldnt you recommend the 607 and go right to the 707 (bc of the THX)? I never really see much about the 607 on the forum...there is nothing unappealing about the 607 is there???

My post is all over the place...sorry about that...

 

[Adam]

Hi. I recommended the 707 because of its recent winning of the Audioholics receiver of the year award, and it being within the budget of alessandro. Not being a huge Onkyo fan anymore, I haven't researched their latest models that much. However, if you go to Onkyo's page on receivers and select the 607 and 707 for comparison, then you can get a nice summary of the differences.

There are a few that stand out to me, but it really comes down to your wants/needs and if the extra $100 is worth it to you. For example, the pre-amp outputs on the 707 (and lack thereof on the 607) are a big deal to me, but might be irrelevant to you.

I'd say check out that comparison and let us know if you have any questions about what you see. I'll be happy to try to answer any questions that you have.

 

[Seth=L]

Why is it that when someone states a budget of $500 when they are just looking for a 5.1 receiver that everyone suggests more expensive receivers are exceed the needs of the person looking to buy a receiver?

Depending on how many devices need to be connected I'd probably recommend the Pioneer VSX-519 as it's 5.1 only and has HDMI audio support. If I was in the market for a home theater receiver and was buying new that's the model I would be looking at for certain. Having examined the Sherwood built Pioneer VSX-519 I can personally say I'd feel very comfortable pairing it with Polk's Monitor series speakers. It has a decent size transformer and respectable capacitor bank for a budget AVR. It also has discrete output transistors, bi-polar sets for each channel, which is more than can be said of Yamaha's RX-V365, RX-V465, RX-V665 receivers.


With the amount saved on the AVR the OP can afford nicer speakers, or a bigger subwoofer. The speakers are the components that matter, they dicate how your home theater will sound. If that AVR has the features needed to run the OP's home theater, which it would for most folks that only have a few of sources, I see no reason why we need to spend all the way up to $500 on an excessive piece of equipment that really isn't improving the home theater experience.

 

[Adam]

Why is it that when someone states a budget of $500 when they are just looking for a 5.1 receiver that everyone suggests more expensive receivers are exceed the needs of the person looking to buy a receiver?

You make a good point, Seth, but maybe you should ask the two people here that are inquiring what their other desires are before assuming that these recommendations exceed the needs of the person looking to buy.

 

[Seth=L]

You make a good point, Seth, but maybe you should ask the two people here that are inquiring what their other desires are before assuming that these recommendations exceed the needs of the person looking to buy.

I only made the assumption because the OP originally stated they where looking at the TX-SR507, which isn't hugely different performance wise from the Pioneer. The Onkyo does have more HDMI inputs and does support HDMI 1.3 audio, but 1.2 is more than enough since you can get the same exact audio if the source decodes the formats internally, which most Blu-ray players do.

 

[Adam]

I only made the assumption because the OP originally stated they where looking at the TX-SR507, which isn't hugely different performance wise from the Pioneer. The Onkyo does have more HDMI inputs and does support HDMI 1.3 audio, but 1.2 is more than enough since you can get the same exact audio if the source decodes the formats internally, which most Blu-ray players do.

All good points. Everyone needs to decide which features are important to them, and I see our role to help them think about them. Granted, we haven't discussed features too much in this thread. The 707 offers a number of features above the 507 that I personally find valuable, but it doesn't mean that the OP would. I also think that the VSX-21 is a heck of a receiver for $500.

 

[alessandro]

I want to thank everyone for all the replies and the information.
After much thought I purchased the Denon 1910.
I really like the Audyssey features and the positive reviews about the sound quality of that unit. Found a good deal on them and ordered it yesterday.
Speakers are being delivered on Thurday and the receiver on Friday.
Now it's on to the subwoofer, center and rears.
Thanks again everyone for all the information.

 

[mathruj]

AVR1610 for powering Monitor 70 and other polk audio speakers?

Hi,

I have a very similar question. I have bought PolkAudio CS2, Monitor 70s, Monitor 40s and PSW505 for Sub. My TV is Panasonic Plasma 50". I do not listen at high volumes. I listen to music & watch movies (blu ray). No PS3 or XBox involved.

I do not need to upscale, but upconverting is needed (component and composite to HDMI)

Question is:

Can the 1610 drive these speakers with sufficient head room? Some of the speakers are rated high, for instance: Monitor 70's recommended amplifier specification is 20-275 w/ channel, Monitor 40 is 20-125 w /channel.

If I dont have the need to play at large volumes (say definitely not at reference levels, from reading through the forums, it looks like reference level is high volume), will I be sacrificing sound quality if I compare it to say AVR 1910 or AVR 2310? I am sure the 2310 might have some better sound, being the higher model, what I am asking is, if the sound quality will be substantially better in the 2310, for instance going from 70% to 95% as opposed to 90% to 95%? I have never used more than TV speakers in the past, so I am not an expert here.

Please help.

Edit: Also, please let me know if the Onkyo HT-RC160 is a good choice and will work with respect to powering the speakers up? If yes for both Onkyo and Denon, which would I go with?

 

[alessandro]

Hi,

I have a very similar question. I have bought PolkAudio CS2, Monitor 70s, Monitor 40s and PSW505 for Sub. My TV is Panasonic Plasma 50". I do not listen at high volumes. I listen to music & watch movies (blu ray). No PS3 or XBox involved.

I do not need to upscale, but upconverting is needed (component and composite to HDMI)

Question is:

Can the 1610 drive these speakers with sufficient head room? Some of the speakers are rated high, for instance: Monitor 70's recommended amplifier specification is 20-275 w/ channel, Monitor 40 is 20-125 w /channel.

If I dont have the need to play at large volumes (say definitely not at reference levels, from reading through the forums, it looks like reference level is high volume), will I be sacrificing sound quality if I compare it to say AVR 1910 or AVR 2310? I am sure the 2310 might have some better sound, being the higher model, what I am asking is, if the sound quality will be substantially better in the 2310, for instance going from 70% to 95% as opposed to 90% to 95%? I have never used more than TV speakers in the past, so I am not an expert here.

Please help.

So far I have been extremely happy with the 1910.

I have not heard the 1610, but it has 15 Watts/channel less than the 1910.
The 1910 also allows for bi-amping, which allows you to connect 2 channels to each of your front/main speakers instead of just one. I don't use all 7 channels on the 1910 and have my bi-amped.

I know it's been said that bi-amping isn't worth the extra speaker wire, but I wanted to give it a try.

Even with one channel, the 1910 is able to drive the Monitor 70s very well. The room where I have them is about 6500 sq ft and they can get pretty loud. I haven't listened to many different receivers, but I have to say that, compared to my old Sony receiver, the 1910 with the Monitor 70s sounds very good.

In my case, I was able to go to a local bestbuy and was able to listen to several different receivers with the same speakers to get a feel for their sound, which is something you can do if you have one of these stores near you.
Between the onkyo tx-sr607 and the denon 1910, the 1910 had a warmer sound.
I was able to get the 1910 for $362 shipped, which is a pretty good deal.
Hope this helps.

 

[mathruj]

Thanks!

Thanks alessandro! May I ask where you purchased your 1910?

 

[MDS]

Can the 1610 drive these speakers with sufficient head room? Some of the speakers are rated high, for instance: Monitor 70's recommended amplifier specification is 20-275 w/ channel, Monitor 40 is 20-125 w /channel.

Edit: Also, please let me know if the Onkyo HT-RC160 is a good choice and will work with respect to powering the speakers up? If yes for both Onkyo and Denon, which would I go with?

Those specs indicate the power range the speakers are rated to handle and do not tell you anything about how loud they will play given a certain input power level.

Even low end receivers can drive most 8-ohm, reasonably sensitive (say 87 dB) speakers to very loud levels. Most Polks seem to have sensitivity ratings of at least 90 dB so they will be fine. The Onkyo HT-RC160 is pretty much the same as the TX-SR607 and will have no problem driving the speakers to ear splitting levels.

 

[alessandro]

Thanks alessandro! May I ask where you purchased your 1910?

I got it from 6ave.com. It was an open box, but it came in the original package with the warranty, manual, remote, microphone, etc. I used the coupon code BONUSBUY to get the price down to $362. You may still be able to use the coupon code.

 

[mathruj]

Thanks again

Thanks again, I will try that.