What Surround Receiver Also Has Amazing Stereo

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by fairaintfair, Aug 12, 2019.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. fairaintfair

    fairaintfair I Buried Paul Thread Starter

    Location:
    Lafayette, CA
    I'm trying to solve a specific problem for a room in my home.

    While I already have a great stereo system, I want a 5.1 reciever but also a great stereo receiver (Both in one box). I've heard manufacturing costs often short change the stereo on many of these home theatre receivers?

    This system will be prioritized as such:
    01: 5.1 Surround Blu Rays ect
    02: Stereo listening (DVD's and Phono)
    03: Movies

    I know any McIntosh offering would probably fit the bill, but is there anything less expensive that steps up to the audiophile plate?

    Thoughts?
     
  2. StimpyWan

    StimpyWan Forum Resident

    When I was working in retail audio, I sold McIntosh processors. They did an incredible job on audio and surround content. But, our NAD AVR's were a close 2nd for surround processing. Plus, NAD has always been better than decent on stereo.

    Also, the other mainstream brand we carried was Yamaha. My personal surround set up uses a TOTL Yamaha Aventage receiver. It uses ESS Sabre DAC's, and again sounds great on 2 channel and multichannel. While an AVR won't push as hard as a standalone amp, my Yamaha is rated into 2 Ohms, and plays fine at realistic levels.
     
    Last edited: Aug 12, 2019
    SBurke, SandAndGlass, 4xoddic and 3 others like this.
  3. classicrocker

    classicrocker Life is good!

    Location:
    Worcester, MA, USA
    What is your price range?
     
  4. fairaintfair

    fairaintfair I Buried Paul Thread Starter

    Location:
    Lafayette, CA

    Huge help! Thanks
     
    royzak2000 likes this.
  5. fairaintfair

    fairaintfair I Buried Paul Thread Starter

    Location:
    Lafayette, CA
    Up to $2,500...
     
  6. Are you set on something brand new or will good used work too?
    I have enjoyed my Yamaha RXZ1 since I purchased it quite a long time ago.
     
    Jimijam, rodentdog and fairaintfair like this.
  7. F1nut

    F1nut Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Mars Hotel
  8. StimpyWan

    StimpyWan Forum Resident

    Accessories4Less

    A great place to buy discounted equipment. An authorized dealer too, and the gear comes with warranties.
     
  9. StimpyWan

    StimpyWan Forum Resident

    The RX-Z1, RX-Z9 and RX-Z11 were statement pieces. The Z11 was the only one of the 3 with HDMI connections. But, the Z9 was a beast! Huge power reserves, and sound quality, regardless of it's AVR beginnings.
     
    ronm, rodentdog and fairaintfair like this.
  10. fairaintfair

    fairaintfair I Buried Paul Thread Starter

    Location:
    Lafayette, CA

    Used is fine, but being the Home Cinema industry releases a new "standard" every 15 mins I would like the receiver to be as recently made as possible?
     
  11. toddrhodes

    toddrhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Bend, IN
    Give a look at Anthem receivers. Excellent ADCs and DACs, and thoughtful power amplifier sections. And problematic rooms are helped greatly by their Anthem Room Correction (ARC) setup.
     
  12. StimpyWan

    StimpyWan Forum Resident

    While I've never heard one, Anthem makes some well reviewed AVR's. Their set up software is said to be first rate too.

    Crutchfield

    (A moment too slow...!) :)
     
  13. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    Te Anthem MRX series receivers are the best mix of sound, flexibility, and price. Does everything well and doesn't suffer from the useless feature bloat of most.
     
    Rickchick, robertash, Art K and 5 others like this.
  14. aarodynamic

    aarodynamic Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    The NAD M17 v2 and the NAD T777 v3 both have excellent surround and stereo.
    My only gripe with both of them is that they can't handle dual sub room correction.
    NAD's first products to handle this are their new 2-channel only M10 & C568 (promised in a future firmware update).
    An M17 would be an instant purchase for me if it supported dual sub room correction.
     
    fairaintfair likes this.
  15. hman

    hman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northport, NY
    I have used Marantz, Yamaha and Anthem AVRs, with external amps for the front 3 channels, and the Anthem sounds glaringly better in both 5.1 and 2.0.

    I knew I would see an improvement in movies, but I didn't know that it would be so jarring. The 5.1 presentation is much more accurate and at the same time, encompassing. The receiver does a great job at managing the balance between the score, special effects and dialog; far superior to the Marantz and the 2 Yamahas I have owned.

    For music, the difference between the 3 is even more noticeable. The Marantz and Yamaha do a great job with music, but the Anthem sounds like a true hi fi component; warm, musical, natural sounding, open and impressive soundstage, lifelike vocals and midrange, and a dynamism that the other 2 fall short on.

    What I recommend in your situation is to buy an Anthem AVR and later you can buy a nice amp for the front 3 channels. Anthem, Parasound and Outlaw make some really nice 3 channel amps to suit your application and needs.
     
  16. Thoughtships

    Thoughtships Forum Resident

    Location:
    Devon, UK
    I had pretty much the same problem as the OP.

    I bought a Denon AVR-X3500H.

    It's brilliant, in my opinion.
     
    SBurke and fairaintfair like this.
  17. fairaintfair

    fairaintfair I Buried Paul Thread Starter

    Location:
    Lafayette, CA

    Yeah..I've been reading rave reviews of the AVR-X4500H. I'm gonna try to find one to Demo...
     
    Thoughtships likes this.
  18. fairaintfair

    fairaintfair I Buried Paul Thread Starter

    Location:
    Lafayette, CA

    Thanks!

    I'm really interested in hearing an Anthem (especially in comparison with a DenonAVR-X4500H) and the 3 channel for the front amps is a very interesting idea. So I would just run pre's out of the Anthem into a new amp for Center, Front and Right?
     
    StimpyWan likes this.
  19. StimpyWan

    StimpyWan Forum Resident

    While the following would not produce stereo subs, or be 100% ideal, why not use a RCA Y-Cable/splitter to hook up the 2 subs? Then you could run the NAD's room correction simultaneously on both subs. It would EQ and balance both subs equally. Then if necessary, you could tweak the sub's back panel controls, if the balance needed fine tuning.
     
    fairaintfair likes this.
  20. hman

    hman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northport, NY

    Right. For years, I used Marantz monoblocks that way. Now, I use an Anthem 3 channel amp the same way. Easy peasy and it sounds great.
     
    WvL and fairaintfair like this.
  21. jfbar167

    jfbar167 Forum Resident

    Location:
    SW Florida
    For what it's worth, Denon (and by extension-Marantz) have the ability to run "dedicated" Stereo speakers separate from the "Home Theater" ones. In my case, it allowed me to run my "vintage" B&W (DM-7's) while maintaining my Atlantic Technology surround/Atmos speakers for movies. Any of the top (Denon/Marantz, Onkyo/Pioneer, or Yamaha) AVR's have a "Pure Direct" mode for stereo listening.
     
    fairaintfair likes this.
  22. I love my Anthem!
     
    Rickchick, robertash and fairaintfair like this.
  23. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    Integra.
     
    WvL and fairaintfair like this.
  24. Wasabi

    Wasabi Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lutz, FL
    In your price range, I'd be looking at an Anthem AVR first. The top three Yamaha Aventage AVRs are nice too and have better specs for 2 channel/preamp use than the lower models. I have a Yamaha RX-A1060BL w/Parasound A23 running the mains in one of my rooms and that combo sounds good. With some shopping I think I paid under $1500 for the combo a couple of years ago. I'm sure you could find a nice combo with one of their more recent offerings for under your budget. Another option is something like an integrated amp w/HT bypass like a Peachtree nova or Music Fidelity M2si? I'm setting something up like that in another room where I'll be using a nova150 and Marantz 1609. I found that combo used for under $1100. The Marantz is fine for my needs there as I'll just be going with a basic 3-5.1.2 setup. Quality 2 channel is my goal with light HT duty when needed.
     
    yodog and fairaintfair like this.
  25. fairaintfair

    fairaintfair I Buried Paul Thread Starter

    Location:
    Lafayette, CA
    Cool. Good to know!

    Question: Per a response below. Does your Anthem have a dedicated Stereo mode (for just the two fronts)? I'd like to avoid the "stereo to all speakers" mode. I want true stereo...
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine