Home Audio Questions

[Wurms]

I have some questions:

1) Harmon Kardon and Onkyo receivers are high current. How much better is that than say a Sony or Pioneer? Is a 350 Watt Harmon Kardon recevier going to be enough for Polk Monitor50 floorstanding speakers for FRONT RIGHT &LEFT, Monitor30 for rears, 150watt sub, and center channel?

If the high current receivers are only like 350 watts and give like 55watts per channel, is that going to be better than like a Sony or Pioneer receiver that can do 100 watts per channel? I am sure the answer is yes, Im just not sure why Make sense?

2) A friend of mine has a problem with his system. He has an Onkyo receiver (dont know the model but its 350watt total) and when he turns it on it just shuts itself off and mentions something about "amps" on the display. Anyone know the problem?

Thanks for any response.

[tomdkat]

I'm not an audio expert but I was under the impression more watts per channel is a good thing.

Peace...

[plissken99]

More watts is good, if the amp is good. If it's a P.O.S, then 200w per channel will sound like crap.

Onkyo, Harmon Kardon, Pioneer and Denon will outperform Sony any day of the week. Any of the above you mentioned would do nicely for your speakers. The reason they are better, well it' all about quality of the components in the reciever, the DACs particularly. Sony recievers sound very hollow compared to most everything else.

HK and Onkyo make nice products, but for my money you can't beat Denon. I just love the sound of them. If you can go somewhere and get an A-B comparison between the amps your considering, you'll be amazed how different they sound. Try to listen to them with speaker simular to your own, if not the same speakers.

Never heard of problems like your friend is having.

[videoworx]

you should really be looking at power bandwidth and frequency response, as well as the SUSTAINED watts (not peak performance, which all the low-end receivers advertise). a 65 watt/channel HK receiver easily outperforms an entry level sony/pioneer/panasonic 100 watt receiver. If an amp rates at 100 watts/channel, but can only deliver that power to the mid-range, you're going to hear very loud tinny sounds (which people will usually compensate with by cranking their subs...)

BTW, although entry-level Sony receivers leave something to be desired (especially in their power supplies), Sony ES receivers/amps are fantastic - I would put them up against any brand in their price range.

[snipsnapsappy]

There is no rule that companies have to follow about their specs. Often, those "Best Buy" recievers are tested to reach 100 watts with only 2 speaker driven. However, I am guessing that most of the time you will be watching 5.1 or 7.1 movies, so the receiver will be considerably less powerful with all of the channels driven.

About your friend, I sometimes have that problem if my speaker wires are touching somewhere. Since my speaker wires sometimes move, they sometimes hit each other, which causes the receiver to shut down. And I have to find where the problem occured.

[Wirehed]

Right now, for the money Denon is hard to beat. I would look there first, but all the advice above is great.

Also look into Yamaha and Marantz. Marantz has a lot of great products in the mid range, especially if you're looking for something in the $500 area.


I would aso say I'm not particularly fond of Harmon Kardon. I think their quality has plumeted in the past few years.

[SilentBob]

Originally Posted by Seamonkey

Right now, for the money Denon is hard to beat. I would look there first, but all the advice above is great.

Also look into Yamaha and Marantz. Marantz has a lot of great products in the mid range, especially if you're looking for something in the $500 area.

I would also like to recommend Marantz receivers as a nice brand to buy. I have a 2 year old Marantz SR 4300 receiver that i got for almost $700 Canadian with taxes. But the new receivers seem to be a bit cheaper now when they hit the market. Just went to check there site and it seems like they have their new models coming out soon, and it looks like they will all be 7.1 receivers.

Marantz SR 4500 can be found on this site for $350. Its a 7.1 receiver with lots of power, inputs with tons of bells and whistles too. Its basically my receiver 2 years later


Now i don't shop online a lot so i don't know if the site is a good place to order from. But here are the specs for the units from Marantz

The most affordable of Marantz’s audio/video receivers, the SR4500 would earn a welcome place near the top of most of our competitors’ offerings. Indeed, the SR4500 is far more than you might expect! With full 7.1 channel capability and seven built-in amplifiers, each of which is capable of producing 80 watts RMS, the SR4500 brings the ability to enjoy both Dolby Digital EX and dts ES soundtracks as they were meant to be heard. In addition, the SR4500’s 32-bit processing decodes a full roster of other surround formats like Dolby Pro Logic IIx and dts Neo:6. Don’t forget SRS Circle Surround II, either. It lets you enjoy your favorite stereo sources in room-filling surround. In fact, new 192kHz/24-bit digital-to-analog converters on all channels means you’ll be hearing all your favorite music and movie tracks as never before. Connectivity? You’d be hard pressed to configure a home theater system that the SR4500 couldn’t comfortably handle, thanks to a battery of audio and video inputs and outputs. Full Composite to S-Video conversion means you can enjoy both your precious videotape collection and today’s DVDs with optimal clarity. In an audiophile frame of mind? The combination of Pure Direct and Video Off modes will help you listen further into the music than you thought possible. Other touches include our unique Simple Setup that lets you enjoy everything the SR4500 has to offer quickly and effortlessly. A sensitive AM/FM tuner section with 50 programmable presets, each with custom naming capability, means you’ll be listening to your favorite broadcasts at the push of a button. And you can do all this without disturbing other family members, thanks to the SR4500’s SRS TruSurround headphone output, too. Remote control? Of course! And a three-year limited warranty for your peace of mind. The SR4500 offers far more, too. But that’s only natural - especially when you remember that this is another Marantz.