KEF R3's and Denon DRA-800H?

[Weathered]

My suggestion would be to look for a great Integrated Amp within your budget, rather than "Receivers" of any kind. There is just no comparison...Spend upto half, maybe even match the amount you spent on the KEF.

Best suggestion.
You have a resolving set of speakers costing around 2K$. Look for a refined amplifier around the same price ballpark to get the best out of your speakers. Don't settle for anything less.

You could go to the KEF dealer and demo with the best amplifier they have to get an idea what these babies can do.

 

[spaace]

I was looking at the review I had linked earlier when I tried to find the specs for.you..

The R-n803 does seems to be performing really good given its price compared to others which are much more expensive .... Especially when compared to avr's, and seems.to have loads of power.

Are you looking for an avr or an amplifier ?

 

[qwertypa]

I was looking at the review I had linked earlier when I tried to find the specs for.you..

The R-n803 does seems to be performing really good given its price compared to others which are much more expensive .... Especially when compared to avr's, and seems.to have loads of power.

Are you looking for an avr or an amplifier ?

I don't mind either but I want optimal performance and in any case don't want to underpower the R3's. Usage will be 60% movies and 40% music and I don't mind letting go of the features of an AVR if stereo amp is offering better performance

 

[rahuln]

I don't mind either but I want optimal performance and in any case don't want to underpower the R3's. Usage will be 60% movies and 40% music and I don't mind letting go of the features of an AVR if stereo amp is offering better performance

I'm using KEF R3s with Yamaha R-N803 for almost a year now but purely for the music. The Yamaha is more than capable of driving the R3s. The YAPO makes most of the setup even at low volume listening at night and provides placement flexibility with room correction. I also like the one-box set up for playing music from TIDAL, Airplay from my phone, and at times Bluetooth via Echo Dot.

 

[qwertypa]

I'm using KEF R3s with Yamaha R-N803 for almost a year now but purely for the music. The Yamaha is more than capable of driving the R3s. The YAPO makes most of the setup even at low volume listening at night and provides placement flexibility with room correction. I also like the one-box set up for playing music from TIDAL, Airplay from my phone, and at times Bluetooth via Echo Dot.

Oh that's great and so you are using with Pure Direct turned off.. Do you notice any improvement in quality once Pure Direct is on?

 

[rahuln]

Oh that's great and so you are using with Pure Direct turned off.. Do you notice any improvement in quality once Pure Direct is on?

Correct, I use it with Pure Direct off. While the pure direct sound better in an ideal setup, my room is not treated, the speakers are not an optimal distance from the back wall, etc. My setup sounds much with YAPO room correction and volume control turned on. In fact, the difference is so stark that I'll never buy another amp in the future without room correction and automatic loudness control.

 

[raghupb]

@qwertypa
R3 is a wonderful speaker. The 20-30 mins I've listened to them made me realize that they have improved upon the previous model.
The previous model is the one I own (R300)
If your usage for the foreseeable future is 50/50 movies/music, the quest for a 2.1 network receiver is not a bad idea.
Maybe a couple of years down the line you can revisit when you've experienced the R3s.

Cheers,
Raghu