New gen basic receiver vs old gen high end receiver

[spirovious]

Since you guys have a lot of experience.. how do u check old used equipment? Like if i come across a receiver which is cosmetically fine, how would i know about the internal aspects.

Its hard to predict.When l sold my avr sometime back, buyer opened top cover to see HDMI board.(l allowed him).One can see dry solders or repaired signs like burnt marks(resistor blown).Still digital boards cant be taken for granted.
Before that demo of 40-45 min atleast need.
Demo will tell you about all channel working or not.AVR working fine and not shutting down.Also not heating so much.

 

[hifitoaster]

Components used by Made in Japan is high graded ones....Japanese are known to test their products to such an extent that they stand out durable......

Made in China products nowadays sadly konk off soon.....you may stretch by conservative use for 3-5 years....after that parts start failing you....

Ok. It depends totally on what brand and what level is the product. If you look at shanling, cayin, audio gd and Vincent they are top notch yet built in China with high quality components. But, again Chinese people have weird quality control even with their high quality components. But, not all companies do that. That being said, like eferand mentioned the quality control on stuff from Japan are more strong. But when did anyone see a AVR from Japan? Stereo amps yes, still out there, I haven't seen a AVR from Japan which is manufactured after 2000. I can be wrong. But I haven't seen anything.

 

[hifitoaster]

Its hard to predict.When l sold my avr sometime back, buyer opened top cover to see HDMI board.(l allowed him).One can see dry solders or repaired signs like burnt marks(resistor blown).Still digital boards cant be taken for granted.
Before that demo of 40-45 min atleast need.
Demo will tell you about all channel working or not.AVR working fine and not shutting down.Also not heating so much.

I second that. My "dead" Yamaha works when for 1 hour without problem before it starts going nuts. The repair guy told it would work well in a place without moisture as he tried a dryer on it and worked and suggested me to sell to some place like chennai or bangalore without mentioning this. I like a peaceful life, so it stays under the coat until I find time to use the power amps and that huge transformers for some diy purpose.

 

[hifitoaster]

I have seen quite a few guys selling avrs like 30% below mrp.. imported from singapore.. are they reliable? They are all from chennai!

But most of the times our fluctuating power supply is the villain. So, if you have a good vertex stabilizer u will know if it has some other problems in 1st month itself. So if you buy with warratny u have that safe side. Again it totally depends on how much you are willing to spend and how much willing you are to take risk.

 

[matbhuvi]

One of the most overlooked is HDMI issues. The old gen hdmi 1.1, 1.2 are still good enough to transmit full hd audio and decode them, that can't be said the same for video. That does introduce good amount of handshaking issues as well.

 

[spirovious]

, I haven't seen a AVR from Japan which is manufactured after 2000. I can be wrong. But I haven't seen anything.

Marantz SR8012 is made in Japan.

 

[elangoas]

i think this made in japan thing is a little bit hyped! Isnt it?

May be this mattered a decade / two decades back, and the quality of the components used were good.. Now that most of the electronics products are produced around asia, they too are just fine..

Marantz & Denon are made in Vietnam these days, Onkyo, Pioneer, Yamaha AVR are made in Malaysia.. It is surprising to see one AVR brand, model conk off, while the other brand continues to work without any issues, though both being made of out the same country..

The Flagship Denon AVR x 8500, i think is made in Japan, which completely is out of reach for many in India..

 

[Akshit2111]

So as far as my understanding goes
Marantz-- music
Denon -- movies
Yamaha-- movies and music
Now first i want to know why pioneer is not much talked about? I had pioneer and i liked it though it was basic model i had no issues i really liked its performance..some lx series model are even cheaper as compared to other brands like denon and Marantz.
Second i am going to get a power amp for my two channel music listening experience so in that case i guess i shud be looking at denon. Coz music i wont be listening much on the avr. Right?
Thanks

 

[raghupb]

So as far as my understanding goes
Marantz-- music
Denon -- movies
Yamaha-- movies and music
Now first i want to know why pioneer is not much talked about? I had pioneer and i liked it though it was basic model i had no issues i really liked its performance..some lx series model are even cheaper as compared to other brands like denon and Marantz.
Second i am going to get a power amp for my two channel music listening experience so in that case i guess i shud be looking at denon. Coz music i wont be listening much on the avr. Right?
Thanks

You have got the general impressions right with the above listing. Yes Pioneer also makes decent AVRs.

This reply is not related to AVR make/model selection, but my experience with Marantz NR 1605.
Very capable at rated 50W and features supported. Does a decent job of 5.1 (may be even 7.1)
The trouble I had was to integrate it with my living room and other components such as sub, power amps, main speakers.
Maybe I was just lazy or did not have the patience for fine tuning using their calibration setup.

FYI, I have out board power amps (mono blocks) for L/R.
For music listening, I had to play around with all sorts of controls (input levels, channel levels, etc) to make my speakers really sing.
It was kind of baffling to go through this coming from easy to use Marantz PM7001 (used as IA or preamp).

My take away was let AVRs be AVRs; for music stick to Integrated Amps (and/or pre/pwr combos).

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[efernand1]

So as far as my understanding goes
Marantz-- music
Denon -- movies
Yamaha-- movies and music
Now first i want to know why pioneer is not much talked about? I had pioneer and i liked it though it was basic model i had no issues i really liked its performance..some lx series model are even cheaper as compared to other brands like denon and Marantz.
Second i am going to get a power amp for my two channel music listening experience so in that case i guess i shud be looking at denon. Coz music i wont be listening much on the avr. Right?
Thanks

Pioneer is used by few and there is a owners thread also on this site. If Movies is your preference you can get a Pioneer whose attributes you are aware of or perhaps try a Denon or Yamaha to experience something different,

Audition is key along with reading of posted reviews and feedback on this site and other web sources.

 

[spirovious]

Marantz avrs are handling movies also well now a days.Earlier models used to be warmer and better suits to music lovers.

 

[Aniket N R]

So as far as my understanding goes
Marantz-- music
Denon -- movies
Yamaha-- movies and music
Now first i want to know why pioneer is not much talked about? I had pioneer and i liked it though it was basic model i had no issues i really liked its performance..some lx series model are even cheaper as compared to other brands like denon and Marantz.
Second i am going to get a power amp for my two channel music listening experience so in that case i guess i shud be looking at denon. Coz music i wont be listening much on the avr. Right?
Thanks

I was in the same dilemma a year back.. I did all the running around and testing the AV receivers and settled for Yamaha RXV-483 which is a entry level avr. Music and movies both sound superb. Though the 2.1 stereo performance isn't that great compared to a full 5.1, but it is more than sufficient for watching movies or listening to songs at acceptable volumes. We usually watch movies on streaming apps like Netflix, Prime, Youtube.
Unless you really listen to music at high volumes or throw a loud party often basic amp would suffice.

The new amp has got an ARC which a boon. Avr switches on and off along with the tv and increasing volume up or down is done using tv remote. This really helped for every one in the house to use it with ease specially the elderly at home.
As far as WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities go i prefer playing songs over airplay(wich uses the network connection at home) which sounds better than Bluetooth and has a wider area for you to walk around the house without loosing signal (connect avr using LAN for zero lag experience).

If you want power then go for old systems or if u prefer convenience and new features then the newer without any doubt.

LG 4K UHD 55
YAMAHA RX V483
Elac Debute F5
Elac Debute C5
Velodyne Impact 12 MK2
Wharfedale DFS Surrounds

 

[RajithKumar]

My opinion is get a new model AVR . There were very good solid AVR in olden days like Yamaha Z9,Denon 5805 ,but those cannot be used efectively right now ..coz of many technical reasons like HDMI spec supports ,4k prefrence ,latest audio codecs etc.
If you have good budget go for pre -pro combinations so that power amp remains constant and pre can be changed based on the latest features etc.,

 

[Akshit2111]

This whole avr jargon is quitr confusing. From what little i know the whole chain of hifi shud infact be hifi.. your performance will be limited to the weakest link in your chain.. if i have the latest and greatest avr but my speakers are nit so great my performance will be compromised. If i have the best speakers and my avr is basic entry level, same case again!
I am pretty much going to be using amazon prime netflix and other streamimg services for the most part for my movie watching. Infact right now i dont even have a blu ray player (though i plan to get one) not because ill be getting blu rays but i though i'd play some good english movies thru pen drive.
As suggested an avr shud be future proof. I may be getting an atmos enabled avr but to start off it is going to be 5.1. If in case later down the line i plan to go atmos then what other enhancement i may need outside of the speakers. Like how is the source going to change? Are atmos enabled movies available on Netflix amazon etc.. also if i attach a usb to my br player will it support atmos if the movie file is atmos?

 

[efernand1]

This whole avr jargon is quitr confusing. From what little i know the whole chain of hifi shud infact be hifi.. your performance will be limited to the weakest link in your chain.. if i have the latest and greatest avr but my speakers are nit so great my performance will be compromised. If i have the best speakers and my avr is basic entry level, same case again!

Agree...this is what is the issue faced by many across.....

I am pretty much going to be using amazon prime netflix and other streamimg services for the most part for my movie watching. Infact right now i dont even have a blu ray player (though i plan to get one) not because ill be getting blu rays but i though i'd play some good english movies thru pen drive.

Most services DTH or online or settop box seldom provide true 5.1 or DD......Atmos is still settling in.....thats the reason i am still using an old model of Marantz which is 7.1 but have a 5.1 setup which suffices with the available content and downloaded movies...

Most TVs nowadays have USB where one can play various movie formats.......Most of us dont really own Blu Ray discs....have downloaded stuff played from HDD....I have not heard of any ATMOS enabled Blu Ray player and is quite happy with my existing player which plays all formats easily from HDD. If there is a specific Blu Ray player which is supposedly ATMOS enabled and even has DOLBY VISION, I am sure it will be close to a Lakh for the same. The other usual players come with Wifi etc which really does not do much....i

I seen a couple of Audiophile grade blu ray players on OLX if you are looking for a pre owned one......no point investing too much.

As suggested an avr shud be future proof. I may be getting an atmos enabled avr but to start off it is going to be 5.1. If in case later down the line i plan to go atmos then what other enhancement i may need outside of the speakers. Like how is the source going to change? Are atmos enabled movies available on Netflix amazon etc.. also if i attach a usb to my br player will it support atmos if the movie file is atmos?

The AVRs you get today are not fully future proof.....it will last for 3-5 years if used in the prescribed manner. Features keep changing almost every year to beat branding and model competition....its market business out here......everyone wants to make money....

Not sure about True Atmos content being available.....I am sure it will light up on those using ATMOS AVRs when ATMOS content plays...just the way DTS or DD lights up on the AVR screen when actual DD or DTS content is fed....

 

[elangoas]

your performance will be limited to the weakest link in your chain..

Depends on how ones looks at its benefits.. AVR is not the weakest chain in the link.. Infact having one is better.. Sub integration is easier and digital EQ will be a boon especially for the most troublesome low frequencies in the room, which otherwise will take lot of room treatment..

if i have the latest and greatest avr but my speakers are nit so great my performance will be compromised.

It is good to have capable AVR (Digital EQ), will be a better option, unless & until you speakers are full range HTIB speakers..

If i have the best speakers and my avr is basic entry level, same case again!

A better AVR + not so expensive speakers is good than this one..

I am pretty much going to be using amazon prime netflix and other streamimg services for the most part for my movie watching. Infact right now i dont even have a blu ray player (though i plan to get one) not because ill be getting blu rays but i though i'd play some good english movies thru pen drive.

If you will collect more BR Rips and play it from a pendrive or hard disk, then an Android TV box conencted to the AVR can do ti for now.. No point in BR player..

Like how is the source going to change? Are atmos enabled movies available on Netflix amazon etc.. also if i attach a usb to my br player will it support atmos if the movie file is atmos?

Streaming services for now offer, 5.1 audio.. Future is going to be Atmos.. But that will take time..

There are plenty of Atmos movies in BR Rips..

 

[Aniket N R]

This whole avr jargon is quitr confusing. From what little i know the whole chain of hifi shud infact be hifi.. your performance will be limited to the weakest link in your chain.. if i have the latest and greatest avr but my speakers are nit so great my performance will be compromised. If i have the best speakers and my avr is basic entry level, same case again!
I am pretty much going to be using amazon prime netflix and other streamimg services for the most part for my movie watching. Infact right now i dont even have a blu ray player (though i plan to get one) not because ill be getting blu rays but i though i'd play some good english movies thru pen drive.
As suggested an avr shud be future proof. I may be getting an atmos enabled avr but to start off it is going to be 5.1. If in case later down the line i plan to go atmos then what other enhancement i may need outside of the speakers. Like how is the source going to change? Are atmos enabled movies available on Netflix amazon etc.. also if i attach a usb to my br player will it support atmos if the movie file is atmos?

Go for any if the Yamaha/ denons they have plenty of power to drive your speakers even the entry level once. You can upgrade later if you yet have the itch for it

None of the streaming services offer anything beyond 5.1 in DD even for the 4k content. There is just no content beyond DD not even DD+ or true HD no DTS.

Streaming 4k hdr content requires upwards of 30mbps line which is yet rare in India.
Except Netflix noone offers 4k. I have written to hotstar and amazon prime asking when do they intend to start their 4k services and usually i get the answer "we dont know/not so soon".

Hifi customers are niche and in India to have a broadband upwards of 30mbps well it will be some time.

I know so many of my friends who have a 7.2 or even 8.2 but are using it as 5.1 as content is just not available yet even on bluerays.

Speaking of a bluray player would suggest to just skip it for now. I skipped it for the following reasons
1. Content is scares
2. 4k uhd Blu-rays are actually upscaled from 2k take any of the movies all are captured in 2k and not 4k. Eg. Instasteller, Ant man, infinity wars.
3. There isnt much differece in picture quality for the 98% available content.
4. Bluerays are just daam expensive 2.5k for a movie is way too much money.
5. A good 1080p 45-50fps hdr movie will look the same or even better at times on tv as to a 4k as your tv will anyways upscale and display it in 4k.
I have a bluray rip 1080p of Minnions which looks daam good than some of the 4k content.

Ps.
I know i am going off topic but if anyone can share fron where can we get blueray rips would be great as torrents are almost gone now.

 

[Akshit2111]

Go for any if the Yamaha/ denons they have plenty of power to drive your speakers even the entry level once. You can upgrade later if you yet have the itch for it

None of the streaming services offer anything beyond 5.1 in DD even for the 4k content. There is just no content beyond DD not even DD+ or true HD no DTS.

Streaming 4k hdr content requires upwards of 30mbps line which is yet rare in India.
Except Netflix noone offers 4k. I have written to hotstar and amazon prime asking when do they intend to start their 4k services and usually i get the answer "we dont know/not so soon".

Hifi customers are niche and in India to have a broadband upwards of 30mbps well it will be some time.

I know so many of my friends who have a 7.2 or even 8.2 but are using it as 5.1 as content is just not available yet even on bluerays.

Speaking of a bluray player would suggest to just skip it for now. I skipped it for the following reasons
1. Content is scares
2. 4k uhd Blu-rays are actually upscaled from 2k take any of the movies all are captured in 2k and not 4k. Eg. Instasteller, Ant man, infinity wars.
3. There isnt much differece in picture quality for the 98% available content.
4. Bluerays are just daam expensive 2.5k for a movie is way too much money.
5. A good 1080p 45-50fps hdr movie will look the same or even better at times on tv as to a 4k as your tv will anyways upscale and display it in 4k.
I have a bluray rip 1080p of Minnions which looks daam good than some of the 4k content.

Ps.
I know i am going off topic but if anyone can share fron where can we get blueray rips would be great as torrents are almost gone now.

Whats ur source? Br player or android box?

 

[Aniket N R]

Whats ur source? Br player or android box?

Using 4K LG TV as source

 

[efernand1]

Go for any if the Yamaha/ denons they have plenty of power to drive your speakers even the entry level once. You can upgrade later if you yet have the itch for it

None of the streaming services offer anything beyond 5.1 in DD even for the 4k content. There is just no content beyond DD not even DD+ or true HD no DTS.

Streaming 4k hdr content requires upwards of 30mbps line which is yet rare in India.
Except Netflix noone offers 4k. I have written to hotstar and amazon prime asking when do they intend to start their 4k services and usually i get the answer "we dont know/not so soon".

Hifi customers are niche and in India to have a broadband upwards of 30mbps well it will be some time.

I know so many of my friends who have a 7.2 or even 8.2 but are using it as 5.1 as content is just not available yet even on bluerays.

Speaking of a bluray player would suggest to just skip it for now. I skipped it for the following reasons
1. Content is scares
2. 4k uhd Blu-rays are actually upscaled from 2k take any of the movies all are captured in 2k and not 4k. Eg. Instasteller, Ant man, infinity wars.
3. There isnt much differece in picture quality for the 98% available content.
4. Bluerays are just daam expensive 2.5k for a movie is way too much money.
5. A good 1080p 45-50fps hdr movie will look the same or even better at times on tv as to a 4k as your tv will anyways upscale and display it in 4k.
I have a bluray rip 1080p of Minnions which looks daam good than some of the 4k content.

Ps.
I know i am going off topic but if anyone can share fron where can we get blueray rips would be great as torrents are almost gone now.

Search Harder...you will be surprised what you find on the internet and Google!