Help me spend my money because I'm too dumb to make a decision

Doug

Doug

Doug

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Hey guys, I'm crowdsourcing the decision on which amp to buy :D

I've got a couple of options:


1) Denon 2308 for £350 2nd hand
2) Denon 2808 for £400 New
3) Sony 820 for £250 New
4) Yamaha V1800 for £550 New


Too many choices hurt my brain ;)

Brain knows what the best value is, wallet knows what the cheapest is, and gut is telling me to go wild :p
 
with what speakers?

need HD Audio/HDMI/scaling?? etc etc ....you may as well draw straws if you don't know what features you need/want.
 
Set yourself a budget. Then use Avforums to give you a list of top amps within that range..

then listen to as many as you can. then buy the one you like best.

the only way to ensure you are getting the best for your cash
 
I went for option 2, though if I wanted a new amp for sound quality alone I'd go for the Arcam. (but I wanted sound decoding via HDMI & the HD sound formats)
 
Moeks said:
How about buying the one that you like the sound of the best? ...and offers the features that you want.
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Getting a demo is tricky around these parts, so I'm quite happy to utilise the Distance Selling Regulations ;)

All the options include the features I'm after.


[DOD]Asprilla;12617022 said:
How about an Arcam AVR350 for £599 which, quite frankly, will blow your other options clean out of the water without even trying.
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Lack of HDMI is a deal-breaker.


marscay said:
with what speakers?

need HD Audio/HDMI/scaling?? etc etc ....you may as well draw straws if you don't know what features you need/want.
Click to expand...

Rega Ela's up front, B&W 602S3's at rear, phantom centre (for now), no sub (for now).

HDMI audio is a must. Don't care about upconversion or upscaling.


Hedge said:
Set yourself a budget. Then use Avforums to give you a list of top amps within that range..

then listen to as many as you can. then buy the one you like best.

the only way to ensure you are getting the best for your cash
Click to expand...

Budgets are meant to be broken (or is that rules?). Extensive use of AVF has produced that list.


Grimley said:
I went for option 2, though if I wanted a new amp for sound quality alone I'd go for the Arcam. (but I wanted sound decoding via HDMI & the HD sound formats)
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That's what I'm leaning towards...


The real point here, was to decide whether to listen to my brain, wallet or gut ;)

I've pretty much decided to let the wallet be damned :D so it's really just a question of listening to the old noggin, or going with my gut.
 
Doug said:
I've pretty much decided to let the wallet be damned :D so it's really just a question of listening to the old noggin, or going with my gut.
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I've always bought before listening, a complete contary to what I've advised over the years, however I've always been happy with the 7 AV amps I've bought since I've had an HC/surround setup which is over 21 years now. having said that, I've always read reviews on them before buying, I suppose in a way that helps too.

Its all down to a fact, Sods law dictates you'll buy one you think is the best for you, a short while later you'll hear one of the other choices & you'll prefer that instead. :rolleyes: ;) :D
 
This what I don't get, people get so desperate for HD audio (many times without even hearing it or how it compares to standard DD/DTS) that they will buy an amp that has worse audio quality than an amp like the AVR350 for example that would blow the other amps out of the water in terms of SQ, even in standard DD/DTS vs HD audio in a lessor amp the Arcam would eat them for breakfast, HD audio alone cannot sound amazing unless you have the quality components accompanying that codec, end of the day it is the core components of the amp that dictates the audio quality that your going to receive,

I don't mean offence but I just think people get a bit carried away with this need for HD audio and the willingness to use lessor equipment to achieve it without realising that it kind of nullifies the point of being able to play a higher quality codec in the first place because your playing it through an amp that sounds inferior anyway, it's like being desperate be able to play SACD's (Super Audio CD's) because they sound superior to regular CD's but when you eventually get your SACD player you listen to them via a crap amp and speakers making it pointless.
 
i demo'd the AVR350 awhile back against a few amps, including the Onkyo 875/905, yamaha RX-V3800 and a denon model which i can't remember ..i think the 3808.

speakers were B&W 684 with HTM-61 center and SVS SW.

i can say that for movies the Onks were superior to the Arcam without a doubt, especially when a BD was thrown on and HD audio was decoded. without rambling on too much the Arcam provided a nice clean sound but it sounded a bit laid back & sterile for movies for me.....there wasn't the in your face approach that the Onks and the Yamaha provided .....the denon was closer to the arcam than the other 2 for movies also from what i remembered.

as far as 2 channel music goes this is where the Arcam supposedly shines and it was very good for an AV amp, it definitely sounded brighter than the Onkyos but whether i call this better quality i don't know (maybe slightly cleaner) - to me it's like the Ipod (Wolf chipset only) versus the Korean players like the Cowon........the Ipod provides a nice neutral sound which can be manipulated further down the line whereas the Cowons are terribly bright which gives the impressions on crap headphones of a better sound quality.

if i were spending 500-700 on an amp i would consider a demo somewhere because you have to hear for yourself and decide whether you can live with paying good money for a last generation amp w/out HD audio.

don't discount the Onks on looks alone, there's a reason they are outselling other amps something like 5 or 6 to 1.


P.S. you can't compare a £1000+ amp which has been discounted to 600 (the AVR350) against models which retailed for that same price, it's always going to be superior to that cheaper model regardless of HD audio or not.....it should be compared against similarly discounted Onkyo 875/805 and the Yamaha RX-V3800 amps which are in the same quality bracket.
 
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lowrider007 said:
I don't mean offence but I just think people get a bit carried away with this need for HD audio.
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Well in my case it wasnt really a need for HD audio. I could get HD audio via the analogue outputs on my HTPC, but due to an annoying bug in my old AV amp (Pioneer AX3) it wouldnt output a .1 signal to my sub when the 7 channel analogue input was engaged. It would be a pain to plug the sub directly into the HTPC & then back into the amp for normal 5.1 sound :rolleyes: Also the amount of wires at the back of my HC rack was driving me mad :mad: So I wanted to cut down on that quantity, HDMI has done that (hopefully) The Denon was a bargain, if the Arcam had been able to do sound over HDMI then I would've bought that instead. The HD sound processing on the Denon is a bonus, I should be able to use them if and when Nvidia/Ati can be bothered to output these sound formats.
 
marscay said:
P.S. you can't compare a £1000+ amp which has been discounted to 600 (the AVR350) against models which retailed for that same price, it's always going to be superior to that cheaper model regardless of HD audio or not
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I think that's the point; if someone has a budget then you should compare what they can get for that budget, not models if similar caliber if most of them are too expensive.
 
marscay said:
P.S. you can't compare a £1000+ amp which has been discounted to 600 (the AVR350) against models which retailed for that same price,
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Of course you can. If you can get it for £600, so it's in your price range, then why not compare and consider it?

marscay said:
it's always going to be superior to that cheaper model regardless of HD audio or not
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That's exactly why we've recommended it to him!!.....

marscay said:
it should be compared against similarly discounted Onkyo 875/805 and the Yamaha RX-V3800 amps which are in the same quality bracket.
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.....and I don't think you'd get any of those for 600 squids?

You're absolutely spot on about demo'ing though. :)
 
wolvers69 said:
Of course you can. If you can get it for £600, so it's in your price range, then why not compare and consider it?
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maybe i didn't explain myself properly, i meant that the AVR350 should be compared against the likes of Onkyo 875/Yamaha RV-X3800 ....and not the Sony DG820 or Denon 1909 etc etc which are definitely inferior.


wolvers69 said:
.....and I don't think you'd get any of those for 600 squids?
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you can get the 805 for £500 delivered which is the 875 minus the Reon scaler which causes more problems than it's worth for some ppl......or the 875 for £600.

i believe you can find the Yamaha 3800 for 700 also so only a little more than the Arcam, meant to be a cracking amp also.

can't go wrong with any of these amps imo, but you do forsake HD on the Arcam of course. :)
 
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