£500 av amp

well i had a look around for the 763 but like everyone elde, they are waiting for yamaha's shipment to arrive some time this month, some said next month.


couldn't wait anymore and the pioneer got snapped up, she'll be here tomorrow :D
 
Whatever you got will be a step up from what you had anyway and once set up will no doubt sound amazing compared to your reference.

Sit back and enjoy:D
 
The Pioneer is not a bad choice for what you need it for. The reason for the suggestion of the 763 is that it has a good DSP for good spacial effects with stereo work.
let us know how you get on with it SpookyWillow. It will be interesting to see how you progress. The Avforums have some good support services there for pioneer owners. In fact if you look at Pioneer around the world their HQ's are very close to Samsung and there is a reason for that.
The good thing is that you have made a decision and not let anyone budge you from your original budget and you have listened carefully even if some things did get a bit out of hand and some of us did get carried away.
The object of the lesson is to listen to what is being said and see if it fits your objectives.
 
thanks for the replies guys :D

i will post up my thoughts on it when it arrives and i have had a play with it, my last amp was a sony str-db 940 qhich was a great amp for cinema but lacked a bit in the music area so i hope to be suprised by the pioneer.

and yes wolvers, i have been watching that thread already in anticipation of my new arrival, i presume that the update should allow us to play hd audio over the gcards hdmi instead of forking out for that soundcard? i will post my findings as soon as possible ;)

sadly i missed the cut off for next day delivery (1:30pm) so it wont be here till thursday now :(
 
it arrived yesterday but i was a bit busy, now i have a little problem.

the speakers i was going to use as the surround backs to make up the 7.1 are kef 60s, they are rated at 4ohms. the amp only does 6-12ohms. should i just leave them off till i get new speakers or will they be ok? the other speakers are rated at 6ohms.
 
I'm pretty sure that it would be OK. Probably someone more knowledgeable than myself will be along shortly to give you a more definitive answer.
 
well i ran them on my old amp and that was switchable to either 4 or 8 ohms so i had to set it to 8ohms as my main speakers are 6ohms according to the manual.

i'm pretty sure they will be fine too but like you i thought i'd see if someone in the know can tell me for sure :D
 
spookywillow said:
it arrived yesterday but i was a bit busy, now i have a little problem.

the speakers i was going to use as the surround backs to make up the 7.1 are kef 60s, they are rated at 4ohms. the amp only does 6-12ohms. should i just leave them off till i get new speakers or will they be ok? the other speakers are rated at 6ohms.
Click to expand...

reading page 72 of your user manual says you can switch between 6ohm minimum and 8ohm minmum....tbh thats shocking. ive no doubt that switched to 6 ohm it will be ok, but if pioneer cant even rate the unit to drive a decent set of speakers i cant see what the point of releasing the unit with HD audio support is:confused:


digging deaper, its only rated for 130w DIN @ 8ohm, 10% distortion. the total comsuption of the unit is 410w as stated in the manual. 410w / 7 = 58w. in real world usage your probably looking at about 30w rms per channel which imo is a complete joke for HD av amplifier.. :( for £400 i wouldnt go near it im afraid.
 
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spookywillow said:
my last amp was a sony str-db 940
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Thats my current amp :eek:. Still a great piece of kit. Been running it regularly for about 9 - 10 years now. It's hooked up to some Tannoy M1's at the front, MR's to the rear, an MC in the centre and a Msub 10 thumper. I still love this setup and am hesitant to move to a new Onkyo or Sony even though I watch 2 - 3 blu-rays a week :eek:

Let us know how you get on with your new amp and how it sounds compared to the still great 940 :D
 
james where did you see that its only rated for 130w with 10% distortion?

in the manual i can only see this relating to 130w

Rated Power Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 W + 130 W (20 Hz to 20 kHz, 0.09 %, 6 Ω)

also i think your right about the 58w per channel, i had a sherwood amp that was rated at 65w per channel and tbh it sounds about as loud as that so far and no where near as loud as my sony which was rated at 100w per channel iirc.

how can they get away with saying its 150w p/c when it clearly isn't?
 
spookywillow said:
james where did you see that its only rated for 130w with 10% distortion?

in the manual i can only see this relating to 130w

Rated Power Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 W + 130 W (20 Hz to 20 kHz, 0.09 %, 6 Ω)

also i think your right about the 58w per channel, i had a sherwood amp that was rated at 65w per channel and tbh it sounds about as loud as that so far and no where near as loud as my sony which was rated at 100w per channel iirc.

how can they get away with saying its 150w p/c when it clearly isn't?
Click to expand...

my mistake, its 180w/channel in stereo @ 10% distortion, the full specs are in the back of the manual:
Amplifier section
Maximum Output Power (1 kHz, THD 10.0 %, 6 Ω)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 180 W/channel
Continuous Power Output (DIN 1 kHz, THD 1 %, 8 Ω)
Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 W + 130 W
Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 W
Surround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 130 W + 130 W
Surround back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . 130 W + 130 W
Continuous Power Output (DIN 1 kHz, THD 1 %, 6 Ω)
Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 W + 150 W
Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 W
Surround . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 W + 150 W
Surround back . . . . . . . . .. . .... . . . . . . . . . . . 150 W + 150 W
Rated Power Output (20 Hz to 20 kHz, 0.09 %, 8 Ω)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 W+100 W
Rated Power Output (20 Hz to 20 kHz, 0.09 %, 6 Ω)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 W+120 W
Click to expand...
the problem is, not only is that only a 2 channel output spec (it would say all channels driven if it wasnt, but that is standard practice) but they also dont state RMS anywhere (again, unfortunately is pretty standard practice with av amps) so in reality they can get away with stating anything.

if you compare it with the 806 you were looking at:

Rated Output Power
All channels:
...........North American:

130 watts minimum continuous power per channel, 8 ohm loads, 2 channels driven from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, with a maximum total harmonic distortion of 0.08% (FTC)
145 watts minimum continuous power per channel, 8 ohm loads, 2 channels driven at 1 kHz, with a maximum total harmonic distortion of 0.7% (FTC)
160 watts minimum continuous power per channel, 6 ohm loads, 2 channels driven at 1 kHz, with a maximum total harmonic distortion of 0.1% (FTC)

...........European:
7 ch × 180 W at 6 ohms, 1 kHz, 1 ch driven (IEC)
Others:
7 ch ×180 W at 6 ohms, 1 kHz, 1 ch driven (IEC)

Maximum Output Power
7 ch × 230 W at 6 ohms, 1 kHz, 1 ch driven (JEITA)
Dynamic Power 300 W (3 Ω, Front)
250 W (4 Ω, Front)
150 W (8 Ω, Front)

THD (Total Harmonic Distortion)
0.08% (Power Rated)

Damping Factor 60 (Front, 1 kHz, 8 Ω)
Click to expand...
its a whole different league, confirmed by its 740w maximum draw. notice also that they state the rated outputs are @ 0.08% distortion and the power in to 2 channel is much higher. ITs far more capable of driving a set of speakers and being THX ultra certified is rated for output down to 3.2ohm
 
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james.miller said:
but they also dont state RMS anywhere
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Isn't that what the continuous power output figure is, rather than the maximum? Onkyo state the power output as continuous too. Denon don't even specify! :eek:

The 410w power consumption sounds low but, even though it's a much more powerful amp, the 806 is rated at 740w which is 104wpc and also much less than the stated 180w power output. My Denon is 445w which is 63wpc and almost half than that stated.

I don't know why Pioneer have stated the THD at maximum output. I've never seen that before. It's always going to be higher. Pioneer's THD does seem to be higher though. Mine was also 1% at 8ohms and the Denon is lower, 0.08% like the Onkyo, although Onkyo don't state details where that is measured.

All of this might be splitting heirs though spookywillow. If it can't drive your speakers then I'm sure you'll hear it.
 
A bit OT, but I've posted over on AVForums, and am wondering if anyone has come from a Denon 3802 to these amps, and if it's a big step up in audio performance?

I'd love to replace my old Denon, which I just pass the decoded 6 analogue channels from a HTPC at present for HD audio (Sounds better back to back to my ears then using the regular DD/DTS version of the soundtrack).

The main area that the Denon impressed me was it's pretty reasonably musical ability, and this was so obvious when upgrading from an STRDB940, and am hoping the new amps are a step up all-round?
 
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