Which AV Receiver?

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

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Looking for a decent AV Receiver to pair with a Sony KDL40W5500 with a view to one day moving to 7.1.

Seems to be a choice of the Onkyo 607 or Sony STR-DH800 or STR-DN1000.

Which would you chose and why? Is the DN1000 worth the extra?

Chap in the local shop raved about the Onkyo 607 for £350. Seems good but reviews suggest the Sony is a better buy?

Thanks :)
 
I read a lot of reviews when i was deciding on my purchase 6 months ago, i ended with the onkyo 507, i noticed that when i read about the sonys it allways seem to come down to the preferance of the listner, for want of a better discription i remmember them saying that the sonys were more of a digitized tampered with sound, good but you notice its been through a few filters?

any way, i know mine is a mmodel lower but i love the sound of my onkyo, very nice natural sounding, i dont know much but im over the moon with it.

dont know if that helps you atall but i thought id share.
 
The only sony's that ever sounded good where the UK designed, Japanese build range like the stereo TAF 440 amp. Really good sounding amps for the money. But the "normal" non audiophile sony amps really are nothing special. I dont personally rate Onkyo... but compared to Sony its not even a choice, take the Onkyo.

In case your wondering why I dont rate the Onkyo, its simply because my HT setup a little more expensive than the average reciever :P. Onkyo's are fine for the money, though they are better for movies than music.
 
You just missed the clearance on the Onkyo SR607 @ £300, but looking around I see you can get it for £329, so not the end of the world.
 
I had the same decision as you last week. I chose the 607.

In the end you are comparing a £500 receiver with a £300 one.

I am loving the onkyo and it sounds superb paired with some q acoustics 1010i's that I got at the same time. I upgraded from a 5.1 onkyo htx-22hd setup and am pleased with the results. (mainly because the speakers need to fill a 50 sqm downstairs room and the htx-22hds were struggling to pump out enough volume)

One thing to note is that the onkyo 607 gets very hot; good ventilation is important. Mine sits in a poorly ventilated drawer and I have to open the drawer about 2 inches during use or the receiver gets REALLY hot after about an hour
 
I'm not up on these AVRs as I've gone the Proc/power amp route, but speakers/sub wise what is your budget Fox?


It'l be easier to keep it as a Home Cinema thread rather than having a lot of little threads, as how the system works together is also an important consideration.
 
Gzero said:
You just missed the clearance on the Onkyo SR607 @ £300, but looking around I see you can get it for £329, so not the end of the world.
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I've seen it locally for £349 which I thought was good - £329 gets a silver one.

It'l be easier to keep it as a Home Cinema thread rather than having a lot of little threads, as how the system works together is also an important consideration.
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Confusingly both threads are totally seperate. It was just you mentioning AV receivers in my other thread which prompted me to ask. This AV Receiver is for the TV in another room. The speaker thread is for my PC.
 
May I suggest something from the Denon range (1910 perhaps), they are very good receivers and imho look miles better than Onkyo (I won't even rate Sony).

Edit: I originally got an Onkyo 606 but replaced it for a Denon 1909 (new £230 bargain!) as the Onkyo was just too ghastly to look at imo. Good thing as I think the Denon's sound is much better. The only thing it does not have is the ability to overlay the volume on the TV via HDMI, but I dont think any entry level AVR does this anyway.
 
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I wouldn't go for a Sony if I we're you. Though the brilliant and intelligent people at 'What Hi-Fi' rave about them, I've read lots of people having problems and I had a demo of one before buying my Onkyo 607 and it didn't sound up to much.

If you're looking to upscale video I would go for the Denon 1910 if you can stretch to £400. However, if like me, you don't need to, I'd save the pounds and go for the Onkyo.
 
friddela said:
I wouldn't go for a Sony if I we're you. Though the brilliant and intelligent people at 'What Hi-Fi' rave about them, I've read lots of people having problems and I had a demo of one before buying my Onkyo 607 and it didn't sound up to much.

If you're looking to upscale video I would go for the Denon 1910 if you can stretch to £400. However, if like me, you don't need to, I'd save the pounds and go for the Onkyo.
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if you are going to go by what you read on the internet though, far more people have problems with the 7 series onkyo's than any sonys. now wether thats because more people buy onkyo's or not i dont know, but when you see the same problems over and over it doesnt distill confidence. it's enough for me to recommend a sony over an onkyo, and i still own my 805.
 
The Sony DN1000 caught my interest earlier in the week after I saw an similar offer. Couldn't find any concrete reviews around for it unfortunately. The recent HDMI Sony's have tended to be a bit lightweight - the older analogue amped QS kit sounds much better. I certainly won't be swapping mine for a more recent HDMI equipped model.

STR-DA2400 (ES range) was available for around the same money and is a well regarded amp. The DN1000 probably has more bells and whistles but won't sound as good.

The recent Onkyo kit is very good. They're a bit fugly but the sound quality is excellent.

So as for DN1000 vs Onkyo. I'd go Onkyo.
 
Is this something to fill your room with a view to interim audio solution, or would you see yourself moving to own flat / premises soon? If so, I would buy the best AV receiver you can afford. If you want movie playback then this is fine, if you want decent sound reproduction from your mp3s, look elsewhere. Unless you're not too fussed about audio generally.
 
I personally don't rate the Onkyos for sound quality and the 906 I had for a home demo blew up after running for two minutes. As always when buying equipment you should really demo them with your speakers it is the only way to pick an amp as different people like different sounds. I like a smooth sound other people like it brighter etc certain amps sound different in this regard.
 
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Dangerous Dave said:
I personally don't rate the Onkyos for sound quality and the 906 I had for a home demo blew up after running for two minutes. As always when buying equipment you should really demo them with your speakers it is the only way to pick an amp as different people like different sounds. I like a smooth sound other people like it brighter etc certain amps sound different in this regard.
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It blew up :eek:, I love my Onkyo 906 an excellent peace of kit imo:cool:.
 
Kanifee said:
nasty pice of coincidence there, very unlucky id say!
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Possibly however it only had the rear speakers plugged in as I use power amps for the fronts and I did get it replaced and demo'd along with other kit for a week. All my speaker cables are terminated well so nothing to do with the install I dropped in a Arcam AVR600 straight after and it worked fine.
 
Dangerous Dave said:
Possibly however it only had the rear speakers plugged in as I use power amps for the fronts and I did get it replaced and demo'd along with other kit for a week. All my speaker cables are terminated well so nothing to do with the install I dropped in a Arcam AVR600 straight after and it worked fine.
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I read the Arcam AVR600 was having software problems, do you Know if its sorted now?
 
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