Advice on Upgrading AV Receiver

[Apolloman]

Hello everyone,


I currently have a 5.1 setup as outlined below. A few years ago, I replaced my old Yamaha receiver with a Pioneer VSX-933 after the Yamaha stopped working. While the Pioneer has performed well, I’ve always felt it doesn’t quite match the quality of my previous Yamaha model.


With Black Friday approaching, I’m considering upgrading the receiver and would appreciate any recommendations.


Current Setup:

• Speakers: Monitor Audio Mass 5.1
• Receiver: Pioneer VSX-933
• TV: 65" 4K OLED (connected to Sky, PS5, and Nintendo Switch)

The room is relatively small, so high volume isn’t a priority, but I’d love to achieve clearer sound quality. My budget is around £500, though I could stretch a little further if necessary.


Thank you in advance for your suggestions!

 

[barmyllama]

At £500, you're probably looking at the entry level Denon X2800.

The Sony TA AN 1000 may drop, but I doubt it would hit £500. Even if it does I wouldn't buy one. That my current receiver and I'd swap back to my old Denon X2500 in a heartbeat.

 

[ninjag]

I've got a Denon X1800H which, like the X2800H, has the Audyssey calibration setup. But you can get a Denon X3600H for £445 at the moment in clearance at PT and this one has the more advanced Audyssey MultEQ XT32 and I beleive the internal components are a fair step up as well.

 

[hornetstinger]

The higher end AVR's have better room correction finer correction also app support.

How small is the room? Just a kids box room? Which mass, the tiny cubes or the bigger ones? You'll be limited to sound quality of the speakers, not the amplifier. I'd get new LCR using the mass as side/surrounds/heights

 

[Apolloman]

Thank all

The room is a standard living room, bigger than a box room, I would say 5m by 5m at a guess

The mass on gen 1 so the small ones, however they were so much better with my old Yamaha avr.
I worry that if I spend the money on a new avr it might not make a difference

The other option is to sell what I have and invest into a sound bar, but they seem to have mixed reviews

 

[hornetstinger]

Thank all

The room is a standard living room, bigger than a box room, I would say 5m by 5m at a guess

The mass on gen 1 so the small ones, however they were so much better with my old Yamaha avr.
I worry that if I spend the money on a new avr it might not make a difference

The other option is to sell what I have and invest into a sound bar, but they seem to have mixed reviews

That's not a small room, I'd go for bigger speakers. Don't need to go mad, something like 5.25" standmounts. Keep the mass for other surround speakers, or second room/bedroom system, workshop/garage etc.

Don't downgrade to a soundbar...whole point of seperates is you can move and change things at will. You don't need to throwaway your Mass speakers, you can re-use some parts of in in your main system.

I'd just upgrade to bigger LCR, ie Monitor Audio Bronze

 

[Flor_Fina]

I'd agree with the above. The Mass are well regarded for their size, but they are limited.

I'm not really clued up on UK prices, but I can't imagine you couldn't find a 2.1 package for 500 notes. Your AVR will do 7.2 or 5.2.2 without external amps being required.

 

[harryface]

At £500, you're probably looking at the entry level Denon X2800.

The Sony TA AN 1000 may drop, but I doubt it would hit £500. Even if it does I wouldn't buy one. That my current receiver and I'd swap back to my old Denon X2500 in a heartbeat.

I've had my eye on both those for a while. What don't you like about the Sony? I've heard mixed things.

 

[barmyllama]

I've had my eye on both those for a while. What don't you like about the Sony? I've heard mixed things.

Pass through doesn't work unless you have CEC enabled, my old Denon did. If you enable CEC then the Sony switches itself on when you power on the device you want use, totally negating the point of pass through

When you switch sources or powering on a device my speakers make popping sounds, a common issue apparently.

It regularly drops out to a no sound and a black screen, then back to whatever you're watching. This is probably a HDCP handshake issue, but I'm not entirely sure.

Considering the price and and my old Denon was well over five years old, it doesn't sound any better to my ears.

The only really issue I had with my old Denon was that it did run hot and I used a couple of USB powered fans to help cool it.

 

[harryface]

I've heard a few accounts of the power cycling issue and popping sounds. Really surprising for the What HiFi award winner av receiver.

I think I'll hold out... I keep eyeing up the Denon 3800...