AV Receiver Options

[Stretch]

I also seriously suggest you go and listen to the amps you have shortlisted also try and listen through the speakers you have or are wanting to buy. There are big sound differences and you may like a certain sound more than another, if that makes sense

Do you know of any places I could go to do this?

 

[lunarwolf]

I meant reviews by AV forums. I dont trust these magazine reviews as many are sponsored by the company who provides products to review.

Yamaha offers 'warm' sounds rather than bright like the Pioneer. Shame though as I really like the look of it and would match my 5090 well

I agree with you that WhatHFi are often ludicrous. But Pioneer bright?? have you actually listened to a Pioneer amp recently? Not taking a personal dig at you, but many "others" repeat this (esp read this on AVforums, they're are many parrots there (I - not saying all -, but just look at the threads on speaker cable , where you hear idiots drive crappy budget speakers with QED blah blah blah snake oil on their computer desk!) - although it's never from people that actually own or demoed them. Also there is Macc setup which should adjust to your room settings, my 2 year old pio certainly doesn't sound bright with or without the MACC and I am driving some fairly neutral CM9 speakers

Do you know of any places I could go to do this?

am sure any sevenoaks should be able to manage this, should be able to find one not too far from you.

I 100% agree with Scuzzy that you should go demo amp/speaker combination and just use the internet for some pointers, but let your ears decide - also when you go audition, bring some varied style music you know well so you have good basis for comparison. Some systems will do better with Jazz, others Rock, others pop etc.... dunno which type(s) you like just bring at least one from each type. if you're able i would suggest a home demo so you can test with your speakers, either that or bring a couple of speakers to test with at the dealers.

Don't know those BA speakers you have, but i doubt any of the amps you mentionned (all good makes tbh) would have any trouble with them. in fact you could probably assume that the Pio 920 is overkill for these speakers, but who cares at that price just be ready to maybe change your mind about only getting an amp imo, those satellite systems will never subsitute decent size speakers. They may fit nicely in the living room, but they will sound "small" and i suspect that you would hear a much bigger difference/improvement with budget bookshelve speakers (like Tannoy F1, Wharfedale Diamond, Mordaunt Short, Monitor Audio BR1 (BX1 also, but Br1 can be had for really cheap since end of series), etc...), than any differences between the amps .

Although in the end if you are restricted to size than so be it. Also if you plan on using for home cinema mostly, i am sure they will be fine (but not for music); that said, the center channel looks quite small so worth testing a movie to see if the voices/dialogue come out clearly - it may or may not be an issue, but that center does look small and would concern me at first look

just my 2 cents and happy shopping

 

[Simon]

I must admit I based my review on a review from a guy who listened to all 3 he was considering. The Yamaha comments of his were very similar to my opinion of my 763.

I dont think the 667 is massively different internally either (other than no BTB and WTW filtering via the HDMI chip)