New Av receiver advice

Manbatius

Manbatius

Manbatius

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Hi all,

My old Marantz SR4400 (purchased 2003 ish I think) is in need of an upgrade. The old amp is going for duty's in another room.
I my mind, I always just thought I would replace this with one of the Marantz slimline amps, but the one I was looking at is near £700 now!, Wish I had upgraded a couple of years ago!
So looking at something else. Sub £450....

Requirements

Speakers are Cambridge Audio Minx 12, with the accompanying Sub woofer, I do not need Atmos ( i overlooked running cables for this, all my current speaker cables are in the wall or behind skirting!)
, pass through 4k stuff is not really necessary as the Samsung one connect box is in the alcove cabinet with everything.
Source Sony UBP-X800, Xbox series S, Virgin Tivo, its mainly the UHD player and streaming services as source.

Possibilities

Yamaha HTR2071 at £350, the lack of binding posts put me off, my old marantz has a heck of a lot more connections!
Sony STR-DH790 at £450, seems better, but more than I was wanting to pay.
I would consider second hand, ideally I want something a bit smaller heightwise than the Marantz.

TLDR need a recommendation of a cheap receiver to replace an ancient one!
 
Last edited:
At sub £450 I would go used, keep an eye on eBay. The AV market is whack right now. As to what, Lucid will be along shortly to give an in depth response I’m sure :p

I certainly wouldn’t pay £450 for the Sony STR-DH790, it’s a budget receiver with an inflated price.
 
Yaayuh! said:
At sub £450 I would go used,

I certainly wouldn’t pay £450 for the Sony STR-DH790, it’s a budget receiver with an inflated price.
Click to expand...

^ Yup. When the Sony STR-DN1080 was £450 then the DH790 or its equivalent would have been £250 to £300 tops. They never replaced the 1080 and so just moved the poor relation up above its station.

Sound bars and the demise of Onkyo/Pioneer has done serious damage to the AV receiver market. That, and the chaos of COVID, Brexit and the ever changing specs for HDMI pass-thru.

For streaming you don't need anything better than Dolby Digital, and a TV can pass that to an AV receiver either via optical or via basic HDMI ARC. Use he TV apps or plug in any streaming source direct to the TV and then let the TV pass audio to the new receiver.

The Sony UBP-X800 has dual HDMI outs. This means UHD picture can go straight into the TV, and the second HDMI is used for just audio, so any AV receiver doesn't even need to be UHD compatible. It's only handling sound for UHD discs. This dual feed solution has the advantage of working better than routing the sound through the TV first. The reason is that very few TVs handle DTS at all, or if they do it's limited to a stereo signal which is a bit pointless. Even TVs with the newer eARC feature still bugger up standard DVD-quality DTS and we don't even talk about DTS-HD MA because that's just a pipe dream in the world of TV sets. Keep it separate. Let the TV handle picture and the amp handle audio without these stupid DTS and HD audio limitations.

This brings us to console gaming.

Consoles should really adopt the dual HDMI output model too, but they haven't and they're not likely to. This means you're stuck with a single HDMI output, and all that 120Hz VRR goodness is tied up inside it. For sound, you can set the console to modes that are universally compatible with TVs such as Stereo Uncompressed (PCM stereo) or Bitstream. This last one negotiates compatibility between the console and the TV which means you'll get DD and maybe DTS in 5.1 subject to the TV's handling of DTS, and possibly Dolby True HD if both the TV and AV receiver support eARC.

To get the full benefits of Bitstream (Dolby True HD and DTS HD MA with DTS:X) you'll need to pass the signal through the AV receiver first so it can deal with audio before it pushes picture off to the TV. The catches are that you'll have to search hard for an AV receiver within your budget that handles 120Hz picture rate and VRR. Also, one that doesn't introduce lag. But gaming is mostly visual, so you want the best picture results possible, and you'll get that by sending everything to the TV first, then letting the TV pass audio out to the sound system. The compromise is accepting DD5.1 and foregoing HD audio.

Something else to bear i mind is that for the past 2-3 years there's been issues with pass-through of 120Hz signals from consoles. The chips inside AV receivers were compatible in theory, but in reality it was a big problem. Beware of this when looking at used gear. The manual or spec sheet might say the receiver supports 120Hz or VRR but you could find that's not the case. IMO just avoid the issue completely and let the TV pass audio to the AV receiver in DD5.1

For new gear you've already found the only two contenders. A third option is the Marantz 1510, but it's £500 and so over the budget.

Used.... You just have to see what's out there. Have a look at the classified section of AV forums.
 
Awesome cheers Lucid
I had no idea my UHD player had dual HDMI outs to be honest.
I was aware of the Issue with some receivers as some of the Marantz ones were affected.

Current set up
UHD to amp optical connection
TV to amp optical, this does manage DTS for consoles at least

The thing I feel I am missing is the newer audio formats for film, ideally something not as tall as the current one, for heat as much as anything, it certainly runs a lot hotter than it used too.
But then though for the gaming, i've basically been waiting for the 120hz and vvr to be sorted due to wanting everything through the amp. We have a samsung Frame and the one connect box (though I hate it) has helped with this.

However, I am not bothered about the newer audio formats for gaming! So in conclusion, I've previously been waiting for the 120hz issue and also atmos for future proof, I actually need neither of these things and we are a good 5 years away from doing the living room again.

Think I will keep an eye out on second hand market. While saving a bit more for a Marantz NR1510, which interestingly, may work out, it's been out since 2019, the NR1711 is getting a replacement in the Marantz cinema 70s. Wonder if the 1510 will get one, if so may get one on clearance not expecting a mega saving but it would help.
 
Manbatius said:
Awesome cheers Lucid
I had no idea my UHD player had dual HDMI outs to be honest.
I was aware of the Issue with some receivers as some of the Marantz ones were affected.

Current set up
UHD to amp optical connection
TV to amp optical, this does manage DTS for consoles at least

The thing I feel I am missing is the newer audio formats for film, ideally something not as tall as the current one, for heat as much as anything, it certainly runs a lot hotter than it used too.
But then though for the gaming, i've basically been waiting for the 120hz and vvr to be sorted due to wanting everything through the amp. We have a samsung Frame and the one connect box (though I hate it) has helped with this.

However, I am not bothered about the newer audio formats for gaming! So in conclusion, I've previously been waiting for the 120hz issue and also atmos for future proof, I actually need neither of these things and we are a good 5 years away from doing the living room again.

Think I will keep an eye out on second hand market. While saving a bit more for a Marantz NR1510, which interestingly, may work out, it's been out since 2019, the NR1711 is getting a replacement in the Marantz cinema 70s. Wonder if the 1510 will get one, if so may get one on clearance not expecting a mega saving but it would help.
Click to expand...
Sorry to thread jump but what is it you dislike about the frame tv? Close to pulling the trigger on the 55" for the bedroom, only thing that has held me back is that my viewing angle will be about 30 degrees off centre, the wife would be around 10degrees from her position, was wary about the viewing angle with it being flat on the wall.
 
Goodie said:
Sorry to thread jump but what is it you dislike about the frame tv? Close to pulling the trigger on the 55" for the bedroom, only thing that has held me back is that my viewing angle will be about 30 degrees off centre, the wife would be around 10degrees from her position, was wary about the viewing angle with it being flat on the wall.
Click to expand...

Didn't occur to me the one connect box would run mega mega hot. The newer ones are better.

I've had quite a few hdmi issues. Where it just says the device isn't there. Only fix is powering down the TV at the wall and back on. Due to this, I suspect it won't last a fraction of the 14 years that the old samsung did.

We have a frame 50", frame 32", a 43" LG that was £180. Out of all of them I prefer the LG. It's interface is so much quicker. Again with a 2022 55" you may be fine. But ours is a lag fest on both. My old Hisense is a tad quicker as well.

As for your viewing angles. You can tilt it a bit can't remember what degree. It's not massive but does help. I find viewing angle decent. Left to right isn't too bad. It's more vertical there's some loss. The 32" seems better in this regard weirdly.

The wall mount, the one cable or whatever it's called (be mega careful with that thing, they break easy and are £££) are definetely selling points as are the option to change frame. Ours are both white and look good.
 
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