Onkyo HT-R540 vs HT-RC160

[hipporo]

I'm planning to upgrade my receiver from Onkyo HT-R540 (HT-S790) to HT-RC160. But I realised that 540 has 110W each speaker power but 160 has 80W each. Now, I'm using Polk Monitor 50 as front, CS1 as center, and the front speakers in HT-S790 as side. Do you think I can get a big improvement if I use 160 with same speaker sets compared with 540? I know 160 has HD sound, but I'm just wondering... I use PS3 as BD player.

[SlmShdy1]

The only benefit I see with the RC160 is that is has HDMI inputs and it gives you two LFE outputs. That would allow you to finally take advantage of lossless codecs and watch movies in 7.1. Are you using optical for your PS3 right now? That'll only give you lossy 5.1 at most with the receiver you have. I'd say the newer receiver would benefit the PS3, but you lose some power.

[hipporo]

Thanks for the reply, SlmShdy1
Yes, I'm using optical for my PS3. So I can get only 5.1 sound right now. If I purchase 160, I will get lossless 7.1 sound but will lose power... Is 30W going to be a big difference that I can notice?

[blue11]

how hard do your drive your speakers?

That would determine if you are going to miss or not miss the 30W per channel. If you are not playing to reference levels, then I would say, you probably won't miss it. Now if you do drive them hard, an external amp might be of more benefit.