Recommend me a Receiver ?

[Justnate]

Hey Guys, I have only just started to get into the home theater craze, so I only have a basic knowledge.

Anyway back to subject I am in need of some help so I thought I'd come to you guys.

Can you recommend me a receiver? I currently have a Pioneer VSX-519 and while it has served me well I feel it is not strong enough to power my speakers.

My Speakers consist of:

Wharfedale Diamond 9.4s Floorstands
Wharfedale Diamond 9.CC Center
Wharfedale Xarus 4000s Surounds
Wharfedale Pc-10+ Subwoofer
Sony Subwoofer forgot the model
And I also have a pair of Wharfedale 9.0 Bookshelves which are not currently in use because of the receiver not being 7.1

Okay so I would like the receiver to be 7.1 and have pre-outs if you guys can recommend me an amp keep in mind I live in Australia and things over here are ridiculously overpriced. My budget $400-800 AUD as I am only 17 but I will stretch it if it's worthwhile.

Thanks in Advance

[LordoftheRings]

About an Onkyo receiver in your price range? The 608, 607, or 707, or 806, or 807? Any one of these are good. Yeah, check that Onkyo 608 (or perhaps the 607 for a better deal). 607 = very nice.

* And you should also get a better sub (like an SVS for example), Sony ain't what we call a sub company.

[lojack1976]

I know things are pretty expensive over there, but I would suspect you could use something with good RMS power since they're not the most efficient speakers. Those speakers are 6ohm as well so you definitely want all the power you can get. What's available in your price range over there?

[BigAl87]

My personal choice would lean towards a Marantz. As good as RMS power is, ratings differ from one company to another and if you feel that your sound is tiny and would prefer something with serious kick, I strogly recommend looking into Marantz receivers.

Power Supplies on those are built like tanks and provide higher current with lower voltage for the same power making them really good candidates to run lower impedance speakers. Even a 8ohms speaker you will notice the difference in sound.

[BigAl87]

Originally Posted by BigAl87

My personal choice would lean towards a Marantz. As good as RMS power is, ratings differ from one company to another and if you feel that your sound is tiny and would prefer something with serious kick, I strogly recommend looking into Marantz receivers.

Power Supplies on those are built like tanks and provide higher current with lower voltage for the same power making them really good candidates to run lower impedance speakers. Even a 8ohms speaker you will notice the difference in sound.

You said ridiculously overpriced did not think that the smallest Marantz avr was selling for 1300$ AUS $ wow
600$ more expensive than Canada.

What about the AVR-260 from HK a bit over 800$ using High Current design with preouts. Something we don't find in North America, we have the 2600 but it ain't the same the 2600 is a bit more powerful but without preouts. Current is the Key here,higher wattage could be an indication of higer current but could also be higher voltage or combination of both.

You have to double wattage anyways to get 3db more.

I just hope that if you pull the trigger on an HK you don't get HDMI issues or other problems, but they are great sounding units warm and can make your speakers really rock

[lojack1976]

Originally Posted by BigAl87

My personal choice would lean towards a Marantz. As good as RMS power is, ratings differ from one company to another and if you feel that your sound is tiny and would prefer something with serious kick, I strogly recommend looking into Marantz receivers.

Power Supplies on those are built like tanks and provide higher current with lower voltage for the same power making them really good candidates to run lower impedance speakers. Even a 8ohms speaker you will notice the difference in sound.

See the 5004/6004 owner's thread over on avsforum. With the spontaneous death of these units you may rethink your position on Marantz right now, and especially since Marantz has treated buyers of these units very poorly by denying for months that there was even a problem and also not honoring warranties.

As for Harman, yeah they have their quirks but from everything I've read they've always bent over backwards to satisfy their customers and that goes a long way. I had a Harman that I recently sold and it was great. I'm not sure which models are suitable for 6ohm speakers, but I would imagine that the 3600 would be ideal, but its pricey. The 2600 may do the job as well.

[BigAl87]

Originally Posted by lojack1976

See the 5004/6004 owner's thread over on avsforum. With the spontaneous death of these units you may rethink your position on Marantz right now, and especially since Marantz has treated buyers of these units very poorly by denying for months that there was even a problem and also not honoring warranties.

As for Harman, yeah they have their quirks but from everything I've read they've always bent over backwards to satisfy their customers and that goes a long way. I had a Harman that I recently sold and it was great. I'm not sure which models are suitable for 6ohm speakers, but I would imagine that the 3600 would be ideal, but its pricey. The 2600 may do the job as well.

Well I own an HK-254 right now and yes they are great with warranty here they have a wide network of authorized repair shop that does the work for them instead of having to send the unit back to them.

I had and HDMI jack that was malfunctioning and was replace in very reasonable delays.

I was happy with the service. As for Marantz it really sucks though because they are great sounding units and wil put out trmendous performance when they work but if they have a hard time with warranty then a would stay away. It's not in the OP's price range anyways.

Thanks for the heads up on the Marantz.

1600 2600 and 3600 can all run 4ohms with the High Current design, the 2600 and 3600 are better with 35amps vs 25 for the 1600 but the OP is aussie and they sell the 260 instead of the 2600 and are slighly different as I stated but also run the same current as 2600 and 3600.