Emo Revival Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 So I'm heading to the Philadelphia outlets where they have a Sony outlet and was thinking about upgrading my receiver. Any recommendations on Sony receivers or should I not bother? I currently have a kenwood KR-V8030 thats ~15 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
circuit bored records Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Many people would say stay away from Sony for home audio, although I dont see much difference between the products they make vs everybody else nowadays.. Do you listen to music mostly or will you run surround sound through it? The problem I have with most modern receivers is that they're all made for high definition/surround sound (5.1 or 7.1. -- meaning there's 5 or 7 speakers plus a subwoofer), whereas most music is mixed as two-channel (left + right). Of course you can just run two speakers out of a surround sound receiver, but I've never been able to get music to really sound good, or as good as a nice vintage two-channel receiver. Personally I like stereo receivers that have a/b channels to run four speakers total, I have two floor standings at the front and two bookshelfs in the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdfromthesun Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 So I'm heading to the Philadelphia outlets where they have a Sony outlet and was thinking about upgrading my receiver. Any recommendations on Sony receivers or should I not bother? I currently have a kenwood KR-V8030 thats ~15 years old. What's your price range? That will be able to help us a bit more. I personally am not a big fan of Sony, but you could probably get a pretty good deal on one at an outlet. And I don't know where you are in Philly, but World Wide Stereo has a warehouse outlet where they have a decent amount of amps and receivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emo Revival Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 My price range is like $3-500 basically id like a decent recdiever but don't have tons of money to spend on it. I actually live in Valley Forge but I commute to Philly atleast twice a week so I could go to the WWS outlet. Any recommendations for a good receiver in that price range? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emo Revival Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 Btw the people at the Sony outlets knew nothing about stereos and I know very little my self. I asked if they had any with a phono input so I could skip buying a preamp and they didn't know what a phono input or a preamp were. The guy that everyone referred to as an 'expert' said in 42 years he'd never seen a receiver with a phono input on it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tankerdesk Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 lol oh man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdfromthesun Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Yeah I would probably just skip Sony. Some of their stuff is alright, but for your price range I think you could do a lot better. I'm not sure if you want to go Stereo or A/V receiver, but I personally am going the A/V route. I simply don't have the money for a separate DAC right now, and I needed all the video inputs for my other sources. Also, I'm a bit below your price range, so I am going with the Denon AVR-1612. The WWS Outlet has a couple of them for $200, so I'm buying there. On to you though. For that range, I don't know of anything that will beat a Marantz receiver in terms of music reproduction. The SR4023 is their main stereo receiver in your price range. It does indeed have a phono preamp, that seems to be an ALRIGHT one, but I'll talk more about that later. If you want to go the A/V route, Marantz makes the NR1403 at $400. The NR1403 is brand new though, so last year's model, the NR1402, has taken a slight price cut. The nice thing about both of those two Marantz is that they are slim models, so they'll save you a bit of room. Other than that, you may want to look at Harman Kardon, Denon, or Integra stuff. I'll be heading to the WWS Outlet Wednesday, so I'll try to let you know what they have up there. Oh, and phono preamps. Normally I shy away from using the built-in ones on a receiver (although that is what I am currently doing). Marantz is a pretty good brand, so their preamp might be good enough. Personally, I would probably go with the Marantz NR1403 and spend the extra hundred on a quality preamp. The Cambridge 551P seems to get good reviews, and I plan on getting an older version of one this week. Also, the TCC TC-750 seems to get really good reviews for its price. Best of luck dude. If you have any other questions I'll do my best to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tankerdesk Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Also for $500 you could get a killer vintage amp that has be refurbed. Or....Or. You could get a great vintage amp and a great external phono input *edit Or basically what thirdfromthesun. I'm using a vintage marantz 2235b and a cambridge 640p (external phono). All told I've spent about $260 on the two and for the $ I'm very happy with the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinch Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 For $500 you can get a killer newer amp as well. Stay away from new receivers (stereo or multichannel) because they're horrible. Vintage is an option, but even at this price point there are reliability issues to consider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tankerdesk Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 ^^ That too. Really your budget is a little more than most on this board, you either don't have to spend as much or settle for as little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdfromthesun Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 For $500 you can get a killer newer amp as well. Stay away from new receivers (stereo or multichannel) because they're horrible. Vintage is an option, but even at this price point there are reliability issues to consider. What makes you say every new receiver is horrible? I'll probably be buying one this week because it better fits my needs of having hdmi inputs and keeping all the wires organized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinch Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 What makes you say every new receiver is horrible? I'll probably be buying one this week because it better fits my needs of having hdmi inputs and keeping all the wires organized. Whenever I have time to waste, I like to spend it testing out audio equipment, at stores or fellow audio buffs. It's a neverending quest of looking for improvements, to take the enjoyment of listening to music to a higher level. In all my experience, I have never heard a receiver (not counting vintage stereo receivers), that would sound on par, let alone outperform an integrated amp in the same price range. For all the additional features, they have to cut the costs somewhere, and it's always sound quality that suffers. And the difference isn't minor at all. You need to make sure if having hdmi inputs is really worth sacrificing sound quality. This is a rough approximation, but buying a $200 multichannel receiver for stereo use is basically the same as buying a cheap $50 stereo amp, but you add $150 for extra connectivity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajxd Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 To add to Slinch- do you listen to the radio? Then why pay to have tuner put into your amp, and have the loss of quality parts taken out to make room. Integrateds all the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emo Revival Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 Yeah I have no need for the radio components, although I do like to run my TV/XBOX through it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajxd Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 You can still do that with an integrated. Do you run 5.1 sound? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdfromthesun Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Whenever I have time to waste, I like to spend it testing out audio equipment, at stores or fellow audio buffs. It's a neverending quest of looking for improvements, to take the enjoyment of listening to music to a higher level. In all my experience, I have never heard a receiver (not counting vintage stereo receivers), that would sound on par, let alone outperform an integrated amp in the same price range. For all the additional features, they have to cut the costs somewhere, and it's always sound quality that suffers. And the difference isn't minor at all. You need to make sure if having hdmi inputs is really worth sacrificing sound quality. This is a rough approximation, but buying a $200 multichannel receiver for stereo use is basically the same as buying a cheap $50 stereo amp, but you add $150 for extra connectivity. Gotcha dude. I was legitimately wondering, not trying to be stuck-up about it. You can still do that with an integrated. Do you run 5.1 sound? Is there an integrated amp that has hdmi ports. I have been looking and haven't really been able to find one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emo Revival Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 You can still do that with an integrated. Do you run 5.1 sound? No I don't have 5.1 I just have two paradigm bookshelf speakers. They're all I could fit in my apartment with out it looking over crowded, although I could steal stand alone speakers from my parents if I wanted to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emo Revival Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 http://www.stereoplus.com/en/product/sp/audio/speakers/bookshelf-speakers-paradigm-atom-monitor_162.aspx?id_page_parent=484 These are the speakers I have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajxd Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Then what's stopping you from running your TV/Xbox through it? Is it the lack of a DAC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdfromthesun Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Then what's stopping you from running your TV/Xbox through it? Is it the lack of a DAC? Uhh, yeah I guess so. I haven't been able to really find any dacs in my range, because I'm looking to spend less than $300 on both a dac and an amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajxd Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Or you could just run HDMI video to your TV and two channel sound to the integrated. Your TV may have an audio out option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdfromthesun Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Or you could just run HDMI video to your TV and two channel sound to the integrated. Your TV may have an audio out option. Yeah it does, that's actually how I was running it with my last set up. Would you have any recommendations for an amplifier in my price range then? I'm not entirely against buying used, but I would prefer to buy new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajxd Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 $500 range? Marantz PM5004. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajxd Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Cambridge Azure is also nice. But I have ha personal experience with the Marantz. Nice decently quiet preamp for $450. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daysaves Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Sound wise, how does the Marantz PM5004 compare with the slightly cheaper ($329 on Amazon) Marantz NR1402 receiver? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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