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How good are recievers these days?

Hi Folks. I haven't been on here in years. I sort of fell out of the high end audio about 8-9 years ago. Need some advice

So long story short, i have a set of Magnepan MMGw's i use as my mains which replaced a damaged paif of Jmlab Chorus.. I had a Denon 3805 and planned to pick up an outboard amplifier to drive the speakers. A friend loaned me an amp which had serious issues and killed my Denon 3805, so my amp budget got raided to replace it with a used Denon 3806.

As it stands now, it does not sound horrible, but i now have a small budget for an amplifer. between 500-1000 and i had planned on getting something used.

I ran into an old friend when i was picking up a 4k LED TV this weekend who worked at Best Buy (i can already hear your eyes rolling) at thier magnolia center. He mentioned they did multimillion dollar installations, full high end audio, etc. Today i asked him if he had any recommendations for a good 2 channel amp that can handle a 4 ohm load.

His response suprised me, he recommended a Pioneer Elite SC-81 receiver.

He does this stuff for a living, I have been out of the audio hobby and not been paying attention for the better part of the last 10 years. This receiver sports the D3 digital amp, and it claims to be stable with a 4 ohm load.

How good are these digital amps? I remember Velodyne putting digital amps in thier subwoofers a long time ago, but i know nothing else about them. Can that actually push the Magnepan MMGw? or should i go back to looking at a second hand Parasound or even some Adcoms?

Thank you in advance!
slappy

Showing 4 responses by akg_ca

akg_ca's avatar
akg_ca
2,178 posts
 
Three points to emphasize:

- A receiver for 2 channel audio performance comparatively lacks the quality build and performance capability of a quality build integrated amplifier, particularly in the power supply. Published stats for "Watts RMS" alone are meaningless. IMO a used quality build Euro or NA integrated amp here on AGON are available within your budget.

- You only get what you pay for..... Full stop.

- System synergy matters - big time . Do your homework on which brands in a large arena of competing brands, work best with the rest of your system. Just because Brand X sounds good in one guy's system is nil assurance that it will sound good in yours .
akg_ca's avatar
akg_ca
2,178 posts
 
"http://www.canuckaudiomart.com/"
forum post: "...Another Onkyo bits the dust......?

short answer: bad in many cases - ultra-cheap build quality and short life

Check out he canuckaudiomart posts about the repeated failing ONKYO gear with an average life of less than a year before failure.

edited post takeaway:

"...Bought a new NR818 at Best Buy in April, to replace it.
I know, sucker for punishment.
But, I like them when they work and the menus and setup are awesome and for the money they are great............If they last.

This $1000 piece of crap lasted 6 months before the same issue, no hdmi out.I will take it back to BB and demand a refund, if not, the expected repair cycle is 4-6 months.
If I get the POS back I will sell it....

....If you have one that lasted past the warranty, magic.....I will never buy another Onkyo....

....Want one to last just buy an older one without that $hit HDMI garbage.IMO it is the major cause of receivers failures and don't just think its an onkyo thing, its all of the current crap out now.
....

But this is commonplace with most receiver brands under a certain price level. You just don't get decent build quality or discrete circuitry and power under around the $1700 level. Facts of life with receivers

akg_ca's avatar
akg_ca
2,178 posts
 


A new just-posted new 3rd party comment today on the current CAM forum blog re: ONKYO receiver failure.

This guy is allegedly a tech: his edited extract from that post:

"....IMO, stick with separates, even for the switching. Screw convenience, it'll eventually stab you. Always a price to pay, especially when it's a cluster bomb of all in one, like a VCR/DVD/TV. VCR lasts one year, DVD maybe two...and the integrated TV for another 15.

As a guy who sometimes services those all inclusive monstrosities, I'll tell you, I'll never buy or use one. All compromise, for the sake of convenience. From $400, to over $4000, all the same. I've never seen (heard) one make it past a mid-fi sound, no matter the price...."
akg_ca's avatar
akg_ca
2,178 posts
 
"12-31-14: Has2be
Magnum Dynalab makes units that completely trash
both the myths and the integrated/separate equal
values.........................................

That may be an excellent option. Unless something has changed, Sim Audio makes the amp and preamp sections, and MD makes the tuner...."

Has2be.....Can please identify which MD model(s) you are referring to generally as an integrated amp trasher, and also the MD price point
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