2. home-theater
  3. 1419964267

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 1 response by manoterror

manoterror
216 posts
 
Wow...lots of vitriol on this thread. Let's remember these are mostly opinions, and thus subject to personal taste.

I have the Pioneer Elite SC-57, that I had modified by Stereo Dave's. I run Mirage OMD-28s (bi-amped & tri-wired) fronts and the OMD-C2 (bi-amped & wired) center channel. I am no longer using surrounds. I also have the fantastic Harmon Kardon HK990. My audiophile friend and I did an A/B on the two amps, and the Pioneer won hands down...on these speakers. The amp presented a much cleaner sound in the upper range. In addition, the class-d amps offer a higher dampening factor, so the bass is much tighter.

Both these amps are great, but I would recommend the Pioneer Elite receiver, especially the newer ones with upgraded DACs and amps. When mine dies, I will get another one. Now I had the Tannoy Definition DC8s in my bedroom with the HK, and it was an incredible setup. So a lot of it boils down to system synergy.

Every Magnepan dealer I've ever been to demos them with class-d, and the desktop mini-mags even come with the class-d Wadia 151 if you buy as a set. There seems to be a good synergy with them. I think the Pioneer Elite would be a great fit. BTW, What HiFi regularly awards them as the best receivers to buy, if you are looking for a professional review.

One last option for you is to check out Music Direct. They currently have the Wadia 151 PowerDac discounted to $500, and a pair of Music Direct M1 Mono-block amps for $800. Worth a look.

Hope this helps,
Mot
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