Old Flagship Vs New Mid-Level Receiver

The B&K AVR 507 is one great sounding HT receiver. Not many offerings today can top it's musical prowess. The Onkyo 818 with XT32 can probably get you pretty close but will not be as "warmish" as the B&K but pretty close to neutral, the way I like it. AVR's from NAD, Anthem, Arcam, Cambridge Audio, will also rank up there with the B&K for music.

Bill

Are you set on new? XT32 has been out for a few years so maybe a really nice used receiver would make your budget. There are also stores like Accessories4less that sell refurb units at good discounts and offer good warranties. I purchased my pre/pro from them at a 35% discount off of new retail and full warranty.

Wow what loaded questions. Let me offer some food for thought.

1) room correction absolutely makes a difference. ARC is fantastic. Especially at frequencies below 200 the difference is remarkable. ARC is better than the default Audyssey and you get before and after graphs. The pro version of Audyssey gives you e wry thing ARC does out of the box.

2) as it stands today, getting a non HDMI unit is a tough sell. You lose so much without HDMI--including lossless codecs and room correction and bass management. A few units (like the anthem) will do those on top of an analog signal but ultimately why?

3) if you only have analog sources then getting an older, higher end unit makes sense. But if that's not the case I would personally get a modern unit with HDMI and room correction and newer DACS.

If you are budget strapped then get an Integra or comparable Onkyo or a Marantz or Denon from Accessories. You can save as much as 70% sometimes. I completely second that assessment. Also check your local HiFi dealer if they have any demos. Those are between 20-50 percent off.

I'm unfamiliar with your B&K, but I have compared my xt32 equipped Onkyo prepro to my old Theta prepro and IMHO there are two answers to your question, depending on your set-up.

1). If you use subwoofers, the odds are good that the xt32 (or equivalent like ARC) unit will sound MUCH better. It's always possible that in any given room you may be able to get the smooth FR in the bass and seamless integration of DRC software with careful placement and skillfull set-up, but I've never been able to get close. In my view, the DRC equipped modern unit probably wins in a runaway.

2). If you're not using subs, then it's a different story, and I'd hesitate to make a generalization.

Marty