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Old top-of-the-line A/V Receiver vs. new mid-level

Howdy all. First time posting here, thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Basically I have been looking at a lot of the older, top-rated Denon A/V receivers as a replacement for my current Rotel RSX-1065. Understand that it performs great, but I am stepping up from the 600 series B&Ws to the 800 series (804S to start in the front, will upgrade to one of the HTMs for center and probably 805S's in the rear). Since I do not have internal decoding on the Rotel for the newer HD audio codecs anyway, I am going from Blu-ray and HD-DVD into a Zektor switcher then into the sole set of analog inputs on the Rotel.

My question is, since I am going analog anyway right now, would getting into an older A/V receiver, like a Denon AVR-5xxx series be a step up for me to feed some better sound into the 800's? In particular, the Denon AVR-5800/5803s have not one but two sets of 7.1 external analog inputs, so I could immediately also get rid of my switcher, as well as what I would think would be a step up in my amplification.

Would love to get something like a Rotel RMB-1096 with RSP-1098/68/69, but I just can't afford that right now. Also, a great condition AVR-5800 can be had for as little as $500-600 on eBay.

Thanks for any opinions!
hasaanchop

Showing 2 responses by ckoffend

ckoffend
684 posts
 
I think a much bigger improvement to the sound will be to stop using the weak link in the AV receivers, that being the amplifier sections. You would be better off running the pre-outs (at least for the mains) into a decent 2-channel amplifier (for better stereo performance) or a good 3-channel amplifier for the 2 main speakers and the center channel speaker.

Outside of the digital processing (for the various surround modes), which you are not using if you are bringing in an analog signal; most of the AV Receivers have pretty week amplification performance. Since you already have the switchers, this would not only be the most cost effective solution to improving the sound, but may also be the easiest approach.

This being the case, I don't believe you will hear much of a difference between the Rotel and the Denon AVRs.
ckoffend
684 posts
 
If you are concerned about two channel performance, then get a two channel amplifier. Having owned some of the most highly regarded multi-channel amplifiers, none of them (and I mean none of them that I have tried), could compare to a solid, good 2-channel amplifier. The multi-channel amps that I have purchased include: Theta Dreadnaught II (mediocre at best on 2-channel, lasted 2 weeks, sold it where it also lasted two weeks before being re-sold again for the same reason - lack of performance in 2-channel by a person who was running a Halcro multi-channel amp, which he also was not satisfied with for 2-channel), Conrad Johnson (better than the dreadnaught on 2-channel), Krell @ 300 wpc (I believe it was the KAV 1500 if memory serves correct, 300 wpc 8 ohms all channels driven) okay at 2-channel. Plus a couple of other, lesser multi-channel amps.

I have never found a multi-channel amp that can perform well with 2-channel performance - regardless of price. Just a short warning for those seeking a single amplifier to power all channels while have high performance demands for 2-channel operations.

My recommendation: as good of a two channel amp as you can afford and then a 3-channel amp for the center and surround speakers. But my caveat is that I care much less for surround sound than for 2-channel performance!
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