Ask Engadget HD: Best stereo receiver / amplifier?
By Darren Murph 
posted Dec 25th 2008 2:15AM
posted Dec 25th 2008 2:15AM
"I have some nice speakers left over from a recording facility, and I'm looking to find a great receiver / amplifier that does stereo right. I'll be relying on two towers and possibly a subwoofer in the future, and I'm hoping for something known for excellent sound quality and a nice feature set. Any 2.1 aficionados out there care to chime in?"
Surely this fellow isn't the only one looking to make their 2.0 / 2.1 system shine due to a lack of space for a full blown multi-channel setup, so why not provide a bit of assistance if you're in the same boat? Santa will love you forever, you know.
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HK AVR 3390 or 3490 are great. I am not very impressed with the Onkyo stereo receivers. NAD makes some great ones too.
Better off getting the Onkyo 6100 HTIB, it's true HD and looks damn good, I should know, I have it.
can't you read? STEREO, not "home theater". not everyone is looking to watch multichannel movies. Many people prefer a good 2-channel setup. HTIB is crap as a stereo setup.
Speakers from a recording studio? Skip the Onkyos' and go straight for the Rotels', assuming you can stomach the price. Ever since I demoed a Rotel receiver/amp with my 684's, I've sworn by them (and I'm saving up for one of their 7.1 Receviers myself).
Fine for CDs, I guess, but HD AV? I think not. Build two systems, one for audio excellence and one for video. Different needs, different solutions.
It's hard to go wrong with Anthem (www.anthemav.com) or their higher-end Statement line.
As an owner of a Anthem Statement D2 and A5 I completely agree with you. There is greater depth of field and significantly more accurate tonal quality to the sound produced from these higher end products.
Being a classically trained musician and former sound quality judge I am cursed with those "golden ears" Ben and Steve love to insult.
There really is a difference in sound from higher end equipment manufactures but if you have damaged your ears through rock concerts or driving around as kid with the car stereo blaring or spent days on end with your garage band using your guitar amp which goes to eleven, your ears would be too damaged to hear the difference.
Love to insult? Nah -- I'm one of those freaks who talks about "soundstage," "presence," and other audiophile malarky. But in my (and Ben's) experience, most folks can't hear the difference and fewer still will pay the long green for it.
The best?? You will get a lot of advice about what is the best. I can tell you right now for 2.1 sound you don't want anything you can find in a big box retailer. You need to go to a boutique type shop.
The best is usually regarded as separate units, where you have a pre-amp processor AV unit and a separate power amplifier. A good example of this is the Marantz AV8003 with the MM8003. Combined price is about $5k. however this is a 7.1 system and it sounds like you are looking for a 2.1 system.
A good boutique store will let you bring in your speakers to listen to their various amps. At the very least they will let you listen to any unit in their store before you buy it. Keep in mind you are talking about purchasing something more than likely over $2000. It's critical that you listen to what you purchase as what sounds best ultimately is determined by your ear and not that of anyone else.
Some brands to look at
us.marantz.com/
bryston.com/
www.classeaudio.com/
www.rogueaudio.com/ (tube amps, many people feel tubes are the only way to reproduce sound)
www.rotel.com/
nadelectronics.com/index
www.balanced.com/
www.naim-audio.com/
www.anthemav.com/
www.mcintoshlabs.com/
www.outlawaudio.com/ (internet only not sure if you'll be able to demo one of these)
OK so there is a list of what most high end audio people would call the best. I'm sure I've left out a huge number of companies.
Something to remember here, what are you going to be playing music from? an Ipod, a cheap CD player? etc etc. The manufacturers and equipment I've listed there are in general so good that if you use a poor sound source it will become immediately apparent.
And the last question is how much do you want to spend? Some of the manufacturers here easily offer solutions that can cost over $10k. Again the best is what to your ear sounds the best.
Look at the manufacturers websites and look for a dealer near you, you'll be much happier you did. You will find true audio enthusiasts at these dealers and I'm sure you'll find a system that will both make you happy and fit your budget.
One last thing, Major brands like Onkyo, Yamaha, Pioneer, Denon, don't bother with anything less than their reference systems, even then you will probably not get as clear and clean of sound as you would from the other manufacturers I've listed above.
This is a pretty good list for high end, if you are willing to pay for these than I would check out these brands. If you are not, you can still get a good receiver or amp and pre-amp from companies like Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon, Marantz and HK.
Just start hitting the stores and listening to them. The best place to go are speciality stores for this kind of stuff, look at each companies web site to locate local dealers. Then just start listening to see what you like. If you find one you like, ask the store about demoing it at home. These stores are setup to do this, they may charge you something to take it, but before you drop the coin it is good to get it paired with the speakers it will be powering and into the environment that it will be in.
Hey go4broke, you really have alot of great comments. I'm currently in the market for a surround sound system for my living room (15'x20'), want to spend around $600, and I am considering the Onkyo HT-S6100. Do you have any suggestions for systems similar and price and features (mainly, HDMI in/out)? Thanks!
2.1? Should'nt this post goto stereo enadget? Unless he's trying to push some stereo sacd, even then, uh AVS express
Quick what Blu ray, HD dvd films are in just stereo or mono
Dolby Digital Plus Mono?
I wonder how much you could do with the original audio from older films, like what they've done with the vintage music sacd's. Seems like they could do alot more
For those of us that don't have the golden ears use an Onyko receiver or any of the other good receivers. I only use the Pre Amp section which for it's age is pretty decent when set to direct output and driving an ATI AMP, On my B&W speakers it sounds a lot better then using the Receivers internal amp. While this is not the best set up, it is a good bit cheaper then buying a high end pre amp. For those of you that have the time, now is the time to start searching for people selling off their high in gear to make house payments. While this may seem cold some one will but the gear so it may as well be you.
Anthem 225 for sure!!!!
Go with Emotiva!
The RSP-2 will fit your needs quite well. This, mated to a UPA-2 amp will give you amazing sound for $1k
At least check it out and read more about it
http://emotiva.com/rsp2.shtm
I agree. The Emotiva stereo preamp/amp(RSP-2/XPA-2) combo is a great value.
They are on sale right now for $699(regularly $799) each.
Go for the Emotiva XPA-2. Not only is it on sale right now ($699 versus $799) but there is also free shipping right now as well.
See Naim and Marantz already there..two more in the same league are Arcam and Cambridge Audio. Cambridge and Yamaha have finally started offering some new integrated amp solutions and save your apple pod a separate womb. Cambridge, of all, undoubtedly serves best bang per buck.
I bought a Creek 5350SE last year, and love it! I returned several stereo amps (including a NAD and Musical Fidelity) due to poor sound quality before settling in on this one. The only gripe I have about it is that you cannot use the remote to turn it on/off. It's also a bit pricey...
I love my Yamaha 663. Great bang for the buck with street prices as low as $299.
I had several high end Sony ES receivers and they all sounded like crap on 2.1 with a fine set-up using M&K speakers. Finally I got clued into Rotel and it does it all!
Mcintosh pre amp and amp or Bryston amp (20 year warranty). Stop wasting your time.
NAD C720BEE for receiver, or any of their integrated amp if you don't need the tuner. Their Viso Two is pretty cool too if you want the built-in DVD/CD player.
Check out Emotiva (http://www.emotiva.com). They have a 2 channel preamp and amplifier combo for just this purpose, the RSP-2 and RPA-2. Not sure if they are shipping yet but they are identical internally to the discontinued RSP-1 and RPA-1 (sometimes available on audiogon.com). I own an RSP-1 and it's awesome, especially for the price. It's also a gorgeous piece of electronics. I use mine with a D-Sonic 1000S (http://www.d-sonic.net) B&O Icepower-based amp. If you want a good 2 channel dac/cd player, check out the Cambridge 840C also. I have my PS3 and PC hooked up to mine. My 2.1 channel setup sounds much better to me than any movie theatre I've been to in the last year.
Lots of opinions to be had with this "BEST" thread... Alot of people define "BEST" as with very different perspectives. Best for your environment, best for your budget, and best for the audiophile will all come up with different list of products.
I've always been an Onkyo guy - TX-SV525 was my first and my TX-SR606 is my current. Budget wouldn't allow much better than that - and, at $319, was a steal! So, for me under my circumstances, this 606 is my BEST.