New receiver...

[Dale Cowan 0]

I like reading you guys posts and looking at the great pictures of your home theaters, and I would love some feedback concerning a new receiver.

I have a $2000. or so credit at a local appliance store, and have somehow convinced my wife to allow me to buy a new receiver. I now have a Denon 3311, Forte II's front and rear powered by 2 Acurus A150 amps, and KG4's as rear surround speakers. I also have 2 Epik Empire subs. My room is sealed 10x23 and 1840 cubic feet. I do about 90% home theater and 10% music. Unlike most people, i would like to get away from seperates, and just get a large receiver for simplicity, although thats not set in stone. I've been looking around and I like the Denon 4520, and Home Theater mag had a good article on the Pioneer SC68. The store that I have the credit at is an appliance store not a stereo store, and can order both of those, but could be limited on some of the more exotic stuff. Let me know what you guys think, as I would really appreciate some advice from the Klipsch experts!

[K5SS 883]

I just ordered a new receiver and it gets here tomorrow so I have been doing lots of research. I have heard VERY good things about Acurus amplifiers, I don't any receiver on the market can match them for clean output. Your Denon even has most of the current bells and whistles also. With that said, I sold my Pioneer SC-35 and my Emotiva XPA-5 and replaced them with a Harman Kardon 3700, only time will tell if I made the right move or not. What display are you using?

[derrickdj1 8233]

The Denon 4520 and Pioneer SC 68 are both great avr's that have plenty of power. The deciding point is if one avr has some feature that you need. There are fans of Denon and Pioneer that will chime in on this thread. I like what MCACC does for overall system/room integration. MCACC use filters on the subwoofer compared to Audyssey with sub EQ. This maybe one of the biggest differences between the two avr.

[Dale Cowan 0]

K5 I have a few year old entry level 65" Panasonic 3D plasma. I don't mean to sound wishy washy, but after reading some other posts and comparisons etc. I'm thinking about looking for an Acurus 200x3 amp for the front 3, or maybe a good 5 or 7 channel amp, and sticking with my same receiver that I have. Any thoughts on that?

[willland 3130]

I'm thinking about looking for an Acurus 200x3 amp for the front 3, or maybe a good 5 or 7 channel amp, and sticking with my same receiver that I have. Any thoughts on that?

I think that is a wonderful idea. Your Denon 3311 is a very capable receiver used as a pre/pro or just powering surrounds. Adding an Acurus A200x3 will take your system even further than the pair A150's even though they are great amps on their own. Even the Acurus A200FIVE would be a good choice(I have owned two of them).

If you did happen to decide to go to a one box solutuion, I highly suggest any of the upper tier NAD AVR's which have plenty of punch and detail even without any Acurus amps.

Another AVR that would have plenty of juice on it's own would be an Anthem MRX 700 with a wonderful amp section and Anthem's award winning built in room correction ARC.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/ele/3812875004.html

Bill

[Sancho Panza 4950]

I also have a 3311 and a broken, with Denon for repair 3312...(both have been back to Denon in less than a years service)

have you tried Audyssey DSX, with either Heights or Wides? we like Heights best, but have a large room with tall ceiling...

if it were me, I'd also consider the new Onkyo, 929, iIrc...maybe it won't break...but, they do tend to run HOT, so if you can keep it out of a cab, that would help...

[Sancho Panza 4950]

we are using kg3s as Heights, as they fit easily on the bookshelves, near the ceiling...