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Recommendation on AV Receiver


Jeet

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Hi All,

 

This is my first time buying a receiver and I'm not sure which one I need for this setup:

4x CDT-3800-C II (In-ceiling speakers)

1x R-12SW (Subwoofer)

Using Sony A9G tv speaker as the center speaker

 

I will also be installing 2 outdoor speakers which I wanna be able to connect to the same receiver if possible.

 

Give me your best recommendations without considering the price. I just want the best possible sound for listening to music and watching movies. 

 

Thanks for the help!

 

 

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I am definitely no expert on anything, but just my 2 cents is that you need to think about what you want your final set up to be.

 

If you are talking about the best possible sound, then just running in-ceiling speakers, with the t.v. as the center speaker is not going to get you there, no matter what receiver you use.  Again, I'm just a beginner myself, but this is my opinion. To me it sounds somewhat like a budget set up, so I personally would go with a budget AVR such as this Yamaha AVR $399 .  Anything with a Zone 2 will work since you are just running a very basic set of 4 speakers.

 

One of the best AVRs out there is the Marantz SR 8012 $2,499 , but I really don't think the sound is going to be better with this than any other AVR with your set up.  If you have the funds, you might think about getting a real 5.1 set up. I have a feeling that you are going to be underwhelmed with just the 4 in-ceiling speakers.  You could turn those into Atmos speakers if later you decide to add a full system.

 

Here's some common mistakes in setting up a home theater from the Audioholics webpage (https://www.audioholics.com/home-theater-connection/common-mistakes)

"All ceiling speaker surround system"

Using round speakers that fire straight down for LCRs is wrong, and if you have ever gone to a parade of homes, that’s all you see in million dollar-plus houses. Sound appears to be the disembodied Voice of God, and sounds don’t correspond with the action on the screen."

 

Here is a link to a good overview of what you might look for in an A/V Receiver "How to Choose the Right A/V Receiver/AVR Shopping by Techno Dad"

 

 

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Get whatever Japanese receiver in your budget with a full set of pre-outs.  A full set of pre-outs puts you in the mid-high range of all manufacturers and gives you options for an external amp down the road.  And because the Japanese companies make these things by the container ship load, they have the economies of scale to keep up with the hdmi/dolby/dts specs that change by the hour.  I've had good luck with Yamaha over the years.  Check out accessories4less.  

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13 hours ago, Duncan said:

I am definitely no expert on anything, but just my 2 cents is that you need to think about what you want your final set up to be.

 

If you are talking about the best possible sound, then just running in-ceiling speakers, with the t.v. as the center speaker is not going to get you there, no matter what receiver you use.  Again, I'm just a beginner myself, but this is my opinion. To me it sounds somewhat like a budget set up, so I personally would go with a budget AVR such as this Yamaha AVR $399 .  Anything with a Zone 2 will work since you are just running a very basic set of 4 speakers.

 

One of the best AVRs out there is the Marantz SR 8012 $2,499 , but I really don't think the sound is going to be better with this than any other AVR with your set up.  If you have the funds, you might think about getting a real 5.1 set up. I have a feeling that you are going to be underwhelmed with just the 4 in-ceiling speakers.  You could turn those into Atmos speakers if later you decide to add a full system.

 

Here's some common mistakes in setting up a home theater from the Audioholics webpage (https://www.audioholics.com/home-theater-connection/common-mistakes)

"All ceiling speaker surround system"

Using round speakers that fire straight down for LCRs is wrong, and if you have ever gone to a parade of homes, that’s all you see in million dollar-plus houses. Sound appears to be the disembodied Voice of God, and sounds don’t correspond with the action on the screen."

 

Here is a link to a good overview of what you might look for in an A/V Receiver "How to Choose the Right A/V Receiver/AVR Shopping by Techno Dad"

 

 

Great advice. You might consider upping the speaker budget instead of the AVR budget.

12 hours ago, pbphoto said:

Get whatever Japanese receiver in your budget with a full set of pre-outs.  A full set of pre-outs puts you in the mid-high range of all manufacturers and gives you options for an external amp down the road.  And because the Japanese companies make these things by the container ship load, they have the economies of scale to keep up with the hdmi/dolby/dts specs that change by the hour.  I've had good luck with Yamaha over the years.  Check out accessories4less.  

Great advice here also, especially the pre-outs comment. Some of the cheaper AVRs lack these, and also lack any power (120 volt) connections, and trigger connections.

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Jeet: Welcome to the forum!!

 

I personally, have a Pioneer Elite flagship receiver in my 7.1, Klipsch RF-7 Reference Series setup. It's performance is nothing short of stellar.

 

On the other hand, my son, just installed a receiver from Denon in his under construction, 7.2.4 theater, that I consider the best deal of 2020:

 

The Denon AVC-X6500H, which can be had for close to $1,500! It's 8 HDMI 2.2 inputs with eARC and 4K HDR support, compatibility with Dolby ATMOS (7.1.4) and DTS:X and the ability to play hi-res music files and share them around the house via HEOS and ALEXA,(140 W/Ch @ 8 ohms RMS) Amplifier/Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on board and handles a second zone system, too! It also has on-board room calibration. This receiver does it all for an amazing price and sounds great! Best of luck and happy shopping! - Glenn

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I'm also a newbie here but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the center speaker carries a bulk of the burden in a surround setup.  Considering the price of those in ceiling speakers you could easily take another route and for the same price get a pretty sweet surround setup. I just grabbed an rp-500c(center) and 2 rp500m's(left and right) for like 700 ish.  Considering that's just 2 of those in ceiling speakers price wise I would say you could do a full reference premier setup and be sitting pretty for the same price.  I'm using a denon x2600h which is on the less expensive side compared to what I know alot of the other guys here use but it satisfies the power needs for the reference premier line from klipsch and has 2 atmos and 2 sub channels.  I'm very satisfied with it. I wanna say it was around $600.  Good luck.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I went with a Yamaha RX-A2080 about a week ago. It’s quite a beast. I researched and read quite a bit before buying it. It has some features I likely won’t use, but so far it meeting or exceeding all my expectations.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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