Need help on upgrade..

[jinjin]

I currently have RF5,RC7,SS1,RSW-15 speakers/sub and Kenwood VR-4080B receiver. I plan to upgrade my receiver to HK AVR-525 or Denon 3803 or 4802. Will any of these receivers give me any significant improvement (if any) in sound? Is it worth the money?

[pennektj]

That is an extremely difficult question. I think that sound from a reciever is just as personal and objective as the liking certain speakers. You need to compare the sound with your choices and listen to each one of them to determine what sound you like best. Also realized that different reciever vary widely in functionality, expandability and price... Wish I could give direct advise, but listening and personal comparison is the best way to pick the perfect equipment.

[dblue]

jinjin,

I can say that many will vouch for each of those brands. I can, however, from personal experience say that I greatly prefer the sound of the HK Receivers to the Denons (at least to my Denon 2802). I recently sold my 2802 to acquire an AVR 525. What a difference! The Denon sounded great for movies, but lacked a certain something for stereo music. The lows didn't have a lot of 'slam', and the overall sound seemed sort of 'dry'.

I can say that the AVR has LOTS of solid low end and slams away. Also, it just seems to sound more full in stereo mode. Also, the triple crossover system it provides allows you to custom tune your system according to each group of speaker's capabilites. To top it all off, it has HDCD, which I have found completely amazing (your player has to be able to read at that bitrate, which most DVD players will. the decoding is done on the 525).

If you're asking for recommendations, I recommend the HK. But don't hesitate to listen to all of them yourself. BTW, my speakers are RF3-IIs, RC3-II and RS3-II.