Re: Best $1000 (or cheaper) Musical Receiver (Pre/Amp)?
Originally Posted by
Veda
For a receiver under $1k it'd be hard to beat the power and features of the Pioneer Elite SC61. 125W@8 of ICE class D multichannels is almost like paying for that many individual ICE amps without the HT features. You should check out the reviews and owners' opinions.
If for some reason you decide to get some other brand then I'd go with a Marantz instead of Onkyo or Denon. I simultaneously bought receivers from 5 brands a few years ago just to check out which has the best sound quality. Marantz came out on top.
!!Can of worms ALERT!!
Seriously, receivers do vary from brand to brand and finding the one you prefer can be daunting. I, too, run a Marantz AVR with my Sierra-1 NrT's and the sound, TO ME, is among the best I've heard in my system. I've had Outlaw(1050), Denon and Onkyo. The Marantz replaced an Onkyo.
If you, like most of us, cannot invest the cost and/or time to buy all of the possible models and do an in home evaluation, you must rely on our opinions/experiences and choose from there.
To pour gasoline on the fire.......I just replaced my generic 12Ga. speaker wire with a pair of MITerminator 6 cables I had in storage. Bought them in 1998 and figured why let them go to waste. Do I notice a difference? No. They say they need 2 days burn-in to reach 75% of their full potential, and 2 weeks to reach 100%. Snake oil? No comment. They do not seem to negatively affect the sound so I will let them play for now.
Good luck on your sound journey!
Ed
* Sierra-2EX's W/V2 crossover upgrade
* (2) Rythmik F12's
* Parasound Halo P6
* Audio by Van Alstine DVA-M225 Monoblock Amps
* MiniDSP 2x4HD For Sub calibration
*World's Best Cables Canare 4S11 speaker cables