Controversial .... Why Spend $1,500 ona Receiver???

[davef]

good point. I have that option on my Samsung BluRay player. Should have enabled it yesterday but wanted to get the full effect of my Rythmik F12 for that movie.

thanks guys

I am not sure if DRC has any affect on the LFE channel Anyone?

[natetg57]

http://www.audyssey.com/blog/2010/04...volume-spikes/

Audyssey Dynamic Volume is described here. Is this what you would recommend for increasing dialog intelligibility?

http://www.audyssey.com/audio-technology/dynamic-eq

Or Dynamic EQ? I've never tried either with movies, only accidentally with music (because it defaults to 'on') and it wasn't too good.

[hearing specialist]

When I upgraded from my 465 one of the many features I gained was Dialogue Normalization. Many great receivers will have this feature. Dolby has some great info here on Metadata and explains a bunch. If you want to reduce the variables and enhance your listening experience this is just one of many supporting documents that will help in finding features you may or may not benefit from. As you and I have talked before about this receiver and my ownership experiences, you have amazing designs and sub so you know its not them. The 465 does not have within its abilities to elevate and provide features within a higher level receiver. Auto signal leveling, dialogue flat, natural processing for center channel information, exact available adjustments for center information, just to mention a few. There is so much I learned I missed having and owning the 465 when upgraded to a product that has tons more features and functions all to reduce variables and elevate the listening experience. Any of the researched links will provide gobs of info.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=121087

[davef]

http://www.audyssey.com/blog/2010/04...volume-spikes/

Audyssey Dynamic Volume is described here. Is this what you would recommend for increasing dialog intelligibility?

http://www.audyssey.com/audio-technology/dynamic-eq

Or Dynamic EQ? I've never tried either with movies, only accidentally with music (because it defaults to 'on') and it wasn't too good.

Both should help but experimentation is best

[bkdc]

A receiver or preamp for home theater will eventually become dated by technology whereas a good speaker or good amplifier lasts forever. I think the receiver is the least important part of my setup. You do want one with decent ability. But I don't take advantage of 90% of what my Onkyo PRSC5509 preamp is capable of and I would probably have been just as happy paying far less. but the Audessy HT speaker calibration really works. I paid around 1600 for it. The thing I like most is the unlimited connectivity. I can run my digital music library through it or configure multiple sources any which way I want. If I didn't have such a complicated setup I would have gone with a simple Outlaw Audio preamplifier

[Mr McIntosh]

A receiver or preamp for home theater will eventually become dated by technology whereas a good speaker or good amplifier lasts forever. I think the receiver is the least important part of my setup. You do want one with decent ability. But I don't take advantage of 90% of what my Onkyo PRSC5509 preamp is capable of and I would probably have been just as happy paying far less. but the Audessy HT speaker calibration really works. I paid around 1600 for it. The thing I like most is the unlimited connectivity. I can run my digital music library through it or configure multiple sources any which way I want. If I didn't have such a complicated setup I would have gone with a simple Outlaw Audio preamplifier

Excellent Point. I plan on selling my McIntosh C36 preamp and keeping my McIntosh 7100 power amp and mating it with a Marantz SR5008 receiver...I figure that will last me for quite some time. Still debating on the CD player...maybe a Marantz as well. But like you said, speakers are the single most important link in the system. I think Dave once said that of the top 10 most important components in a system.... 1 thru 8 are speakers - # 9 speakers #10 everything else...or words to that effect.

[Audiolover458]

I am struggling with this one as well. The Receiver upgrade cycle is crazy. I bought the Yamaha RX-V2095 maybe 10 years ago for 1399 and it has no HDMI so 5 years ago I bought the Onkyo TX-SR875 and paid another 1200 for it. So now it supposedly does not have enough power to work with some true Audiophile speakers and get the best out of them per so many Forums.
I am confused and want to know if a receiver with 140 watts X 2 RMS is enough to Power a 5.1 system with Two Sierra Towers on order now :-).
I am almost sure that a Powered SUB does not need any of this wattage from the Receiver.
The Onkyo has the Audessy Mic for setup but I get the same thing sometimes with Dialogue where it is too low in some scenes. I have tried to counter this by telling the onkyo that the distance to the listening position is longer and also to increase the db on it.
I was thinking at some point to only get a 3 channel AMP like the XPA-3. I dont think one really needs a 5 or 7 channel AMP for an entry level setup.

Thoughts!!!

[bkdc]

Stop upgrading receivers due to power. Get a separate amplifier and preamp. Buy a good amplifier and drive it into the ground. I just received my amplifier case chassis, as I am building five separate 600W/1000W (8-ohm/4-ohm) Class-D monoblocks. I'll soon have a bunch of ICEpower 250W/125W (8-ohm/4-ohm) stereo amplifiers for sale. I plan on keeping these amplifiers until I die or technology somehow makes power amplifiers obsolete.

[Audiolover458]

I upgraded because I needed the HDMI to drive both Audio and Video and that was what I could afford at the time. Also lack of education on the subject :-) . Can I not use the Amp with my Receiver since it has the capability to be hooked to an AMP. Why do I need a Pre-Amp? Thanks...