# Rerciever opinions



## otis857 (Feb 12, 2008)

How about some opinions on receivers? About 8 years ago, I shot the wad and bought a big buck ($5500) pre-amp for my HiFi/Home theater. I bought a Proceed AVP, which was a hot ticket back then. And it sounded fantastic with D to A conversion that was unbelievable. 

Now, it finally took the big dump! And since then, Harmon group bought out the line along with Mark Levinson and dumped Proceed in favor of the Levinson and Lexicon lines. Harmon will still fix them for $700 flat rate plus shipping, but technology has come a long way since then and HDMI and video scaling is now a priority. Now, money is tighter, kids in college, etc. Im debating going with a semi high end receiver and using the pre-amp outputs for my separate amps & speakers. And I'll have the receiver to use in my family room after I build my (future project) dedicated home theater room. I'll buy a nice pre-amp then.

Im leaning towards a Marantz AV receiver for their reputed great sound at reasonable prices. Looking at the SR 6003. Anyone have knowledge what the real world differences between it & the newer upgraded SR 6004, SR 5004 are? Different brand suggestions in the 1K & under range? Looking on Audiogon, Ive seen a number of good brand receivers that I would certainly consider but finding units with HDMI is a little tougher on the used market. Opinions & experiences wanted :juggle:


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

*Re: Rerciever opiniions*

At or around your price range I'd look at the Pioneer Premier series. I know that Evolution AV is having doing some awesome close out deals right now. I'd do a google search.

If the budget wasn't fixed and you were willing to go used I'd look at the Anthem D1/D2. They probably the best video handling bar none.

Similarly, I'd look at Theta. Video not as good as the Anthem but the Audio section is to die for.

In both of the latter cases, it will be quite a bit more than the Pioneer stuff.


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## otis857 (Feb 12, 2008)

*Re: Rerciever opiniions*

I hadnt thought much about Pioneer. I originally looked at Marantz for music. If the music sounds right on home audio equipment, usually the movie sound is a given. I'll check into Pioneer units. If I was in the market for a pre-amp now., I agree about the Anthem line. My former hifi salesman buddy is trying to push me towards the new B&K gear too, its just out of my price range at the moment. Any idea about Rotel or Adcom?


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## Se7en (Mar 28, 2007)

*Re: Rerciever opiniions*



otis857 said:


> I hadnt thought much about Pioneer. I originally looked at Marantz for music. If the music sounds right on home audio equipment, usually the movie sound is a given. I'll check into Pioneer units. If I was in the market for a pre-amp now., I agree about the Anthem line. My former hifi salesman buddy is trying to push me towards the new B&K gear too, its just out of my price range at the moment. Any idea about Rotel or Adcom?


With the Pioneer I would stay in the Premier range and represents a good full featured mid-fi piece.

I have owned some older B&K (amps) and the stuff was bullet proof but honestly I don't know how strong their processing is. I do not that a bunch of years ago the market was flooded with used stuff because of software issues.

For the money I'd probably take the Pioneer over the Adcom, I just don't personally like the Adcom sound. 

Rotel is really nice stuff but I don't know if they do video processing or even HDMI support (they probably do). I sort of look at Rotel as being a high end Denon (at least within the entry level price range). Rotel has a really nice audio section though (both pre- and amplifiers).

If video processing/HDMI isn't a huge deal then I would also look at the Nuforce and Bel Canto stuff. Both are really strict about the audio path and as a result are pretty bare bones but good all the same.

Lastly, I forgot to mention the Parasound Halo gear. You can probably get a pretty screaming deal on a Halo C1/C2 but again you would need amplification. Nice stuff though, John Curl design. 

Good luck!


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## keep_hope_alive (Jan 4, 2009)

*Re: Rerciever opiniions*

Marantz is good for fully integrated A/V receivers, but you can certainly do better. I like Anthem gear, i also like Paradigm products in general.

Pioneer Premier and Denon are also good consumer level equipment. 

It all boils down to your budget. less than a grand, more than two grand, more than five grand, etc.


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## schmiddr2 (Aug 10, 2009)

Se7en has given great info.

Have you tried to determine what is wrong with the Proceed? Maybe someone on here or DIYHA can advise you about the problem and solution. Then use the money from selling it to add to the new purchase.


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## otis857 (Feb 12, 2008)

schmiddr2 said:


> Se7en has given great info.
> 
> Have you tried to determine what is wrong with the Proceed? Maybe someone on here or DIYHA can advise you about the problem and solution. Then use the money from selling it to add to the new purchase.


Originally, it lost 1 channel on the zone 2 output. last week, all channels went out and I had an ocean type of sound coming out of the left channel. I bought some used audio boards from a guy who upgraded his AVP to an AVP 2 a while back. He said his unit worked fine when he sent it in to Madrigal for the upgrade. I installed them, but that didnt help. If I could fix the AVP reasonably, Id consider that since the unit has incredible sound quality to the point of still being highly sought after on the used market. And if someone here has any incite as to what to look at to fix my AVP, Im all ears.

And if my current budget would allow, I would look at some $3-4K pre-amps. But for now, that will have to wait. A person can have too many hobbies for your income and Im approaching that point, if you know what I mean. Thats why Im looking for a good sounding Receiver for music that also has good video processing to get me by until I can go for a better processor. As for Denon, they are owned by the same corporation that owns Marantz and are considered lesser, mass market quality equipment, or so I was told by a dealer that sold both lines.


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## Sr SQ (Dec 8, 2006)

I am happy with my SR 8003 but I never heard the 5/6 series. I doubt you would be disappointed with any of the Marantz AVRs


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