Hey all. After a couple months or so of searching for a new receiver I have finally pulled the trigger on an Arcam avr300. I went to my dealer(190 miles away) and finally got to listen to some stuff. I compared it to a NAD T754, T744 both new and a Arcam avr100 used. The avr100 was noticably better than the NAD but the arv300 was better than both of them as far as punch and soundstage. The avr100 had a year left of warranty and was selling for $750 CDN, the T754 was new and selling for $1200 CDN with 2 years untransferable warranty and the avr300 was new at $2000 with 5 years transferable warranty.
I probably would have been happy for awhile with the avr100 as it sounded very good and was better than my old Denon 3805 but I would have eventually wished i had gotten the 300. Anyhow I have it all hooked up and it sounds great. The mids and highs are super crisp and clear and it doesn't tire my ears like the Denon did after awhile. I have it bi-amped using the unused 6 &7 channels and there is plenty of power there for two channel listening.
There are a few options that the NAD had that i wished the Arcam had such as "Advanced stereo 2" which puts sound only to surround speakers. I found that to be nice for late night tv watching and not keeping everyone awake. The NAD remote control was also more user friendly as well but I have figure out the Arcam remote now and am getting used to it.
One nice thing about the Arcam is that it is not very high so it fit good into my rack which only had around 9 inched total clearance, and it still has room to cool. This was very important as I had to limit my receiver search to a certain height because I could not change the space I had available in my TV stand.
I'm pretty happy with my new purchase but now I am wondering how much better it would sound with new speakers and a different source. I have Polk audio Monitor 70's up front with CS2 and Monitor 40's surround. My player is a cheap Toshiba. I guess I'll be back shopping soon.....the madness never ends.
I probably would have been happy for awhile with the avr100 as it sounded very good and was better than my old Denon 3805 but I would have eventually wished i had gotten the 300. Anyhow I have it all hooked up and it sounds great. The mids and highs are super crisp and clear and it doesn't tire my ears like the Denon did after awhile. I have it bi-amped using the unused 6 &7 channels and there is plenty of power there for two channel listening.
There are a few options that the NAD had that i wished the Arcam had such as "Advanced stereo 2" which puts sound only to surround speakers. I found that to be nice for late night tv watching and not keeping everyone awake. The NAD remote control was also more user friendly as well but I have figure out the Arcam remote now and am getting used to it.
One nice thing about the Arcam is that it is not very high so it fit good into my rack which only had around 9 inched total clearance, and it still has room to cool. This was very important as I had to limit my receiver search to a certain height because I could not change the space I had available in my TV stand.
I'm pretty happy with my new purchase but now I am wondering how much better it would sound with new speakers and a different source. I have Polk audio Monitor 70's up front with CS2 and Monitor 40's surround. My player is a cheap Toshiba. I guess I'll be back shopping soon.....the madness never ends.
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