New/Replacement Receiver

[Fishy]

Hey guys n girls, I'm looking for some advice. I currently am running a Rotel RSP-1098 RMB-1095 combo which has served me well over the years, but I'm not feeling the new Rotel processor due to lack of new technology in it.

So I'm looking at different receivers and looking for recommendations and what you think of the equipment you have.

I want to keep using the 1095 as that is a strong amp and I could then always use a two channel Rotel amp I have in the loft to maybe go 7.1.

Thanks
Fish

[Ovation]

Do you have a wide or narrow budget range?

I’m not currently in the market but if I was, I’d be looking at Anthem MRX720 or, if I had relatively few input sources, NAD T758 V3. But my priority is best Room EQ system I could afford. Would also consider a Denon or Marantz with Audyssey MultiEQ XT32. But it depends on one’s priorities.

[Hdale85]

Yeah kind of depends on budget really lol.

[Fishy]

OK knowing that this is mostly a US/Canadian site I'll put this in my native £'s (haha) I could be willing to spend up to around £2000.

Fish

[Ovation]

With that budget, Arcam AVR 390 as pre-pro (has Dirac); Marantz AV7704 pre-pro (has Audyssey XT32). Anthem is too expensive and NAD seems difficult to pin down price wise (from this side of the pond, at any rate, though with Dirac, it's worth looking into).

Good luck.

[Ovation]

I've been thinking of upgrading my AVR (I've had it nearly 7 years--and I usually research and examine stuff 18-24 months before making a purchase) and I've given thought to going with a pre/pro. Unlike many receivers, my AVR has MCH inputs and I might do this in a couple of steps. I can add a pre/pro to my AVR's inputs and use the latter as my amplification. This would allow me an Atmos 5.2.2 (I have two subs), which is all my small space needs. It's not ideal for amplification, perhaps, but it would be serviceable until the next upgrade--a new TV for the living room. Currently, I have a very long in tooth SD CRT paired with a non-HDMI AVR. But when I upgrade the TV in the living room, I'll move my current AVR there too (as I did with my last upgrade), and then add amplification to the main system. That way, I get to choose solid amplification and offset two purchases (pre/pro and amp), recycle my current AVR twice (good for the wallet and environment) and, with a proper amp choice, be set for a long time to come in that department.

I have given a lot of thought to the EQing of my subs, but, in the end, I have a very good situation right now. I would not be changing the subs nor moving them around, and my Antimode 8033c is doing a bang up job EQing my subs at the moment. I've attached my measurements (done with REW) of my subs. The green trace was measured about 7-8db lower than the other two, so imagine the trace boosted by that amount across the whole thing and you'll see the large hump around 22-23hz that gets tamed by the 8033c. Using both subs (one nearfield to my main chair) cures the null that exists with only one sub (a null I cannot otherwise get rid of as there is only one spot in the room where I can place the main sub).

Since my subs are so well taken care of, I've decided to be less fussy about any onboard EQ a future upgrade might offer. This opens a few possibilities I would not otherwise have considered. One is the Yamaha CX-A5100 (or its successor--depends on when this happens). I've been very happy with my current Yamaha RX-A1000 and see no reason why the pre/pro would be disappointing. YPAO on my AVR does not EQ the sub (hence the Antimode 8033c) but does a nice, subtle job with the speakers. By all accounts, the CX-A5100 has a more sophisticated version of YPAO, so I expect it would be even better.

The Marantz AV7704 also looks interesting. I know Onkyo makes a pre/pro in the same price neighbourhood, but I know very little about it (though I have an Integra DTR 6.4--my now 15 year old venerable AVR in the living room, so it's not entirely out of my experience). There are others, of course, but they are considerably more expensive. When the research phase gets more detailed, I will also look at AVRs. Mostly, reading about some of the new things out there has prompted me to start thinking about options, while a reassessment of my current subwoofer EQ setup has me considering possibilities I had not thought of before.