703 and Denon AVR-2807 receiver

[Mozart]

I am picking up a pair of 703s this weekend and am deciding on the best receiver for them. Does anyone have any experience in matching the 703s with the Denon AVR-2807? Do they work well together? Alternatively, I am considering the Yamaha HTR5990.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks.

[Ted]

Welcome! Are you interested in 2 channel or HT? That will help the members give you some suggestions. What is the price range you are looking for?

Ted

[Alex999]

Mozart,
Denon or Yamaha are OK for HT. However, I'd suggest Rotel or Arcam for music. Happy shopping :-)

[Mozart]

Thanks for your replies. It will be 70% for music and 30% for HT. My price range will be around $900-1000 for the receiver. I want to be sure that the Denon AVR-2807 will bring out the best in the 703s.

[Ted]

Maybe someone with more experience can give you better advice than myself, but of those two brands, I'd probably go with Denon (I have Yamaha myself however). Perhaps if you are more interested in 2 channel than HT and if surround sound isn't too important to you, you could go with a Rotel RX-1052 stereo receiver (about $900). You'd only have 2 channel movies, but you'd probably have better sound quality for music than Denon or Yamaha.

[B&W 700 Guy]

I original used a Denon 3801 receiver 110 x 7 with my 703'S. It had a pleasant sound up to medium volumes. When I listened to the system at reference volume, the top end of the speaks would start to sound squarely. I would look at adding a nice 2 channel amp to run the 703's.

[dknightd]

My personal experience has been that the 703 really need an amplifier
that can deliver lots of current when called upon to do so. The 703s
drop to about 4 ohm in parts of the frequency range.
When I first got mine I drove them with a yamaha 777 stereo
reciever (their top of the line at the time). It worked fine, but speakers
sounded bright and somewhat congested. Then I put an old
adcom 535 into service. Much better even though the yamaha
was rated at 100wpc, and was said to be able to drive a 2 ohm
load, and that adcom is only rated 60 watts. The adcom 535 could
be driven to clip if I really turned it up, and I suspected the speakes
had more to give. So I bought a used adcom 5500, it sounds the same
as the 535, but provides more power for when I really want it.

It is possible that the recievers you are looking at can deliver
the current the 703 want/need but I'd be surprised. I think you'd
be better off with a lower cost reciever that had the features you
want, and a dedicated two channel amplifier rated for 200 (or more) watts.
A used Adcom 5500, or, Rotel 1080 might fit in your budget.

If possible demo the 703s with a receiver you are considering (or something similar), then demo them with a dedicated 2 channel amplifier. I didn't do this, so got a surprise. When in the store they were driving the 703
with very capable 2 channel amps (one store was using Mcintosh, the other classe). When I got home I found I had to
at least get a decent amp to drive these speakers so had to spend more money I did not have (I pushed my budget to get 703, so had none left).
I found my used amp for $430. It was money well spent. Someday I might upgrade it further, but for now I think it give the 703 97% of what they need while the receiver only gave 85%. YMMV

Based only on what I've read I'd guess the denon you are looking at will work better than the Yamaha. But I'd seriously consider getting a stereo amp for the 703's, they can really use the power even at moderate listening levels.

[dknightd]

p.s. the 703 take awhile to break in. For me it took a couple hundred hours of use till they really settled in. To make sure that I wasn't confusing speaker breakin to changing amplifiers I recently tried the yamaha again. No doubt in my mind, having a capable amp does make a difference. I'm half tempted to try both amps on my old (home made) speakers, but don't think I will. . .

[Blindamood]

My personal experience has been that the 703 really need an amplifier that can deliver lots of current when called upon to do so. The 703s drop to about 4 ohm in parts of the frequency range.

I have to agree with this recommendation. The 703s, in fact, can dip to a low of 3 ohm, according to the specs posted on the B&W site. I had a similar issue when I tried to drive the previous series (CDM 9NTs) with a Pioneer Elite receiver (5x100W). The receiver would actually shut down (for overload protection) when I played a DVD scene with a loud explosion. The receiver simply could not handle the current demands of the speaker.

I ended up adding an external amp (5x175W) to my receiver and never had any further issues.

[joetama]

I went from a Yamaha RX-V150 to a Rotel RB-1080 Amp and there was a MAJOR change. The soundstage cleaned up a lot and the lows were much tighter. They do demand some current, otherwise they will get almost muddy...

[beden1]

I recently bought the 703's as my fronts, the HTM7 for center, and ASW-750 sub. I also just bought a new receiver (Pioneer Elite VSX-82TXS). This receiver is 7 X 130 continuous watts. I bi-amped the 703's, as the Pioneer receiver provides you with an easy hook-up (attach second pair of speaker cables to the rear surround channel that sends the same signals as the front main speakers). Or, there are pre-amp outs for each of 7 speakers/channels, so you can use a sterio/mono amp for each speaker if preferred.

This receiver has zero problems driving the 703s, either hooked up with, or without bi-amping them. I got rid of my component set-up in favor of this receiver that is packed with features. I bought it at a hi-end hi-fi retailer for $1,000, and have seen them cheaper on the internet (prefer the support I get from my retailer).

[KRC]

I have played the 703's for a long weekend with an Arcam AVR 200 (it is 90 x 2 or 75 x 5) and it sounded really good, this compared to 15 year old Mirage 650's!!!!! I thought I went to heaven until I went to my dealer and heard the same speakers through Bryston BP 20 pre and 4B power amp and Krell DVD. Listening to the same CD's/DVD's but with the hugely upgraded electronics showed that the extra power (read current output) really did have a huge dividend to these fine speakers. This was not a subjective test, everything in the image/soundstage changed.