A/V Amps

Petetheroadie

Hi John,

Hope you're well. The time has come to start thinking about an A/V amp to match that lovely TV & Blu Ray Player I got from you last year. I've got a set of Jamo A102s awaiting an amp at the mo.

I've been looking at the Yamaha 763 and 863 but see that there have been stock issues. Is that still the case? Any sign of stocks appearing on the horizon any time soon, as they do seem to be the best of the current batch of receivers?

If there's stock en route, what's the latest prices for these two models?

If it's not looking like they're going to appear any time soon, what's the best plan B - Onkyo 606 or the Pioneer VSX -1018-AH?

(and no, i'm not going to go for the LX-81, before you ask :-) )

Thanks in advance,

Pete

SK1979

Hi John

I was also wondering something similar to the OP. Can you tell me whether you have any Sony STR-DG820's in stock in Belfast? Or if not, would you by any chance be getting them in?
I was hoping to make a trip up to the store the end of the month (30th or 31st), work permitting and would love to be able to pick up something there and then.

Thanks in advance.

PS: Sorry OP, I dont mean to thread hijack, I just thought my query was pretty similar to yours. :pac::pac:

Petetheroadie

No worries at all!

Petetheroadie

John/Ash/Dave

I just saw this on the Richersounds UK site:

STOP PRESS. We are currently in a unique situation regarding AV receivers, with all the major players (Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha, Sony, Pioneer etc) being completely out of stock until their new ranges arrive at the end of April/ early May. Whilst there are still some pockets of stock of the outgoing models in the stores at great prices, there will be an unprecedented shortage over the next few weeks whilst we do our best to encourage the suppliers to pull their collective fingers out. Please bear with us, keep in contact with your local store and watch this space for updates.

How are your stock levels for A/V receivers?

Pete

Richersounds.ie: John

Pete / Sk,

apologies for the delay in getting back to you - not sure how I missed this thread earlier!

Ok, yes the situation is dreadful however in Ireland we managed to snaffle some stocks which should keep us going for a short while.

We have the following in stock:

Onkyo TXSR606 Black - Very few - tiny surprise delivery came in this week - THIS IS THE LAST OF THIS MODEL EVER! - £399.95

Onkyo TXSR806 (modified versions) - £599.95 - few left in stock - this is the last of these ever.

Onkyo TXSR876 - £799.95 - just about gone, but a few stragglers remaining.

Pioneer VSX818 - Black & Silver - £169.95 (Crazy price) - Decent stock

Pioneer VSX1018 - Black & Silver - £369.95 (even crazier price) - Short stocked but still available (this receiver is selling at €899 in a popular city centre Dublin store:eek:)

Pioneer VSX - LX50 - £469.95 (again seling at €1200 in a Dublin city centre shop)- Short stock but available

Pioneer VSX - LX51 - £749.95 - Reasonable stocks

Pioneer VSX - LX91 - Short but in stock

Denon AVR1509 -£269.95 (just reduced) - Decent stocks for the next couple of weeks

Denon AVR1909 - £369.95 Silver / £399.95 Black - very short but just about in stock

Denon AVR2309 - £599.95 - In stock

Denon AVR2809 - £699.95 - In stock (just about)

Yamaha - No availability

Sony 820/2400 - No stock - no firm incoming date at the moment

Sony STRDA5200 - 3 left - to clear at £499

That's about it at the moment - we do have availability of HK receivers and some Marantz - but the above list pretty much sums up the awful availability situation at the moment!

Thanks again for the posts and drop me a line if I can assist in any way,

ATB,

John Mc

SK1979

Thanks John. That was a very helpful and thorough reply!

Its just a shame that there is such a shortage at present.

However, it wont wait so I'll be in touch in the next week prior to making the trip up.

Shane

JoeA3

@Petetheroadie - might be useful information to you, I also have the Jamo 102 speakers, and shortly after getting those, I bought the Pioneer 1018 AVR off John. I'm very very pleased with it, I'd highly recommend it. Very powerful piece of kit! And as John said, some other retailers are charging crazy money for it in comparison... if you'd any particular questions on the Pioneer, I'm here !

Petetheroadie

Hi John, thanks for getting back to us!

When you say the onkyo 806 is a modified version, what do you mean?

I see that you have plenty of HK stock, how does the 255 stack up against the onkyo 606, pioneer 1018, denon 1909 and yamaha 763?

I was leaning more towards the yamaha from reviews etc, but due to lack of availability there was torn between the pio and the onkyo - hadn't considered the HK at all! Have you heard them all? Any preference/ advice?

Any idea when the yamaha will be back in stock?

Petetheroadie

JoeA3 wrote: »

@Petetheroadie - might be useful information to you, I also have the Jamo 102 speakers, and shortly after getting those, I bought the Pioneer 1018 AVR off John. I'm very very pleased with it, I'd highly recommend it. Very powerful piece of kit! And as John said, some other retailers are charging crazy money for it in comparison... if you'd any particular questions on the Pioneer, I'm here !

Thanks Joe!

Did you demo any of the receivers before settling on the pioneer? There's so much choice at this price point (and I'm bad at making decisions at the best of times!)

JoeA3

Petetheroadie wrote: »

Thanks Joe!

Did you demo any of the receivers before settling on the pioneer? There's so much choice at this price point (and I'm bad at making decisions at the best of times!)

I didn't get to demo much to be honest, purely down to lack of retailers in my area that do this type of thing. I heard the Onkyo 606 in action and was reasonably impressed, but I thought it was really ugly! So I was kinda leaning towards the Denon 1909 (based on reviews I'd read, etc) until John recommended the Pioneer to me.

What really swung it for me is that the Pioneer is (usually) at a higher price-point than the Denon/Onkyo and seems to be better specced all round than the others at the same money (apart from HDMI inputs - it's only got 2 inputs, if thats an issue for you).

Petetheroadie

JoeA3 wrote: »

I didn't get to demo much to be honest, purely down to lack of retailers in my area that do this type of thing. I heard the Onkyo 606 in action and was reasonably impressed, but I thought it was really ugly! So I was kinda leaning towards the Denon 1909 (based on reviews I'd read, etc) until John recommended the Pioneer to me.

What really swung it for me is that the Pioneer is (usually) at a higher price-point than the Denon/Onkyo and seems to be better specced all round than the others at the same money (apart from HDMI inputs - it's only got 2 inputs, if thats an issue for you).

Yeah, I'm not bothered about the 2 inputs. I've only got a Blu ray player, so will still have a HDMI free. I'm leaning towards the Pioneer too, especially as there seems to be zero Yamaha stock around. The HK 255 was something I hadn't considered tho, so I'm curious as to what it's like in comparison to the Onkyo, the Pio and the Yamaha

Joe, quick question - does it take banana plugs?

JoeA3

Petetheroadie wrote: »

Joe, quick question - does it take banana plugs?

It does indeed, though I just connected the bare wire. That was definitely the most tedious task! Banana plugs would make life easier for sure.
Other things to note
- it's "THX" certified (not sure if any of the others in the price range have that)

- you can connect your iPod directly to a port on the front, and control the ipod using the amp's remote (navigate playlists, etc)

- it integrates with non-Pioneer TV's very well. My TV is a Sony, and if the Amp is on, the TV speakers auto-mute and any adjustments on the TV's volume are made on the amp instead... if that makes sense! Also, if I switch the TV on/off, the Amp switches on/off too along with it.

Petetheroadie

Cool! Do you have a blu ray player connected to it? Which one? Does it let the amp decode the audio so the Dolby true hd and dts ma lights come on?

JoeA3

Petetheroadie wrote: »

Cool! Do you have a blu ray player connected to it? Which one? Does it let the amp decode the audio so the Dolby true hd and dts ma lights come on?

Yep. I have the Sony BDP350 blu-ray connected via hdmi. Initially I had the blu-ray player itself doing the decoding, but I really wanted to see the HD lights on the amp and "TrueHD" or "DTS-HD" appear on the Amp's display, so I eventually worked out how to force the player to let the Amp do the decoding.! It works brilliantly. I don't think there's any major advantage having one decode over the other, but I like seeing the Amp doing it.

I also have Sky+ box hooked up to it with an optical lead, and the Amp automatically recognises any time there is a Dolby Digital programme being broadcast (although this isn't too often on Sky+ unfortunately).

Petetheroadie

JoeA3 wrote: »

Yep. I have the Sony BDP350 blu-ray connected via hdmi. Initially I had the blu-ray player itself doing the decoding, but I really wanted to see the HD lights on the amp and "TrueHD" or "DTS-HD" appear on the Amp's display, so I eventually worked out how to force the player to let the Amp do the decoding.! It works brilliantly. I don't think there's any major advantage having one decode over the other, but I like seeing the Amp doing it.

I also have Sky+ box hooked up to it with an optical lead, and the Amp automatically recognises any time there is a Dolby Digital programme being broadcast (although this isn't too often on Sky+ unfortunately).

Nice! I've got the same blu ray player connected to my pioneer lx5090, and sky+ as well, so I think you've convinced me to go with the pio amp too. Once I get it, I'll give you a shout and find out
the settings on the blu ray player to have the amp decode things.


John, do you want to give me a ring sometime tomorrow to arrange things? I'll drop you an email with my contact details in a bit to save you rooting through old emails looking for them.

Petetheroadie

OK, just ordered one of these from Kenny :-) John, I forgot to tell him to make sure it's black, so would you pass on the message?

Cheers,

Pete

JoeA3

Petetheroadie wrote: »

OK, just ordered one of these from Kenny :-) John, I forgot to tell him to make sure it's black, so would you pass on the message?

Cheers,

Pete

Class, let us know what you think of it !

I also sampled the silver version, the black is far nicer :pac:

Richersounds.ie: John

Petetheroadie wrote: »

OK, just ordered one of these from Kenny :-) John, I forgot to tell him to make sure it's black, so would you pass on the message?

Cheers,

Pete

Pete,

Thx for the order - all sorted - leaving Friday as requested - I'm positive you will enjoy it especially at £330 - approx €369.95.

I see a well known Dublin store is charging €899 for the same receiver today :eek: over 260% more than our price! - no wonder I'm poor!

Thanks again and as ever please drop me a line if I can assist in any way,

ATB,

John Mc

bazual

Petetheroadie wrote: »

Hi John, thanks for getting back to us!

When you say the onkyo 806 is a modified version, what do you mean?

Hi Pete,
I am presuming that the modified 806 is to do with an issue that the first lot of 806's had with blue dots when taking a 1080p signal from a ps3 i think.

I have heard great things about the 806 and tried to get one for £399.95 in the richersounds sale in january but they were out of stock so missed out. Would kill me to pay an extra 200 for it now.
Best of luck with your purchase.

B~

Petetheroadie

johnmc wrote: »

Pete,

Thx for the order - all sorted - leaving Friday as requested - I'm positive you will enjoy it especially at £330 - approx €369.95.

I see a well known Dublin store is charging €899 for the same receiver today :eek: over 260% more than our price! - no wonder I'm poor!

Thanks again and as ever please drop me a line if I can assist in any way,

ATB,

John Mc

Brilliant, cheers for that John!

Can't wait to get my hands on it now. JoeA3 has been telling me lots of cool things about it.

Another great deal from RS! On the bright side, poverty keeps you grounded! Who would want to be one of those billionaires to whom money is meaningless... wouldn't that be terrible?

Em, actually...

Pete

Petetheroadie

bazual wrote: »

Hi Pete,
I am presuming that the modified 806 is to do with an issue that the first lot of 806's had with blue dots when taking a 1080p signal from a ps3 i think.

I have heard great things about the 806 and tried to get one for £399.95 in the richersounds sale in january but they were out of stock so missed out. Would kill me to pay an extra 200 for it now.
Best of luck with your purchase.

B~

Hi Bazual,

Thanks for clearing that up!

Pete

Petetheroadie

JoeA3 wrote: »

Yep. I have the Sony BDP350 blu-ray connected via hdmi. Initially I had the blu-ray player itself doing the decoding, but I really wanted to see the HD lights on the amp and "TrueHD" or "DTS-HD" appear on the Amp's display, so I eventually worked out how to force the player to let the Amp do the decoding.! It works brilliantly. I don't think there's any major advantage having one decode over the other, but I like seeing the Amp doing it.

I also have Sky+ box hooked up to it with an optical lead, and the Amp automatically recognises any time there is a Dolby Digital programme being broadcast (although this isn't too often on Sky+ unfortunately).

Hi Joe, can you send me your settings for the Blu Ray Player so that the Amp decodes the HD sound formats? I want to see the amp doing this too :-)

Much appreciated.

Also, how was the setup (apart from fiddling with the bare wire!)? Did it set distances/crossovers accurately?

Pete

JoeA3

Petetheroadie wrote: »

Hi Joe, can you send me your settings for the Blu Ray Player so that the Amp decodes the HD sound formats? I want to see the amp doing this too :-)

Here we go... I'm pretty sure this is it... Go to Setup --> Audio Settings --> BD Audio Setting.
That defaults to "MIX". Change it to "Direct".

That should do it!

Also, how was the setup (apart from fiddling with the bare wire!)? Did it set distances/crossovers accurately?

Very straightforward really.. main mistake I made was connecting the surround speakers to the wrong terminals. Because it's a 7.1 amp, you'll have spare terminals if you're only doing 5.1 like me. Just make sure not to connect the surrounds to the "Rear surround" terminals!

The amp comes with a microphone, which you place at your usual seating position, and you run pioneer's auto-setup (they call it MCACC). It works very well I think, works out the speaker distances, and calibrates their levels accordingly. You can tweak these afterwards manually, and you need to set the sub crossover manually.

I still tweak mine now and then, I "think" MCACC sets the levels a bit too low (though maybe not, surely it knows better than me??!), so I bumped them up a bit! I'm learning this stuff as I go along... I came from an all-in-one cheap as chips dvd player, so AV amps like this are new to me, setting it up initially seemed a bit daunting.

The on screen user interface may come as a shock, it's very 1985, but does the job!

Petetheroadie

Thanks for this Joe, can't wait to get my hands on it now, funky 1985 on screen display and all. I've heard a lot about how good HD surround sound is! Did you see it as a big improvement on the all in one system you had previously?

Torres09

Petetheroadie wrote: »

Thanks for this Joe, can't wait to get my hands on it now, funky 1985 on screen display and all. I've heard a lot about how good HD surround sound is! Did you see it as a big improvement on the all in one system you had previously?

You will hear a huge difference.........HD Audio is miles ahead, not only in an all in one system buy even in an Amp that cant handle HD Audio...

p.s my neighbours dont talk to me anymore:D enjoy!

JoeA3

Petetheroadie wrote: »

Thanks for this Joe, can't wait to get my hands on it now, funky 1985 on screen display and all. I've heard a lot about how good HD surround sound is! Did you see it as a big improvement on the all in one system you had previously?

Oh, a massive difference! My old yoke was a Sony DAV all-in-one thing, so there's absolutely no comparison. Thing is, there's so much tweaking you can do too, so I'm never quite sure if I'm getting the full benefits, even yet... The Jamo sub even has it's own seperate knobs and buttons :pac:
I have a feeling that the little Jamo satellites aren't using the amp's full potential, but they are small so there's only so much they can do realistically, but the Sub is very meaty.

The HD audio is great - TrueHD / DTS HD-MSTR. I think the DTS sounds a bit better, maybe its just me.
It also depends on the source too obviously, the big loud action movies obviously show it off best!! I've built up a small collection of blu-rays already, a few off the top of my head that will really piss your neighbours off are:

- The 2 new Batman flicks, particularly The Dark Knight
- The new Bond, Quantum of Solace (got this one during the week, DTS-HD sound, brilliant)
- Apocolypto
- Die Hard 4.0
- new Indiana Jones
- Ironman

Petetheroadie

Ok. DHL actually tried to deliver yesterday, but no one was in, so I picked it up from their depot today. It's silver, not black unfortunately, but I can live with that, as it's going in a closed cabinet anyway. Just setting the beast up now :-) I'll report back once it's up and running!

Prisoner6409

John, would you have a Pioneer VSX1018 available in black.

Richersounds.ie: John

Prisoner,

apologies for the delay in egtting back to you - we are really low on them now but I'm sure I could squeeze you one if you come back to me in the next couple of days.

PM or preferably email me to johnmc@richersounds.ie

and Thanks again for the post,

ATB,

John Mc

Petetheroadie

Petetheroadie wrote: »

Ok. DHL actually tried to deliver yesterday, but no one was in, so I picked it up from their depot today. It's silver, not black unfortunately, but I can live with that, as it's going in a closed cabinet anyway. Just setting the beast up now :-) I'll report back once it's up and running!

OK, I've had it for almost a week now, and I'm pretty impressed. The setup process was nice and easy, (apart from stripping the speaker wire and wiring everything up.) and it sounds amazing! I've been working my way through my blu ray & DVD collection. There's so much power and also subtlety there!

The opening scene of Saving Private Ryan on DVD is mindblowing, and the lobby scene on Matrix on Blu Ray just brings a smile to your face.

Great purchase! JoeA3 - thanks for talking me into this one!

Pete

JoeA3

Petetheroadie wrote: »

Great purchase! JoeA3 - thanks for talking me into this one!

Pete

Excellent :P

As a matter of interest, what did you think of the MCACC auto-setup, assuming you used it? What levels did it set your speakers at? It seems to prefer to set mine at in or around -5 or -6 dB. Oh, and one thing I may not have mentioned, make sure you set the Cross-over freq on the Amp to 150Hz, as the Jamo satellites won't go below that freq anyway, everything below that freq then goes to the Sub. I originally had it set higher, but when I changed it to 150, I noticed a definite "Bass" improvement.

It's very powerful alright, although depending on the blu-ray / DVD I'm watching, I find I have to crank it up a good bit, e.g. to -15dB, but even at that level, there's plenty left in the tank :pac: