I have been researching receiver and speaker combos for some time and have narrowed down my list to a Denon 4306 and Aperion speakers. I've been going back and forth on this for some time, so  I've decided to put the questions out there and get advice from those wiser than myself. The receiver and speakers are going to be setup in a medium sized bedroom. They are going to be used for movies and music equally. I have a Music Hall MMF-5 as well, so I was looking for a receiver that has a phono jack.  I'm a little concerned about overkill with this equipment, but at the same time, I am looking to purchase for the long term. Sound quality is very important too. I believe that a 5.1 setup is best for this room size. What Aperion speaker combinations would you recommend? Do you think the receiver is overkill and if so, what would be the better match? I hope I haven't been to vague, feel free to let me know if you need more information. I'm open to any and all recommendations. Thanks.

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Audio Enthusiast

Did you mean the Denon 4808?  The 4806 is an older model.

 Yes, I think the 4808 (or 4806) is overkill, especially considering the size of the room. At that price point you should be considering a separate pre-pro and amplifier in my opinion - and a larger room! You could buy the Emotiva IPS-1 amplifier and the corresponding pre-pro for that kind of money. In my opinion you pay way too much for the Denon badge on the front of the box. That receiver is about $2,000.00.  Of course, everyone has an opinion on receviers and some will be certain to disagree with me.

I just purchased an Onkyo TX-SR805 from Amazon, on sale for about $700.00 delivered, no sales tax today - 130 watts per channel (2 channels driven), 3 HDMI inputs, decodes new Dolby and DTS HD sound formats. Thing weighs 50 pounds and the amplifier section is strong.

I paired the Aperion 632LR fronts (WAF regarding towers) and the 634-VAC Center.  Ordered some 532LR's for surrounds today. Very happy with this speak/receiver combination.

 My family room is 16 x 25 x 9 and this system definitely fills it with good quality sound - at least by my subjective standards.  YMMV.

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

Dana and Mike welcome to the forum,

 

I am guessing Dana that you are going to use this bedroom for an HT setup and not sleep there with all the associated furniture.

 

What are your medium bedroom’s dimensions?

 

I have a 7.1 system powered with an Onkyo TX-SR 805 130 WPC AVR and it supplies more than enough power/volume to a 4500 cu/ft area and I like to sometimes really crank the volume. A few times I have run full volume with my 10 Aperions just to check the SPL of my setup and I reached 116 db with ear-muffs on and that was LOUD.

 

I agree with Mike in that the current model 4308 would certainly be overkill for a small room like that or maybe your idea of a medium bedroom is different than mine.

 

My Aperion Speakers:

 

2) 632 L/R, 2) 532 L/R, 1) 532 C, 2) 534-SS, 2) 422 rear surrounds and an S-10 Sub.

 

8 driven by Onkyo TX-SR805: Great high power AVR

 

2 driven by Sony STR-DE997: Mediocre AVR that cannot supply the stated power to all channels.

 

I did not plan to have a 10 speaker setup but I bought these speakers over a 3-month period and after quite a bit of re-arranging and setting up my 7.1 I decided to keep them all.

 

Jack

Hey Dana,

 I'd really like to know what the dimensions of this room were befoe I made some solid speaker reccomendations, but considering you enjoy listening to vinyl and music will get some good play time on your new system I'm thinking you should consider the 533-T and 533-VAC for the front end. Sub could be an S8 or S10 and the surrounds would really depend on where they'll be in relation to your seating.

For a receiver, I agree that the level of Denon you are looking at might not be the best value. I like the Denon, Onkyo and Yamaha receivers but must admit a preference for Onkyo this year. Depending on your video requirements, you might find the TX-SR705 or TX-SR 805 to be you best bet. A 705 with an outboard phono pre-amp would maximize your vinyl performance and you'd probably still come in under the Denon price.

Congrats on your pending setup. It'll sound and look great.

CD

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Caleb Denison

Dana,

 

I think that Caleb’s proposal of 533-T L/R with the 533 VAC and a sub would be a good setup although you may have other options depending on actual room size.

 

Matched with the TX-SR705 I think you would get great sound and it has onboard L/R Phono inputs like the TX-SR805 so you would not need an outboard Phono preamp. The TX-SR605 would however require an outboard preamp.

 

Jack

Thanks so much for all the assistance. My room demensions are as follows 10'-5"X13'-2"  Sorry I didn't give those before. It would have helped. The more I thought about it the Denon did seem to be overkill. I would love to have a bigger space for the setup in the future, however right now it just isn't possible. That is why I was also looking for a setup that had a little growing room. The good thing about living where I do is that there aren't any neighbors to disturb. I have come across the models you all mentioned in my search before and they do seem to be great receivers. I think the thing that has been bothering me is not being able to decide which setup would work best in the space I have. You all have helped me immensely and any further suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

 

Dana

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Audio Enthusiast

For all of you TX-SR805 owners:

I have heard that the audio is great, but there were some issues with the video. I only have a standard Sony 400 Disc Explorer and not Blueray or HD DVD players. How concerned should I be over this? In your experiences, are the video problems that pronounced? I've read that purchasing an HDMI switcher solves some of the video issues. Has anyone had to do this?

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Audio Enthusiast

Is there a problem in particular you are referring to? 

I have exerienced two issues.  The first was a handshake problem with my PS3 that would cause the picture and audio to drop.  That however seems to have been my own fault due to an HDMI cable that wasn't properly seated. 

The other issue, also seems HDMI related and only with some content, is an audio/video synch problem.  This only happens on some channels sometimes with Comcast.  I know there's a function on the receiver to adjust the audio delay to address synch issues, but it happens so infrequently I haven't bothered yet. 

Thanks for the reply. The issues I was referring to were it's inability to deliver all the detail of 480i sources when upconverting and the issues with 2:3 pull-down detection. For example, where there should be smooth curved lines, you instead get jagged lines. I'm not trying to be too picky, however if it is extremely noticeable I want to know beforehand as well. Any insight is appreciated.

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Audio Enthusiast

As all my inputs are via HDMI and upconverted prior to the receiver, I haven't fed a 480i source into my receiver and cannot speak from experience to this topic. 

However, I have read a couple of reviews that mention seeing jagged lines and from what I can gather it seems to be a result of the Faroujda processor scaling analog input for output via HDMI.  Based on some research I did on avsforum, there are a couple ways around this. 

If you can connect via HDMI, do so. If the source is DVD, enable progressive scan.  Lastly, you can output from the receiver to your TV as component for this source which bypasses the scaling.

 I will leave it to someone with real world experience to speak to how noticeable it is and to confirm if the the solutions above resolve the issue.  

Thanks so much for the input. I agree that the Faroujda processor is most likely at fault here. This issue is not even mentioned in relation to the TX-SR875. It uses the HQV Reon-VX Video processor instead. The TX-SR875 is significantly more, so I would certainly be interested in any way to combat this issue if possible. I have also heard that this unit runs pretty hot. Have you had any problems in relation to this? A few folks I've spoken with mentioned problems with the unit periodically placing itself in standby or shutting off due to heating issues. This could have been due to clearance problems and not providing enough ventilation for the unit, but I thought it wise to ask. Thanks again for all the input. Take care.

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Audio Enthusiast

I haven't had any problems with overheating, but it does get quite warm if you drive it for an extended period.  This is definitely not a unit to place anything on top of. I have plenty of clearance on all sides and about 5 inches above and the ambient temperature in the room averages 65F (so far) which probably plays a large part in my lack of any issues.  If you're going to place the unit in an enclosed rack with poor clearance you may wish to investigate supplemental cooling.

I have considered rigging a couple of Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D 120mm fans to assist with cooling in the summer when it gets warmer.  I have used these fans for my PC's with great success.  They push 33.5 CFM at 800 RPM with a rated noise level of 8.7dBA.  I cannot hear them from 5 feet away in a quiet room.

You can also go to avsforum.com for more information and ideas.  They have an "official" TX-SR805 thread going there.  It's very long but covers anything you're likely to want to know about the receiver.

Hope this helps. 

 

 

 

While I would agree with JackGates that you would not need a separate phono pre, you will get noticeably better sound from your vinyl rig with an outboard model. Good as the Onkyo is as a receiver, the phono stage definitely sounds like an afterthought. Id' recommend looking into the Bellari VP29 ($79), Parasound Zphono ($150), or Pro-Ject Phono Box ($129). In my experience, any of these sound much better than the stock stage buit-in to the Onkyo for only a modest investment. So if vinyl is a priority, you can't go wrong. Hope this helps. Viva La Vinyl!

 Oliver

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Oliver Amnuayphol
Home Theater/Audio Guru
Aperion Audio

Oliver,

Believe it or not you read my mind. I have been wondering if an outboard model is the way to go versus the built in stage. I have heard that you can hear a significant difference with some of the models you mentioned. In fact, I almost purchased a Bellari model the other day. I purchased the Music Hall not too long ago and I love it. Anything that would enrich its sound is definitely worth it to me. It's good to get the opinion of a fellow vinyl lover. Thanks for the suggestions! 

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Audio Enthusiast

Hi Dana,

My two cents on your quest for a great 5.1 setup capable of great vinyl sound would be to keep it simple, keep it pure. In my experience buying in to a device that does everything under the sun from decoding digital, amplifying 5 channels, switching audio and video to upconverting that video is that it will do one or more of those tasks half assed. Kind of like the garden tractor that does it all. Its bound to do a terrible job somewhere or otherwise expose its weaknesses.

The only good looking upconverted image I have seen is from a dedicated video processor. Say a Runco or a DVDO. The DVDO is easy to find. The VP-20 and VP-30 models are priced under the stratosphere and do a great job of taking all inputs from composite and s-video to component and sending them out via HDMI to your display. www.dvdo.com

I would also tend to leave the receiver working only on audio. Most receivers pass video through them fine but I have yet to see one do a good job upconverting video. I do have high standards but none the less. Denon is an ok brand but I prefer NAD as they concentrate on the reproduction of the original sound as it was recorded more so than others in the same price range. Their power rating is more of a guaranteed minimum than an average. Considering your room size I would suggest a T744. NAD makes a great phono pre amp, the PP-2.

Please take the time to visit www.nadelectronics.com and look for a dealer near to you. If you have one take the time to visit them for a demo. If its a retail facility I will be willing to bet that they have a turntable connected to one. Bring some vinyl with you. I would also be willing to bet you will be glad you made the time to check them out. I used to be a dealer for NAD and many of my sales came from existing NAD owners upgrading to surround or replacing a 25 year old amp. A T744 and DVDO would run a little more than the Denon you were looking at but the investment is worth while. Your sound and video quality would be hard to reproduce for similar $$.

 

Hope it helps

Daryl
 

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CEDIA certified