I bought new speakers a little over a year ago and they sound fantastic. Large top of the line Polk LSiM 705 Towers. But the one thing is that they revealed my AVR/Amp to be on the harsh and bright side. The nice Denon 7.1 amp with 120 watts per channel just sounded bright gritty and harsh with my new speakers. And I liked the amp otherwise.
So I went on Craig's List in my area and found a comparable Yamaha listed for $160, the Yamaha RX-V3800. This one has the same power, features, and 7.1 as the Denon. But get this it has 3 HDMI inputs as well as analog 7.1 inputs!!! The Denon has no HDMI, and the Yamaha is said (reviews) to be smooth as silk, not bright or analytical in its presentation.
As I didn't want to blow $400 to $600 minimum on an AVR right now, the $160 for this older but really nice AVR sounded about right. Needing the analog inputs of course makes the purchase decision of an older AVR a cinch. Called up the guy Sunday at noon, and by 6pm I was hooking up all the connections at home.
I hooked it all up Sunday evening and have been enjoying the new improved sound quality. Smoothness and warmth is back, music sounding sweeter and surround mixes more enjoyable. Santana III SACD was playing through my Oppo 105 and sounding great. And my music server loaded up with 13 TBs of music files including tons of 5.1 and 4.0 material that I ripped from my surround disc collection all sounds better than ever.
Anyway, pretty amazing that I could get 140 watts per 7.1 channels, analog inputs as well as 4x HDMIs for $160 ($1,699 list). And it sounds great!!
It boasts seven channels of amplified power at 140-watts per channel, weighs in at 38 lbs., and will not only decode legacy Dolby Digital and DTS, and, as noted, also internally decodes Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio lossless.
Look at this beauty!!!
https://www.soundandvision.com/cont...ven channels of,DTS-HD Master Audio lossless.
https://www.blu-ray.com/Yamaha-RX-V3800/15628/
So I went on Craig's List in my area and found a comparable Yamaha listed for $160, the Yamaha RX-V3800. This one has the same power, features, and 7.1 as the Denon. But get this it has 3 HDMI inputs as well as analog 7.1 inputs!!! The Denon has no HDMI, and the Yamaha is said (reviews) to be smooth as silk, not bright or analytical in its presentation.
As I didn't want to blow $400 to $600 minimum on an AVR right now, the $160 for this older but really nice AVR sounded about right. Needing the analog inputs of course makes the purchase decision of an older AVR a cinch. Called up the guy Sunday at noon, and by 6pm I was hooking up all the connections at home.
I hooked it all up Sunday evening and have been enjoying the new improved sound quality. Smoothness and warmth is back, music sounding sweeter and surround mixes more enjoyable. Santana III SACD was playing through my Oppo 105 and sounding great. And my music server loaded up with 13 TBs of music files including tons of 5.1 and 4.0 material that I ripped from my surround disc collection all sounds better than ever.
Anyway, pretty amazing that I could get 140 watts per 7.1 channels, analog inputs as well as 4x HDMIs for $160 ($1,699 list). And it sounds great!!
It boasts seven channels of amplified power at 140-watts per channel, weighs in at 38 lbs., and will not only decode legacy Dolby Digital and DTS, and, as noted, also internally decodes Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio lossless.
Look at this beauty!!!
https://www.soundandvision.com/cont...ven channels of,DTS-HD Master Audio lossless.
https://www.blu-ray.com/Yamaha-RX-V3800/15628/
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