[tommyz24]

Hi guys I have 2 tower paradigm phantom v4 , my center is a paradigm monitor series ccv3 cinema and i have 2 little satellites (infinitys) for rears

i currently have a 4~year old yamaha htr 5940 but it doesnt seem to have the power to push these fronts.

these are the towers specs

3-driver, 2-way bass reflex, quasi-3rd-order resistive port
High-Frequency Driver : 25mm (1in) CMC™ ceramic/metal composite dome
Two 165mm (6-1/2in) MPC™ metallescent cones, GRIP™ chasis
Low Frequency Extension (DIN) : 38Hz (DIN)
Frequency Response : 49Hz - 20kHz, +/- 2dB (on-axis) 49Hz - 18kHz, +/- 2dB (off-axis)
91dB / 88dB
15 - 160 watts
100 watts
8 ohms
Internal Volume 1.31cuf
37 x 7-3/4 x 12-5/8in
66 lbs per pair

the center is probably similar seeing that it was in the same range in the line up

i want something nice and loud , mostly movies 80% and 20% music listening
hd codecs and under 1000$?

 

[hugh]

We are not mind readers. What receivers have you narrowed it down to and why?

 

[eimaj]

Marantz SR5005

http://ca.marantz.com/Products/2627.asp

This receiver is running more modern goodies and the same wattage as my marantz sr6003 and the 6003 easily powers my Energy rc50 towers, rc-lcr centre, Paradigms studio 20 rears and B&W 302 sides with ease to loudness levels that my brother calls offensive, but what I like to call theatre levels. Not only loud but crisp, clean, clear highs and mids with tight deep bass extension.

According benchmark testing by various publications like Sound and Vision and Home Theatre Mag over the years, yamaha receivers put out poor wattage for multi channel applications which can be a hinderance when you want to crank it.

 

[tommyz24]

not really sure what i want , i know the budget...~1000$
so i guess my choices are
hk3600
pioneer vsx 1125
denon 991
onkyo Tx nr708
marantz sr5005 (as mentioned above)

 

[lex_rx]

$1,000? I'd buy these two items which would be very close to your budget but should last you a long time (the amp anyways).

Pre-pro: http://emotiva.com/umc1.shtm
Amp: http://emotiva.com/upa5.shtm

 

[eimaj]

Plus exchange, shipping, duty (engineered in the states, built in China so duty is added), brokerage and whatever other fees it takes to get it across the border. I looked into emotiva before I went with Marantz and while the website price looks good, getting that gear here will add about $500 with all the goodie fees we here up in Canada get ripped off for.

If you are close to the states or can grab them when you go there, then go for it. Otherwise there are many expenses that are added.

 

[lex_rx]

eimaj, you're right that there are costs getting Emo products into Canada. I'm hoping that the OP-tommy - is close to the border.

Btw, NO duties just straight GST+PST or HST when I brought the products across the border. I brought in a big bunch of Emo products during the company's July 4th sale and few back in December 2009. Just present the invoices at the border, agents convert and calculate taxes, you pay and off you go.

I get products delivered to a UPS store just across the border. US$5/package charge.

The UPA-5 price now is US$70 cheaper than when I got one back in July. A really good price.

 

[eimaj]

Thats good. I was told I would have to pay duty due to them being built in China.

 

[Audiophile]

$1,000? I'd buy these two items which would be very close to your budget but should last you a long time (the amp anyways).

Pre-pro: http://emotiva.com/umc1.shtm
Amp: http://emotiva.com/upa5.shtm

I second the suggestion. Especially if you live near the border. Value is impossible to beat. Separate Amplification is defintely the way to go to realize the true potentional of your speakers. If your receiver has preamp outs you only need to add an XPA 3 or UPA emotiva amp. Your mains will just sing, clean, clear sound, with really tight controlled bass response. You can thank me later.

 

[eimaj]

Just make sure it is a 3 ch. amp!!! I threw in my brothers (now sold) Bryston 3b sst 2 ch. into my setup a while back and while it made 2 ch. music incredible!!!...It was too different sonically from what my Marantz receiver sounded like for ht. It wrecked the whole front end as you could clearly hear the superior sound coming from the bryston powering my energy rc towers versus only the great sound I was getting from the marantz powering the centre. It sounding like I was using a different make of speakers for the towers.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

I wouldn't echo the praise of the Emo pre-pro. First of all, it's been reported to be a bit buggy; and secondly it's not HDMI 1.4 and if you plan to use it for any video scaling it uses a very poor processor by comparison to most good AVR's.

I'm all in favour of using a power amp for either all five channels, or simply your front soundstage, but if you intend to have it handle any video you are better off to go with a very good AVR and one that has pre-outs to allow you to add a power amp (now or later). Completely agree with Audiophile on this one.

The Pioneer VSX-1125 is the best of the ones you've listed for video processing (followed by the Denon 991). Marantz doesn't publish what video scaler it uses on the SR5005, but the higher end units use ABT and the silence on the 5005 specs suggests that it uses a lesser processor.

Another feature you haven't mentioned is whether networking's important to you (internet radio, streaming audio, control over IP, etc). Again, the SR5005 doesn't have any networking features. The Denon has a full suite and the Pioneer has most aspects (although not streaming audio). That said, last year's Denon models had significant failures of network cards and there are reports of the same failures on current models as well.

The HK and Onkyo have poor video scaling. The HK doesn't have network support.

Unless your use is highly biased towards two channel audio, put some thought into things like the quality of the video scaler and networking features.

 

[tommyz24]

well video scaling is important, and i hear that the faroudja is the best one to get.

the amp will be bought this holiday season, i'm leaning towards the denon or the lower end elite from pioneer

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

Faroudja is, without question, the worst one to get. There will be argument as to whether Marvell QDEO is better than HQV Reon-VX. For my money, I would take Marvell every time, but that is somewhat subjective and HQV is very good. Anchor Bay (ABT) is definitely superior to Faroudja, but not as good as HQV or Marvell.

Not sure where you heard that Faroudja was the best. If it came from a salesperson, that should immediately tell you not to trust the person and to buy from somewhere/someone else.

You're not being specific about models. The Pioneer units that have Marvell scalers are VSX-1120/1125, VSX-1325 and in the Elite line the VSX-32/33 and SC-35/37. Lower end Pioneers (eg. VSX-1020/VSX-31) use ABT (still better than Faroudja, but not on par with the Marvell implementations in the higher end models. As for Denon, in the 3310CI/990 and up models, Denon used ABT VRS for video scaling. They appear to have pulled ABT from the 3311CI/991 in favour of some in-house technology. Not sure if it performs better, but I would avoid the current generation of Denon AVR's for reliability issues. As I posted above, Denon xx10 models had a significant number of failures related to network cards. It does not appear that they have successfully addressed the issue with xx11 models. If the networking features are at all important to you, then I wouldn't consider Denon because of the risk of failure.

 

[tommyz24]

ok i think im gonna take the plunge and go for the non elite pionner 1120, my one last question is...what is the 1325 is that rebadged elite?

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

My guess is that it's the VSX-33. Not quite rebadged, they are different units that share some common architecture and features. The 1125 and 1120 are the same unit and are very similar to the Elite VSX-32. The VSX-31 is the equivalent to the 1020.

 

[Civuck]

ok i think im gonna take the plunge and go for the non elite pionner 1120, my one last question is...what is the 1325 is that rebadged elite?

The VSX-1325 is indeed a re-badged VSX-33.