Vintage HiFi Audio Forum
The Home Theater Corner => Home Theater Audio => Topic started by: Comten on May 02, 2017, 10:20:26 PM
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Hello all,
Was gifted 3 now-old 5.1 AVRs, trying to determine which to keep and use as a daily driver, which to move to second line, which to use in garage.
I am hoping the collective wisdom here has experience with any/all and can suggest which to use. Thanks in advance for your help!
Note -
Yes I know there are better and now-affordable 5.X/7.X/X.X AVRs out there - but I hate to fill a landfill if all it takes is proper cabling to get value from these. And Yes, I know - all old and with no phono support, but at least they do FM and all 3 can support the old TEAC CD player and dual-cassette drive I inherited as well.
First up, a Yamaha HTR-5930, supposedly 110W/Ch x 5 and can support an old XM Sat Radio I have that I could potentially use.
Downside to the Yammy is all speaker jacks are the old bare-wire spring-loaded type - and I spent time and energy converting speaker cables to RC jacks on the recevier end... Plus no remote. Oh well.
Next; Sony STR-DE485, supposedly 80W/Ch x 5, looks to be able to support a variety of 5.1 adjustments; bit more to the right, bit more to the left rear, etc. Also has the dreaded spring terminals, but - it has a remote.
Lastly; the purty H/K AVR-130. Supposedly 40W/Ch x 5, looks to have some cool LFE-per-side soft-crossover settings that you can futtz with. It supports RCA speaker connections vs bare wire, and has a remote that would make a CHICOM space-shuttle pilot envious.
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Hello all,
Was gifted 3 now-old 5.1 AVRs, trying to determine which to keep and use as a daily driver, which to move to second line, which to use in garage.
I am hoping the collective wisdom here has experience with any/all and can suggest which to use. Thanks in advance for your help!
Note -
Yes I know there are better and now-affordable 5.X/7.X/X.X AVRs out there - but I hate to fill a landfill if all it takes is proper cabling to get value from these. And Yes, I know - all old and with no phono support, but at least they do FM and all 3 can support the old TEAC CD player and dual-cassette drive I inherited as well.
First up, a Yamaha HTR-5930, supposedly 110W/Ch x 5 and can support an old XM Sat Radio I have that I could potentially use.
Downside to the Yammy is all speaker jacks are the old bare-wire spring-loaded type - and I spent time and energy converting speaker cables to RC jacks on the recevier end... Plus no remote. Oh well.
Next; Sony STR-DE485, supposedly 80W/Ch x 5, looks to be able to support a variety of 5.1 adjustments; bit more to the right, bit more to the left rear, etc. Also has the dreaded spring terminals, but - it has a remote.
Lastly; the purty H/K AVR-130. Supposedly 40W/Ch x 5, looks to have some cool LFE-per-side soft-crossover settings that you can futtz with. It supports RCA speaker connections vs bare wire, and has a remote that would make a CHICOM space-shuttle pilot envious.
Of that lot I would take the H&K, maybe followed by the Yammy.
The missing remote for the Yamaha can be fixed with a universal one.
The sound of HK will be better at normal volumes than the other two, I predict.
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Of those three I would say the Yamaha is best by a mile. The HK is nice, but probably under powered unless you are in a small room or have big, sensitive speakers. That particular Sony is a hunk of scrap (and I'm not a Sony hater), it's just that one was built for cheap all in one box systems. Find on line pictures of the three with their lids off. You'll see the difference.
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Assuming they are all fully functional, I'd keep the one that weighs the most because it is better built. Am betting that will not be the Sony. :-)
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I agree, of those, the Sony would be last on my list... I too am NOT a Sony hater! :) I have/had some Sony ES stuff that was/were worth keeping...
So either the H/K (I have an AVR 230 which I am using in one of my systems that I like) or the Yamaha...
The H/K receivers are underrated, so don't let the 40 wpc deter you... Compare/audition the Yamaha vs. the H/K... Let us know what goes in the house, the garage, & out the door! ;)
My 2 cents...
George
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I agree, of those, the Sony would be last on my list... I too am NOT a Sony hater! :) I have/had some Sony ES stuff that was/were worth keeping...
So either the H/K (I have an AVR 230 which I am using in one of my systems that I like) or the Yamaha...
The H/K receivers are underrated, so don't let the 40 wpc deter you... Compare/audition the Yamaha vs. the H/K... Let us know what goes in the house, the garage, & out the door! ;)
My 2 cents...
George
Agree George. Here's my take again, with more detail:
- The HTR series from Yamaha is notorious for being the "economy" version of Yammyy receivers - that said they managed to make them sound decent. The DSP is great if you are into DSP.
- The H&K with its relatively small 40 wpc is actually more powerful than the Yammy's 110. The Yamaha is rated "110 wpc at 8 ohms at 1Khz .9% distortion" what is that supposed to mean? Am I listening to 1 Khz tones with it? The HK is rated at 50 wpc 20-20Khz in stero mode at less than 0.07% distortion. that is 13 times greater distortion at the rated level for the Yammy.
- The short term current capacity of the HK is +- 25 amps, which is explained by its heftier power supply (the HK weighs 11 kilos, the Yamaha is only 9 Kg)
So all things considered I would bet the HK sounds better.
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- The H&K with its relatively small 40 wpc is actually more powerful than the Yammy's 110. The Yamaha is rated "110 wpc at 8 ohms at 1Khz .9% distortion" what is that supposed to mean? Am I listening to 1 Khz tones with it? The HK is rated at 50 wpc 20-20Khz in stero mode at less than 0.07% distortion. that is 13 times greater distortion at the rated level for the Yammy.
- The short term current capacity of the HK is +- 25 amps, which is explained by its heftier power supply (the HK weighs 11 kilos, the Yamaha is only 9 Kg)
So all things considered I would bet the HK sounds better.
Nice breakdown. I didn't look up stats or weights.
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I'd believe the Yamaha and Sony would be more mass produced units than the HK. Whether that equates to better sound is only a guess.