AV Receiver upgrade suggestion for someone without a dedicated HT room and who may not upgrade inputs to latest and greatest

[arnprasad]

Hi all,

After deliberating for more than a year, asking every family and friend going abroad to get me a receiver, doing a PhD on VAT refunds.....etc, finally a team member has confirmed that he is going to Rotterdam, NL and is ok to sacrifice a suitcase for me. In fact yesterday, I had almost made up my mind to get a 2700H from India itself if the price was around the 70K mark.

The VAT rate in NL is 23% and rules for VAT refunds seems clear and easy based on internet searches. Hence post VAT refund, following are the approximate prices for the popular options:

1) Denon 1700H - 699 EUR = 45K INR
2) Denon 3700H - 1099 EUR = 72K INR
3) Yamaha V6A - 829 EUR = 55K INR
4) Marantz 6015 - 1099 EUR = 72K INR
5) Sony 1080 - 529 EUR = 40K INR - only one site has this and not sure if its renewed..need to research more..but if true..may be the best bargain

I have been using the Pioneer 1020K with Andrew Jones Pioneer 5.1 and am happy with it except this is more than 10 years old now and I also wanted to upgrade to Atmos although the improvement in performance may be negligible.

Based on Andrew Robinson and Whathifi reviews and also comments on this forum, the 3700H seems to be best and if I get it for 70K INR - well worth it. However my profile is somewhat different to just about everyone else on this forum, which is:

(a) I quit my job 3 years back and although I can afford all of the above, no harm saving 20K going for a lower end model if I am not going to use all the features of higher end ones
(b) I do not have a treated dedicated HT room. In fact I don't even have a proper room..its more of a Iron frame, glass, tile roof semi permanent structure which leaks sound big time and my neighbors have complained - hence I don't need too much power
(c) My kids game on PC and Switch and hence I dont need 4K 120HZ and all that
(d) I am not going to upgrade my speakers. In fact for Atmos speakers - I may just use some tiny satellites lying around unless someone gets me dedicated atmos speakers from abroad
(e) Audyssey or any other room correction thingies dont matter to me given the specifications of my room as it wont make any difference
(f) plus I aint no audiophile...Just want to enjoy those helicopters and bullets flying around in Atmos.
(g) While I have subscription to all OTTs between me and my friends - I am a guy who prefers to download movies on TPB as its a pain to get good video and audio from a web browser. With unlimited internet plan, I see no reason why I should stream. As regards morality - well I am paying for OTT anyways.. So hoping Atmos movie downloads will serve my needs as I am not going to buy blurays for sure

Given all of the above - would 1700H be ok for me or 3700H is worth it? I would lean towards Sony, given it got universal acclaim - however need to make sure the listing was genuine

Thanks again for all your help!!

Website from where I got my quotes:

Search for Sony AV receiver 1080 on BesteProduct.nl

BesteProduct.nl is een Nederlandse vergelijkingswebsite met een eigen testteam. We helpen je bij het vinden van de beste producten tegen de scherpste prijs.

www.besteproduct.nl

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[spirovious]

As you can afford 3700,then go with it.Its better avr with good power.

 

[ssf]

I think you will be pretty satisfied with the 1700H. My friend uses the earlier model 1600H I think. He has a big room and I found the experience quite satisfactory. If you are playing very loud, get the 3700.

 

[arnprasad]

Waiting for Andrew Robinsons review of 1700H which may be this week as he seems to have good things to say about it. Prices seems to fluctuate and now I see 1399 EUR for 3700 which is closer to a lakh. More than affordability, this might cause custom issues for my team member and god knows how exactly they will calculate the duties plus the hassles due to the entire process in the airport. Hence most probably will go with 1700H which may be available below 40K post VAT refund if I am successful in getting.

Sony 1080p got best receiver from Whathifi for three years straight per their website and Onkyo 696 was crowned best receiver by CNET. They may be a generation behind 1700H. Based on couple of Indian reviewers seems Denon and Marantz have the best service and hence this might swing my decision to 1700H

Marantz 6015 silver edition is 1099 right now. If it drops to 999 or lower, might go for it as its closer to the customs duty limit. This one seems closest to 3700.

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

 

[hifimaddy]

Waiting for Andrew Robinsons review of 1700H which may be this week as he seems to have good things to say about it. Prices seems to fluctuate and now I see 1399 EUR for 3700 which is closer to a lakh. More than affordability, this might cause custom issues for my team member and god knows how exactly they will calculate the duties plus the hassles due to the entire process in the airport. Hence most probably will go with 1700H which may be available below 40K post VAT refund if I am successful in getting.

Sony 1080p got best receiver from Whathifi for three years straight per their website and Onkyo 696 was crowned best receiver by CNET. They may be a generation behind 1700H. Based on couple of Indian reviewers seems Denon and Marantz have the best service and hence this might swing my decision to 1700H

Marantz 6015 silver edition is 1099 right now. If it drops to 999 or lower, might go for it as its closer to the customs duty limit. This one seems closest to 3700.

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

If you can afford 3700 go for it , or even 6015 will be a good option and it's even cheaper than 3700 in Europe . or wait for 1700h or 2800h the newer models . if you want to know more about the VAT discounts send me a pm. I can share my previous experience .

 

[arnprasad]

@hifimaddy. Thx for the suggestion. I guess the process is simple enough. Once my friend reaches the hotel, will call up the retailer for the VAT invoice and tax refund form. Hopefully we submit at one of the authorized refunders at the airport and get the money. Like I mentioned in the earlier post, cheapest 3700 I found today is 1199 which makes it closer to 80K. 6015 is 1099 and I am hoping it will go down another 100 EUR at least. If it doesn't, will stick to 1700. The best Indian price for 1700 seems to be around the 65K mark. So a saving of 25K but will lose the one year warranty. Have been lucky with all my imports so far and I hope the streak continues.

I also found a deal for 6014, the 2019 model which also has great reviews. No 8K and all which I anyways dont care. Currently its 999..so around 65K and hence closer to the tax free limit. Hopefully the customs guy can ignore the 15K excess. Lets see...planning and dreaming and waiting for the D day

 

[hifimaddy]

@hifimaddy. Thx for the suggestion. I guess the process is simple enough. Once my friend reaches the hotel, will call up the retailer for the VAT invoice and tax refund form. Hopefully we submit at one of the authorized refunders at the airport and get the money. Like I mentioned in the earlier post, cheapest 3700 I found today is 1199 which makes it closer to 80K. 6015 is 1099 and I am hoping it will go down another 100 EUR at least. If it doesn't, will stick to 1700. The best Indian price for 1700 seems to be around the 65K mark. So a saving of 25K but will lose the one year warranty. Have been lucky with all my imports so far and I hope the streak continues.

better you ask your friend to install "global blue tax free app" in phone its available in ios and android , global blue is providing tax refund, then he can register on the app with his details related to passport, then during the purchase he have to show the code generated in the app + the passport . Then in the airport he can go to the global blue office and show the papers. they will give cash or if you want money in account you can give the bank details in the phone app itself.


( In the app you or your friend can check which all shops accept the global blue. I think very few hifi shops are only registered in global blue .You can find out the shop details available and also you can check which all airports have their services . after the purchase you can check the app with your reference number how much amount you will get back and some tracking .)

( from my experience if you buy around 1200 euro you will definitely get back 150-200 euro but global blue will take a commision from that maybe around 30-50 euro , the amount you get back is according to the value of your product if you purchase more than 2000 euro you will get back 400 euro at least but their commission will be much higher)

 

[arnprasad]

Oh. Thx. global blue did feature in my searches as one of the refunders. Didn't know they take commission though. Let me see if there are commission free way to get refund...you know. If the government is directly giving refund...maybe a longer line..whatever. Let me explore that option. VAT rate is 23%..I am hoping I get the entire amount back minus the commission. Whatever amounts I have quoted in INR is minus the 23% VAT refund

 

[hifimaddy]

Oh. Thx. global blue did feature in my searches as one of the refunders. Didn't know they take commission though. Let me see if there are commission free way to get refund...you know. If the government is directly giving refund...maybe a longer line..whatever. Let me explore that option. VAT rate is 23%..I am hoping I get the entire amount back minus the commission. Whatever amounts I have quoted in INR is minus the 23% VAT refund

I used the global service 2 times . It's very easy and mostly 2,3 people will be there to take the refund. but they will definitely charge, i said an approximate amount i don't know how they are calculating their service charge. I have never used a government direct refund, but it will be some difficult process I don't know. but global blue is very straightforward and I am sure it works perfectly. If someone uses a government refund service they can help you . But mostly I saw a global refund office in all airports and if we ask someone about a refund office everyone gives way to global blue . you can go with some online research.