Expensive AVR for Cheap Speakers

[k11]

I see lot of people here in this forum spending a lot of money on AVR and allocating lesser budget on speakers.

I am a newbie to Hi-Fi world. But when I tested MLT-2 with different receivers I did not find any significant difference between lower end receivers and high end ones. Maybe my ears are not sharp enough to notice.

I did the same thing with Kilipsch F-10 setup too, same result. Pioneer regular vs Pioneer Elite. could not get the difference.

Would a expensive AVR give out a better sound with low end speakers or 5.1 systems. I mean if there is only 80W to power a speaker, Is there a need to get 150W per channel AVR. I do understand the higher end ones have natural processing and stuff, but do they make a perceptible difference to a Average Joe.

 

[manoj.p]

Speaker do not come with the list of features. AVR's do. People start with a lower model, but get carried away and end up buying those extra features for "little bit more".

For speakers, they listen to them, and buy if they like them. It's not that there is just another version available with more features. Very few people buy receiver keeping just the sound quality in mind, most are bought based on the features they have.

I am a newbie to Hi-Fi world. But when I tested MLT-2 with different receivers I did not find any significant difference between lower end receivers and high end ones. Maybe my ears are not sharp enough to notice.

I did the same thing with Kilipsch F-10 setup too, same result. Pioneer regular vs Pioneer Elite. could not get the difference.

Would a expensive AVR give out a better sound with low end speakers or 5.1 systems. I mean if there is only 80W to power a speaker, Is there a need to get 150W per channel AVR.

As for this question, it depends a lot on the speakers you have and how much accurate these are. If the speakers are not efficient (read power hungry) then you need higher power. But most speakers do very fine with 80wpc, because its plenty of power. Also, most of the power is needed for producing lower frequency. If you have a subwoofer, then it has its own amp. In that case, its a moot point. To give you a perspective, I was running my 7.1 speakers with Onkyo 605 which had only 90 watts per channel and it did very fine. Not once amps clipped. My speakers were huge, 3 way speakers. JBL 4410a for Left, center, right and JBL 8330 for 4 surrounds. Look those speakers up and you have an idea about the power needs.

I do understand the higher end ones have natural processing and stuff, but do they make a perceptible difference to a Average Joe.

Most of the higher end units make difference in not the power alone. They have discrete amps, better DAC's, better analog section and very much importantly, processing as Room Correction etc. Those are the features that make a lot of difference.

 

[k11]

manoj.p,
You are definitely not average joe.
Saw your theater in link on signature. Your setup looks sweet.

Coming back to our discussion,
I do agree better DAC, discrete amps, etc and most importantly 7 or more channels means expensive receivers. No getting around that.

Would you spend more money on receiver than speakers.

For budget under 50K, this might be true as there is limited choice.
For lets say 1L and above, does it make make sense.

 

[prosenjit]

even i am a newbie and think upon this..... that only the power matters or really a hi end avr means hi quality onboard dac and amp setting.of course later is true i think..better components.extra power is an extra gift.what are gurus saying.....

 

[k11]

From what I have seen in demos is that a pair of good floor standers blow out any other smaller home theater sets. Expensive AVRs cannot substitute or make up the difference.

 

[manoj.p]

manoj.p,
You are definitely not average joe.
Saw your theater in link on signature. Your setup looks sweet.

Coming back to our discussion,
I do agree better DAC, discrete amps, etc and most importantly 7 or more channels means expensive receivers. No getting around that.

Would you spend more money on receiver than speakers.

For budget under 50K, this might be true as there is limited choice.
For lets say 1L and above, does it make make sense.

K11, Thanks for the compliment.

I would start off with good speakers first. Good speakers does not necessarily means expensive speakers, but speakers with good sound, natural/flat frequency response down to at least 65 Hz for bookshelfs (you would need to use a subwoofer) or down to 30~35Hz for floorstandars. Next would be the receiver which has adequate power, good room correction if you desire, has the connections to meet the needs and go from there. Most modern receivers do have good amount of power.