Hello, I would like to buy an a/v amplifier but I hesitate between several models. My use for this amplifier will be 80% for music and 20% for movies, so I want an excellent amplifier for music and movies. I listen many styles (hard rock, rock, classical music, word music etc.). My speakers are elestion ditton 66 but I intend to upgrade them to a have an a/v system and i will buy a dvd audio sacd player. I hesitate between the Onkyo txsr600 (449 dollars (euros) in France, marantz 5400 (600), and nad t742 (449 euros) as I can't spend more than 600 euros or dollars. Is the dts neo 6 which is present in the marantz and the onkyo important for an improvement in music. Thank you very much for your help, bye bye
Je dirait que Neo:6 est complétement inutile pour musiqué. Dolpy PL2 (ou NAD EARS ou H/K Logic7) est beacoup mieux, mais normalement personne veux écouter de la musiqué stéréo avec un mode DSP.
The Marantz has lots of features (incl DTS 96/24 and so on), and it sounds nice too. The T742 has fewer featurus, but it has better dynamics specially with lower impedances. Marantz is fine with 8 ohm, but the NAD shines when you go under that. My friend has an Onkyo SR601 and it is ok, but it doesn't have pre-outs for later upgrading. Have you listened them yourself?
I'm still looking for the right receiver for myself. For now the best options are NAD T743 (or T752) (700e), Marantz SR5400 (700e) and H/K AVR230 (550e).
I recently got the h/k AVR-325 (last year's model) factory-reconditionned for US$369 (and I'm getting a $25 rebate on that because the Zone II remote was missing). It's a good deal if you can find it.
Thanks for your replies. No I haven't heard these amplifiers. I have seen an offer on a french site, the shop is in Paris, they sell the onkyo sr600 + a onkyo dvd player for 499 euros. It seems to be a good bargain as the dvd player is sold about 199 euros and it was a high end dvd player. I'll let you know when I buy the receiver, bye