My Denon decoder box has burned out, rendering my antiquated Carver receiver useless for home theater purposes. Rather than buying another separate decoder, I've decided to go for a new AV receiver.
After reading many many posts here and doing research elsewhere I'm on the verge of buying either an NAD T742, an Outlaw 1050, or an Onkyo TX-SR601. I have a 5.1 setup with Def Tech satellites in front and rear and a Mirage subwoofer. The sub is powered by a bridged QSC power amp (>1000 watts).
So here's the dilemma: I'd prefer the superior sound quality of the NAD or Outlaw units, but (1) the NAD doesn't seem to have a crossover for the sub pre/out (need 150hz cutoff), (2) the Outlaw doesn't have Pro Logic II decoding.
So my questions are:
(1) does the NAD have the needed crossover, or in the alternative, is there an affordable crossover I can use between it and the power amp?
(2) as I watch a lot of DirecTV, HDTV over-air broadcasts, and DVDs, would I really miss PLII? How much better is PLII than PL?
The Onkyo would be a fallback position, since it's pretty well rounded and has better switching options than the NAD and Outlaw units. But it also seems to be missing the sub pre/out crossover.
Any help would be much appreciated.
G.DawG
Posted on
Adam, To your 2nd question about the PLII, I never use it. To me it wasnt really worth it, but its good to have. On my old receiver, CSII was all I ever used.
I have never heard of a seperate crossover, as it is usually in the pre-amp.
Also, what do you think of the Elite line? An Elite would go great with the Def Tech's. Also look at Marantz, and H/K. All great receivers IMO.
AdamT
Posted on
Thanks G.DawG,
I was a little sleepy when I wrote the first post--separate crossover wouldn't prevent lower freqencies from going to the sats, so not a good idea.
Regarding the Elites, Marantz, and H/K, I have a similar opinion of all of them: very good, but not until they get out of my price range. Actually the Marantz 5300 is quite nice, but it also lacks the sub crossover I need.
I think I'm just going to have to wait for the NAD T743 which should satisfy all my wants.
Hawk
Posted on
Adam:
If I understand what you are saying, I think you will find that the NAD and the Onkyo both provide a cross-over for the subwoofer when using the sub out connection on the back. You simply select the sub cross-over point through the setup menu. I don't know what cross-over points are offered through these receivers, but I have not yet come across one that I was aware offered a crossover point as high as 150 Hz. My Denon is selecteable at 40, 60, 80, 100, and 120 Hz, for example. I would also remind you that you can also adjust most powered subs at the subwoofer. I hope this makes sense.
The NAD T742 has a fixed 80Hz crossover. The NAD T743 will have an adjustable crossover at the following points: 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 and 150 Hz.
AdamT
Posted on
Thanks Hawk,
Actually the Outlaw offers crossover frequencies up to 200 Hz, and the H/K avr 333 has selectable crossover from 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, and 200 Hz.
I'm a little confused about the NAD, as it was reported here that selectable crossover was a new feature of the 743. Is it possible that the 742 has a crossover for the .1 output but not for the preamp sub output?
My sub is a powered sub, but it's actually jerry-rigged. I picked up a $1,000 Mirage unit for $400 because the built in amp was burned out. I replaced it with an external power amp, but the amp only has one crossover option which is at 80 Hz.
So unless I can get a receiver with a preamp sub output crossover of around 150 Hz I'll either have to drive my satellites down to 80 Hz or have a gap between 150 Hz and 80 Hz.
I'd be very happy if it's the case that the T762 has at least a 120 Hz crossover option for the preamp sub output. I don't think the satellites would suffer too badly going down that far.
AdamT
Posted on
Thanks Smitty, we were posting at the same time. You confirmed my suspicion (dammit ).
If you are looking at the T742 or T743, why not just get the T752 ahead of the T753 release at a discounted price.
My T752 has the same crossover range as discussed here and the increased wattage per channel matches more to the speakers I have than the smaller T742. I use its SW1 / SW2 outs via the internal 4th order Linkwitz to my sperate power amp to my sw.
On another note, good you are doing reaseach in forums like this, but it would assits you no end if you visted the NAD, Onyko and Outlaw sites and downloaded the user manuals for a direct comparison of the finer details on paper.
For what it is worth, the on paper comparison may be blown away by a side by side lisenting comaprison - which I suggest before taking the leap.
Your ears are YOUR ears, and to my ears my setup sounded far better with the NAD than either the ONYKO / HK / DENON offerings.
Either way enjoy the process, I envy those in position of just *having* to spend the bucks (wife factor is meaningless when she can't watch a DVD - heehehee) so if you can push the envelope go with the higher spec'd NAD and it's price competitors.
G-Man
Posted on
AdamT--
Prologic II is good if you like the Dolby algorithm for transforming stereo cd's or tv sound to a 5.1 matrixed sound.
I only use Prologic II when playing cd's in surround. It is useless for DVD's and any surround format you are already playing. That said--Prologic II is a much better algorithm than plain Prologic. It does a better steering job in making stereo--surround.
If you are able to receive HDTV and DirecTV in surround then Prologic II is unimportant. If you receive HDTV and DirecTV in stereo--then you might well benefit from using Prologic II to create a surround sound.
As DVD comes in surround it hardly needs or benefits from Prologic II--as Prologic II just turns stereo to a matrixed surround.
AdamT
Posted on
Thanks G-Man. I do watch a fair amount of stereo programming, so I'd like to have the PLII. I think Ivor has the best suggestion. The T752 has everything I want and it's not *that* much more than the units I've been considering. Actually, at $699 it's probably not much more than the the T743 will be when it's released, and I'd rather have the 752's extra power than the 743's extra surround modes.
