I finally got my new receiver!

 

Bronze Member
Username: Shantao

Post Number: 15
Registered: Apr-04
Well,

After my last post about looking for a receiver, I spent the week installing a new wood floor, and in between trips to Menard's, Lowes and Home Depot, I visited the local audio shops and listened.

I narrowed it down to the Yamaha rx 640, Denon 1804, HK230, and my original first choice - the HK DPR1001.

Lots of listening.

In the end, I liked them all, for different reasons! In the end it was down between the Denon and the HK230. On a fluke I stopped at the Circuit City by my parent's house and they had the HK DPR1001. They let me play with the receiver - the Ez-Set, etc. I also got to hear it though the speakers I have.

I really liked the sound of it..... and the price was right, they had it marked down to $403.00, which was a real steal. The unit, as advertised, was cool to the touch, despite being in a shelf rack with an inch of clearance. While the area it has to go in, in my wife's newest trading spaces endeavor is in a large Oak armoire cabinet, it would have plenty of space but not a lot of venting. I have an Onkyo 601 in my down stairs setup that I love and I got a chance to run the 1001 against the Onkyo through the same speakers in the listening room. It was brighter than my Onkyo but I liked the sound. I was unsure about the digital amps in the 1001, but got the extended warranty for peace of mind, hahaha. So I bought the DPR 1001.

I brought it home, and set it up. Wow. The clarity is amazing. I totally expected it to be better than the anemic Sony DE 895 it was replacing and it was beyond better. I, however, did not expect it to be that much better than my Onkyo 601, but it surely seemed so to me.... and much more so to my wife.

She wanted to watch "A Mighty Wind" (yet again) and was noticing sounds that she never heard before and unbelievable clarity in the music. She also thought it looked cool (which it does), so overall it had a high WAF. Her friends who came over and watched the movie with her thought it looked very cool as well. Not that looks have anything to do with sound, but when trying to justify the new buy, as well as keep it in the living room it doesn't hurt. I am very, very pleased!

One down side, the receiver does not upconvert composite to s-vid, so I have to run both composite and s-vid, but that is not that big a deal.

The manual was confusing, but then what manual is not? Setting the thing up could not have been easier. The on screen display was very simple and made it quite simple. It also made it easy to play with settings until I got them right. The receiver is 7.1, and I want to run it 6.1, since that is what the speaker configuration currently is. I couldn't figure out from the manual which of the two surround back channels the rear center should be plugged into. I emailed Harmon and they got back to me in a few hours. I also have not yet figured out all the settings and controls, but since I am off work this week, I have time to play!
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