William has quite some credentials. I trust that he does indeed know his
stuff and I don't want to sound at all confrontational here...
If you read auto magazines like "Car and Driver", for example, they tend to
have a bias towards Hondas/Acuras and BMWs. Those "in the know",
stereophiles in this case, seem to disregard other manufacturers because
they have their own trusted favorites, which is not to discredit their
opinions at all.
With that said, from all the (extensive) research and auditioning that I've
done, I'd have to agree that Denons are indeed the best overall for amps and
receivers. Even the salespeople who listen to them all the time agree that
Denons are the best overall (although it makes one wonder if they get higher
commission for pitching them, but that's a matter for another thread). The
salespeople did rate the Yamahas second best overall with Onkyos coming in a
close third. However, dollar for dollar, I do believe that Yamahas are the
best. I own a Yamaha integrated amp... no complaints here.
But ultimately it's all in what YOU hear. Try to "audition" holding as many
variables constant as possible.
Yamaha Reviews:
http://www.audioreview.com/PRD_130572_2718crx.aspx
http://ic.dealtime.com/xPR-Yamaha_HT...RD-96984141444
Denon Reviews:
http://www.audioreview.com/Receivers...x.aspx#reviews
"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
P.S. My strongest opinion is to ignore everything you hear from
Sommerdork. He's a twerp, an ideologue, and a total git. His claim
that Yamahas have a bad rep is a case in point. They don't have a
bad rep; quite the reverse.
One of the nice things about having an odd name is that it reveals how
profoundly un-clever people are in coming up with abusive variations.
I hold a BS EE, was at one time a serious amateur recordist, and reviewed
for
over a decade at Stereophile. I won't offend you by naming the people in
the
hi-fi industry who respect my opinion, whether or not they agree with me.
In and of themselves, these things prove nothing, but I usually know what
I'm
talking about.
The fact is, Yamaha products rarely received favorable reviews in the
audiophile
press. If you don't like that, tough, but that's the way it is.
Some years ago I reviewed the Yamaha DSP-1 (an ambience synthesizer) for
Stereophile. I "assumed" no one would be foolish enough to run the front
channels of their system through such a product, regardless of the
manufacturer.
Unfortunately, I neglected to drive this point home and received a number
of
brickbats from readers complaining about how the DSP-1 degraded the sound
of
their system.
I remember a Yamaha surround processor whose rear channels sounded as if
someone
had thrown a blanket over the speakers.
If I wanted a "modest" product from a Japanese manufacturer, I wouldn't
waste my
time listening to Yamaha when there's Denon and Onkyo, two companies that
_do_
get consistently good reviews in the audiophile press. In fact, The
Abso!ute
Sound recently remarked that a fairly expensive ($4K) Denon processor was
sonically superior to a number of more-expensive components from high-end
audiophile companies.
There is one other factor, of course... If this customer is so worried
about the
sound quality of a stinking receiver (I spent more than three times that
for my
phono pickup, and that was at accommodation price), why doesn't he borrow
the
units and listen to them, hmmm? That's how you learn. That's how you make
the
decisions that are right for _you_.