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  #1   Report Post  
Jason Wong
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

I'm looking to upgrade to a new Pro Logic II receiver and am undecided
between the Denon AVR-1603 or the Yamaha HTR-5550. I can get both for
the same price of $400 CAN. I haven't been able to compare the two
yet as they are sold by separate dealers where I'm from. Just wanted
to get the audiophile's opinion on this one. Thanks!

-- Jason
  #2   Report Post  
crazysaybi
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

I'm not an audiophile, per se, but from what I've read, heard and
experienced, George is spot on about Denons producing a better bass sound
and Yamaha being the better sound processor. At that price range, you
should go for the Yamaha because it sounds like you'd probably have
lower-end speakers that won't handle bass too well anyhow, so might as well
go for the better overall sound.

"George M. Middius" wrote in message
...


Jason Wong said:

I'm looking to upgrade to a new Pro Logic II receiver and am undecided
between the Denon AVR-1603 or the Yamaha HTR-5550. I can get both for
the same price of $400 CAN. I haven't been able to compare the two
yet as they are sold by separate dealers where I'm from. Just wanted
to get the audiophile's opinion on this one. Thanks!


This audiophile says Denons have better base and Yamahas have better
surround processors.

But if you wait until you can up your budget by, ahem, 100%, you can
get the best of both worlds with inexpensive separates. Plus a few
more cables, of course.




  #3   Report Post  
Jason Wong
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

Have a couple more questions to add to this discussion after perusing
through both operating manuals.

1) The specs for this Denon say 80W per channel, and the Yamaha 75W.
Does this translate into a large difference?

2) Does this Yamaha have no coaxial audio input for DVD? It appears to
only have one for CD, and optical input for DVD only. I wonder if that
makes me screwed because my DVD player has no optical audio output

3) Does the Denon remote not have TV Input button? No VCR record
button? Do the number keys have no use in VCR mode (i.e. selecting
channels).

  #4   Report Post  
William Sommerwerck
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

Don't even THINK about buying anything Yamaha. Get the Denon.
  #5   Report Post  
William Sommerwerck
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

This audiophile says Denons have better base...

Better base? You mean the cabinet is sturdier?


  #6   Report Post  
William Sommerwerck
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

But we're supposed to the tell the guy what his preference _should_ be.


George M. Middius wrote...

William Sommerwerck said:


Don't even THINK about buying anything Yamaha. Get the Denon.


That's quite stupid. Buy the one you prefer.

  #7   Report Post  
Ken Catchpole
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver


"Jason Wong" wrote in message
...
Have a couple more questions to add to this discussion after perusing
through both operating manuals.


I have a Yamaha 5550, and love it to bits. It's my first system, and I was
working to a budget (no sub) but it's great for the money.

Having quickly looked at the Denon specs (and obviously exhibting bias
here), if it bothers you, neither amp has true 6.1 outputs, but while the
Denon doesn't appear to have any 6.1 capability, the 5550 can handle 6.1
inputs by converting them to 5.1 and using a 'virtual' 6th speaker (which
basically means output from the two rear surrounds). It's not ideal, but it
does work surprisingly well.

2) Does this Yamaha have no coaxial audio input for DVD? It appears to
only have one for CD, and optical input for DVD only. I wonder if that
makes me screwed because my DVD player has no optical audio output


My DVD player only had coaxial output, and after being initially concerned,
I found this isn't something to worry about at all. Yes it has coaxial
input, but not for the default DVD channel. I think the default coaxial
input is CD. However, it's *very* easy to reconfigure the input labels in
the menu system so that the DVD signal is read from the coaxial input. The
manual tells you how to do it.

The remote is good, though how compatible you can make it with your other
equipment will depend upon the make of equipment. It works brilliantly with
my Sony DVD, but not at all with my, ahem, Schneider TV.

Matrix 6.1, changing inputs, and remote configuration are all in the manual.



  #8   Report Post  
badger
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

Why?

--


There are 10 kinds of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!
"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
Don't even THINK about buying anything Yamaha. Get the Denon.



  #9   Report Post  
Espen Braathen
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver


"Jason Wong" wrote in message
...
Have a couple more questions to add to this discussion after perusing
through both operating manuals.

1) The specs for this Denon say 80W per channel, and the Yamaha 75W.
Does this translate into a large difference?


It translates into no difference.


Espen B



  #10   Report Post  
Arny Krueger
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver


"Jason Wong" wrote in message
...
Have a couple more questions to add to this discussion after perusing
through both operating manuals.

1) The specs for this Denon say 80W per channel, and the Yamaha 75W.
Does this translate into a large difference?


Not at all.


2) Does this Yamaha have no coaxial audio input for DVD? It appears to
only have one for CD, and optical input for DVD only. I wonder if that
makes me screwed because my DVD player has no optical audio output.


Why worry about having two optical players?






  #11   Report Post  
William Sommerwerck
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

Don't even THINK about buying anything Yamaha. Get the Denon.

Why?


Because Yamaha has a terrible reputation. Few Yamaha products have ever gotten
favorable reviews in the American audiophile magazines, whereas Denon and Onkyo
products commonly do. Some of the worst-sounding surround products I reviewed
for Stereophile were Yamaha.

  #12   Report Post  
Steven Sullivan
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

In alt.home-theater.misc William Sommerwerck wrote:
Don't even THINK about buying anything Yamaha. Get the Denon.


Why?


Because Yamaha has a terrible reputation. Few Yamaha products have ever gotten
favorable reviews in the American audiophile magazines,



Wow, talk about praising with faint damns.

Of the two units named, the original poster should buy the one
which has the most features he wants. Since he specifically mentioned
that he's interested in Pro Logic II, one thing to check into is
the configurability of the Pro Logic II mode. It's not price-correlated.
I have a Yammy 5540 and a Harmon Kardon AVR520; the latter cost
several hundred more than the former, and has more features and power, but
happens to be *less* configurable in DPL II made than the Yammy. The Yammies
allow you to adjust 'panorama' and a few other
user-configurable features of DPL II , whereas the H-K has
a 'fixed' DPL II config. Don't know about the Denon.




--
-S.

  #13   Report Post  
Matt
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

"crazysaybi" wrote in message
...
I'm not an audiophile, per se, but from what I've read, heard and
experienced, George is spot on about Denons producing a better bass sound
and Yamaha being the better sound processor. At that price range, you
should go for the Yamaha because it sounds like you'd probably have
lower-end speakers that won't handle bass too well anyhow, so might as

well
go for the better overall sound.


If Denons produce a better bass sound, and Yamaha have a better surround
processor, are there any of the same comparisions that can be made with the
low end Onkyo and Harmon Kardon receivers? Since the other 2 mentioned here
have areas that they are better at, I was just wondering if these 2 brands
have a "trademark" area.

Thanks for your help,
Matt


  #14   Report Post  
Sugarite
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

I'm looking to upgrade to a new Pro Logic II receiver and am undecided
between the Denon AVR-1603 or the Yamaha HTR-5550. I can get both for
the same price of $400 CAN. I haven't been able to compare the two
yet as they are sold by separate dealers where I'm from. Just wanted
to get the audiophile's opinion on this one. Thanks!


An audiophile would spend the $400 on a better stereo amp and actually get
decent tone.


  #15   Report Post  
William Sommerwerck
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

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_.



  #16   Report Post  
Steven Sullivan
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

In alt.home-theater.misc George M. Middius wrote:


Steven Sullivan said:


Of the two units named, the original poster should buy the one
which has the most features he wants.


Believe it or not, even $300 receivers can be distinguished
sonically. Is sound quality a "feature"?


Middius, eh? I remember rec.audio.opinion from before you befouled
it.

*plonk*



--
-S.

  #17   Report Post  
William Sommerwerck
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

In and of themselves, these things prove nothing, but I usually
know what I'm talking about.


Not in this case. The only rap I've ever heard about Yamaha is
that bricks & mortar dealers don't give much discount off list.


I'm talking 25 years ago and more.

There was a time when "a certain class" of hi-fi dealers sold Yamaha, B&O, and
Macintosh. (You never saw just one or two of these brands in the stores --
always These Three. (That's a movie-title joke.) These were considered the top
brands by "the great unwashed," so such dealers didn't get much respect from
audiophiles.

I do not, however, believe that this is the source of the disrespect for Yamaha.
After all, the first Denon products in this country were mass-market garbage,
which was _never_ the case with Yamaha. Yamaha simply didn't produce
consistently good products.

Oddly, the first CD player with any wide acceptance among anti-digital
audiophiles was a not-very-expensive Yamaha.

  #18   Report Post  
William Sommerwerck
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

Is someone who records live performances, but isn't paid for it.

What an "amateur recordist", is?

  #19   Report Post  
Rob Adelman
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver



William Sommerwerck wrote:


Oddly, the first CD player with any wide acceptance among anti-digital
audiophiles was a not-very-expensive Yamaha.


Was that the natural sound series? I had a cassette deck and a tuner
from this series.

  #20   Report Post  
 
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Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

Reasonable. I just hate when people don't qualify there remarks.

Clay

--


There are 10 kinds of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!
"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
Don't even THINK about buying anything Yamaha. Get the Denon.


Why?


Because Yamaha has a terrible reputation. Few Yamaha products have ever

gotten
favorable reviews in the American audiophile magazines, whereas Denon and

Onkyo
products commonly do. Some of the worst-sounding surround products I

reviewed
for Stereophile were Yamaha.





  #21   Report Post  
dave weil
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 17:07:54 -0700, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

After all, the first Denon products in this country were mass-market garbage


Untrue.
  #22   Report Post  
dave weil
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 19:29:52 -0500, in rec.audio.opinion you wrote:

Oddly, the first CD player with any wide acceptance among anti-digital
audiophiles was a not-very-expensive Yamaha.


Untrue again.
  #23   Report Post  
Brad Clarke
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 19:29:52 -0500, Rob Adelman
wrote:



William Sommerwerck wrote:


Oddly, the first CD player with any wide acceptance among anti-digital
audiophiles was a not-very-expensive Yamaha.


Was that the natural sound series? I had a cassette deck and a tuner
from this series.

I still have a CDX-410U that I bought in 1987. It skips a bit and the
door doesn't always open. I'm going to take it to the shop to get
cleaned, etc. and use in my second system.

I also have an AX-500 amp, TX-500 tuner, K-340B and KX-930 Cassette
decks.

Brad
  #24   Report Post  
crazysaybi
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

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_.



  #25   Report Post  
JBorg
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

William Sommerwerck wrote:
George M. Middius wrote...
William Sommerwerck said:





Don't even THINK about buying anything Yamaha. Get the Denon.


That's quite stupid. Buy the one you prefer.


But we're supposed to the tell the guy what his preference _should_ be.


That is still quite because the guy is asking for opinions, not
what his preference should be.


  #26   Report Post  
Ken Catchpole
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver


"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
Don't even THINK about buying anything Yamaha. Get the Denon.


Rubbish.
If you want "opinion", listen to this poster. If you want helpful advice,
listen to everyone else.



  #27   Report Post  
Andrew M.
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

Your DVD player can probably play CD's too so it's not a problem. I have
a Yamaha receiver with 3 optical and one coax input.

Arny Krueger wrote:
"Jason Wong" wrote in message
...

Have a couple more questions to add to this discussion after perusing
through both operating manuals.

1) The specs for this Denon say 80W per channel, and the Yamaha 75W.
Does this translate into a large difference?



Not at all.



2) Does this Yamaha have no coaxial audio input for DVD? It appears to
only have one for CD, and optical input for DVD only. I wonder if that
makes me screwed because my DVD player has no optical audio output.



Why worry about having two optical players?





  #28   Report Post  
William Sommerwerck
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

It was the 303, I believe. Don't remember the alpha prefix.

I remember when it came out ca. 1986 (?). It was the first CD player that got
grudgingly favorable reviews.

Oddly, the first CD player with any wide acceptance among
anti-digital audiophiles was a not-very-expensive Yamaha.


Untrue again.


  #29   Report Post  
William Sommerwerck
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

Is that all you can say? Untrue? How profound. How insightful.

In 1973, few people in the US had heard of Denon (Nippon Columbia). Their
products were just starting to be sold. I was working at Stansbury's at the
Reisterstown Road Plaza just outside Baltimore.

A rep came in to get us to carry Denon products. They were crappy little compact
systems. I verbally trashed him and sent him packing.

After all, the first Denon products in this country were
mass-market garbage


Untrue.


  #30   Report Post  
William Sommerwerck
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

That is still quite because the guy is asking for opinions,
not what his preference should be.


No, he's asking us to tell him what to buy. He's looking to us as "experts" to
give him the absolute truth so he can buy the "right" product.



  #31   Report Post  
Andrew M.
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

I auditioned Denon, Yamaha, Sony and Marantz before I decided on the
Yamaha receiver for my home surround system. It sounded as good as units
costing 4 times as much. It also has pre amp outs for all channels so I
can bypass the Yamaha power amp. It has a very comprehensive feature set
AND you can disable the DSP processing. Feature for feature I think that
a $400-500 Yamaha is the way to go. Go to a Hi Fi store and audition
them through the same set of speakers.

Andrew M. wrote:

Your DVD player can probably play CD's too so it's not a problem. I have
a Yamaha receiver with 3 optical and one coax input.

Arny Krueger wrote:

"Jason Wong" wrote in message
...

Have a couple more questions to add to this discussion after perusing
through both operating manuals.

1) The specs for this Denon say 80W per channel, and the Yamaha 75W.
Does this translate into a large difference?




Not at all.



2) Does this Yamaha have no coaxial audio input for DVD? It appears to
only have one for CD, and optical input for DVD only. I wonder if that
makes me screwed because my DVD player has no optical audio output.




Why worry about having two optical players?






  #32   Report Post  
dave weil
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 03:48:12 -0700, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

It was the 303, I believe. Don't remember the alpha prefix.

I remember when it came out ca. 1986 (?). It was the first CD player that got
grudgingly favorable reviews.


That was about the same time that the Denon DCD 1500 came out, with
more than grudgingly favorable reviews.

Oddly, the first CD player with any wide acceptance among
anti-digital audiophiles was a not-very-expensive Yamaha.


Untrue again.


  #33   Report Post  
dave weil
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 03:52:15 -0700, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

Is that all you can say? Untrue? How profound. How insightful.


Well, you didn't say much more, now did you?

In 1973, few people in the US had heard of Denon (Nippon Columbia). Their
products were just starting to be sold. I was working at Stansbury's at the
Reisterstown Road Plaza just outside Baltimore.

A rep came in to get us to carry Denon products. They were crappy little compact
systems. I verbally trashed him and sent him packing.


And how do you know that they were the only Denon's being offered?
They may have been simply what the rep thought Stansbury's was fit to
sell. I believe, at that time, they also had what most people
considered decent turntables. They had already sold the first PCM
digital recorder to pro studios and had been selling one of the most
renowned cartridges for years, the DL103, which I think is *still*
being marketed today. I have no idea what their product mix was in
1973, but I would be surprised if it didn't include the same sort of
mix (although probably downsized) than it did later on.

BTW, just to show that I'm not totally biased, I'll note that my Denon
receiver is having some switching problems at the moment as well as
seemingly being unable to activate the subwoofer. Seems like the more
"computerized" our receivers (and reliant on digital technology as
well it seems), the more service problems we have to suffer with.

After all, the first Denon products in this country were
mass-market garbage


Untrue.


  #34   Report Post  
Andrew M.
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver



dave weil wrote:

On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 03:48:12 -0700, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:


It was the 303, I believe. Don't remember the alpha prefix.

I remember when it came out ca. 1986 (?). It was the first CD player that got
grudgingly favorable reviews.



That was about the same time that the Denon DCD 1500 came out, with
more than grudgingly favorable reviews.


Oddly, the first CD player with any wide acceptance among
anti-digital audiophiles was a not-very-expensive Yamaha.


Untrue again.



Instead of just saying "untrue", why not back it up with some info? I
for one am very interested.

  #35   Report Post  
Sockpuppet Yustabe
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver


"George M. Middius" wrote in message
...


Willie Sommerdork said:

That is still quite because the guy is asking for opinions,
not what his preference should be.


No, he's asking us to tell him what to buy. He's looking to us as

"experts" to
give him the absolute truth so he can buy the "right" product.


How's that egomania problem coming, Willie?



Willie should post on RAAT
rec.audio.absolute.truth




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  #36   Report Post  
Scott Dorsey
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

Rob Adelman wrote:
William Sommerwerck wrote:

Oddly, the first CD player with any wide acceptance among anti-digital
audiophiles was a not-very-expensive Yamaha.


Was that the natural sound series? I had a cassette deck and a tuner
from this series.


Yamaha basically introduced the first sigma-delta converters, using
their "bitstream" chips. Unfortunately they didn't have the idle tone
problems solved at that point and some of the whistles drove people up
the wall, but it was clear that they sounded generally a whole lot better
than the second-generation Philips 16-bit ladder DAC chipsets.

On the other hand, the Yamaha AES/EBU interface chip set is responsible
for a lot of the misconceptions about jitter that permeate the audiophile
community these days. Lots of folks built devices with converters that
didn't reclock and which used the internal PLL on the Yamaha chip to derive
a nasty jitter-laden clock from the input signal. All -kinds- of things would
change the sound on the output, even cable length. Not good.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
  #37   Report Post  
Leadfoot
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

I love my Yamaha RX-V630

"Andrew M." wrote in message
...
I auditioned Denon, Yamaha, Sony and Marantz before I decided on the
Yamaha receiver for my home surround system. It sounded as good as units
costing 4 times as much. It also has pre amp outs for all channels so I
can bypass the Yamaha power amp. It has a very comprehensive feature set
AND you can disable the DSP processing. Feature for feature I think that
a $400-500 Yamaha is the way to go. Go to a Hi Fi store and audition
them through the same set of speakers.

Andrew M. wrote:

Your DVD player can probably play CD's too so it's not a problem. I have
a Yamaha receiver with 3 optical and one coax input.

Arny Krueger wrote:

"Jason Wong" wrote in message
...

Have a couple more questions to add to this discussion after perusing
through both operating manuals.

1) The specs for this Denon say 80W per channel, and the Yamaha 75W.
Does this translate into a large difference?



Not at all.



2) Does this Yamaha have no coaxial audio input for DVD? It appears

to
only have one for CD, and optical input for DVD only. I wonder if

that
makes me screwed because my DVD player has no optical audio output.



Why worry about having two optical players?








  #38   Report Post  
Jason Wong
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

Okay everyone, I thought I might put an end to this "heated" debate by
saying that I bought the Denon AVR-1603 yesterday. My choice was
relatively simple; unfortunately I wasn't able to sample both at the
same time, because they were being sold by separate dealers. But the
dealer selling the Denon was able to give me $100 trade-in for my
Pioneer dolby digital (non pro-logic II, non DTS), so I got the Denon
for $400 CAN. I got the dealer to showcase the receiver with the same
Paradigm Titan fronts that I currently own, and a CC-170 centre which
I also eventually bought! Unfortunately the Yamaha dealer didn't have
Paradigm speakers and their store and wouldn't offer me a tradein, so
I never even got to test the unit out. In the end I think I got a
steal because the 1603 was already marked down significantly because
they were the last two units in the store. They said once they were
gone, they'd get teh 1604s in which would sell back at regular price
of around $650.

So far I'm quite happy with the Denon. Finally listening to the DTS
surround tracks on my DVDs makes a world of a difference.
Unfortunately the numbers on the remote don't work in VCR mode, which
is a shame because I use my VCR like a cable box to extend the limited
channel range on my old TV. Oh well, I guess that means I'll have to
upgrade my TV soon!

Thanks for all the "opinions" strewn about in this thread. They
were.... insightful. ;-)

-- Jason
  #39   Report Post  
hawke
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

No offense, but blanket statements like that are just plain bad advice.

I understand you may have had some bad listening experiences with Yamaha 25
years ago, but the company has changed its product line just a little bit
since then. I'm a fan of free speech, and you can continue saying whatever
you like. But to write off an entire company is something that everyone here
should take with a grain of salt - a very small grain.

I have found the Yamaha line to be exceptional once you get above a certain
price point. Their RX-V3000, 3300, V1, and Z1 receivers offer excceptional
quality. The new Z9 set to be released any day now offers high-performance
burr-brown 24-bit DACs for all 11 channels. While it lacks DVI switching, it
all but eclipses separates in its price class in terms of quality and
feature set.

I can also say the same for the Denon 5803.

As for your price point. Give them both a listen if you can, and see if you
like to listen to DSP when you watch movies. If you do, then the Yamaha will
have an edge. If you tastes are for mostly music, the Denon may sound better
to you.

- Clint DeBoer
CD Media Website Design & Marketing
www.cdmedia.com

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
Don't even THINK about buying anything Yamaha. Get the Denon.



  #40   Report Post  
hawke
 
Posts: n/a
Default Denon vs Yamaha receiver

Uh huh... Check out this positive Yamaha RX-Z1 review

http://www.audioholics.com/productre...haRXZ1-p1.html

AH is one of the more popular [sans e-commerce] home theater review
websites. While it's not a magazine, according to Alexa.com it gets more
traffic than Sterophile.com and it doesn't have a magazine to market itself.

Your 25 year old pre-DVD experience notwithstanding, I have never heard of
Yamaha having a poor reputation, and we talk every week with reps from
Denon, Onkyo, Integra Research, Tannoy, Sherbourn and Marantz to name a
few...

A quick glance at any of the online audiophile forums will also confirm
this. No one dogs Yamaha except the elitists who listen to tube amps and buy
$5000 speaker wire so their 30 year-old LPs sound "fruity".

- Clint DeBoer
CD Media Website Design & Marketing
www.cdmedia.com

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
Don't even THINK about buying anything Yamaha. Get the Denon.


Why?


Because Yamaha has a terrible reputation. Few Yamaha products have ever

gotten
favorable reviews in the American audiophile magazines, whereas Denon and

Onkyo
products commonly do. Some of the worst-sounding surround products I

reviewed
for Stereophile were Yamaha.



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