New Member in search of tips and possible reciever recomendations

[richg]

Following my recent purchase of Aeon i, and Cinema i, It is quickly becoming apparent to me that a receiver upgrade will now happen sooner than l8tr. I am currently powering the Aeoni's with a vintage Carver M400t amp, which seems to do the trick, but now I want to step up a notch or two...or three from my HK AVR65 receiver, which i am convinced is treating my ML's like cinderella before she made it to the ball. My budget at this time may not allow for seperates, so I have been looking at several options ideally under $2500.

Rotel RSX-1067
Arcam AVR300
Or if ebay presents a can't pass opportunity:
Mcintosh MX119
Or even Sunfire Ultimate Receiver II
Although both likely pipedreams at this point.

I think I can officially state, I have now put one foot into the exiting, Highend universe of Home theater, and my wallet will never be the same!

Any creative thoughts, advice and recomendations are greatly appreciated.

I look forward to threading with all of you!

 

[SugarMedia]

Welcome to the forum Richg.

I am presuming that you are building a HT set-up, as opposed to a 2-channel setup. Is that correct?

If so, here's an interesting write up on HT. http://www.audioport.com/understanding_av.htm.

Apart from what your ears tells you is the best, be sure to pay attention to how many, "current peak to peak amps" this receiver or amp produces. It's a very important factor for ML speakers. I would also try to get something with at minimum 200 wpc.

Good luck and let us know when you're ready to talk about speaker cables

 

[kach22i]

Are you something 90% movies and 10% music?

I am 10% movies and 90 % music, which mean I seperated out my two systems making life a little less compromising.

You have a lot of options, that Carver amp has a lot of drive, not as delicate as the Adcom's nor as detailed as the Rotel's of the same vintage though - but it Rocks.

If you purchased a ROTEL RSP-1066 preamp processor or it's current equal (last years model number), you might be able to use the reciever as a tuner, and hook up three amps to it (Carver for surrounds?).

To do this on budget, you might purchase demo or used equipment. Many high-end stores take trade-in's and sell some used stuff...............that's how I outfitted my H.T. setup.

 

[richg]

Sorry, should have mentioned that I am 50/50 movies and music. (although after buying these speakers, I am buying more CDs . This is why I am considering Surround Sound AVs, and not considering a seperate amp purchase, at least imediately, because of the Carver I have.

Here are the specs out published in the manual on the Carver m400t (sad to say, this will mean more to you guys than to me at this point):

Power output: 201 watts RMS per channel into 8 ohms from20Hz to 20kHz with no more than .5% total Harmonic distorion.

Power at Clipping: 250 watts RMS per channel into 8 ohms at 1kHz. 300 Watts RMS per channel into 4 ohms at 1 kHz. 500 watts RMS per channel into 8 ohms at 1kHz.


The Aeons are 4 ohms, right? Sufficient to drive thes speakers, right? leaving the Carver in the setup, need to know where to go next.

Sugarmedia, i do have quesitons on cables...not ready yet though.

 

[77engineer]

I think you can get into the separate market a little easier than you expect. I got into separates a couple of years ago for around $2500 with a Rotel 1066 and a 1075. Granted the 1075 may be slightly underpowered for your setup but it would give you a good starting point. Down the line if you need to upgrade the amp the Rotel stuff holds it value very well.

Adam

 

[SugarMedia]

Hey Richg,

I agree with kach22 and would also look into some used/demo equipment. 2500.00 is a good chunk of change, why not stretch it?

To give you an example, my cdp and amp are now listed on audiogon. Evidently, this family just had a baby and needed the extra cash... so there are definitely some good deals to be found. http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?intatran&1125279400

As far as Rotel, there are a few on here that have that brand, but in my audition tests, they did leave the Aeons underpowered.

You may also decide to stay with the Carver and add a Preamp to it. The Carver's that I have heard were powering some pretty hefty mirage speakers and seemed to do so with ease.

Blue Circle, is another brand that a few on here swear by. Haven't heard them, but perhaps you can find a demo somewhere.

Lots to think about, huh?

Cheers,

 

[Jeff Zaret]

richg,
Welcome!

Needless to say a dainting task trying to find the right combination. First and foremost, you have set a budget and you must realize that it is an estimate.

Now having said that I can relate to you a bit of insight with Rotel equipment. I think I am one of the few who has a few pieces of Rotel. They are all separates which affords me the luxury of upgrading a piece at a time. I had their preamp which was good. I upgraded that to a Conrad Johnson preamp the difference was eye opening. It was not that the Rotel preamp was bad but the CJ opened up a whole new soundscape and dimension I did not know existed.

Ok as far as amps I stand alone on this. I have the "big" Rotel 2-channel amp and it has no problem powering my CLS's at all as well as my Depth. I basically have a 2 channel system and a HT integrated but are actually separate pieces. The Rotel amp is a hard one to beat for the price and performance. I think I would have to at least triple the price of the Rotel amp to hear a little difference and for me I will spend it elsewhere.

Everything is a compromise. If you can pre-out of your receiver into a more power amp start there. If you can also pre-out to a separate preamp of "higher" quality do that. Do it in stages, small steps that way you minimize the "DOH" affect of......... I should of gone this way..........

Read a lot, ask a ton of questions, audition equipment and do not rule out used pieces.

I would plan your changes over a period of time, like the rest of the summer, that way you can decide, have fun and maybe increase the WAF.

We are all here to help so ask a bunch of questions cause we all have opinions

LOL

Good Luck

Jeff