Best AV Receiver for Music

[kennyt]

The Marantz will handle 6 Ohm loads.

[Lotus]

Wow. Some crazy advice here. Onkyo? Yamaha? Marantz (ok they are above average at music).

Best AV Receiver for music? That is simple: ARCAM. There is no substitute. If you don't want to spend as much the new Sherwood Newcastle R872 is amazing for the money. NAD is another decent choice. Rotel isn't a bad choice either.

Emotiva supposedly has a Sunfire Receiver clone, that is all the same stuff for thousands less. Not sure how up to date it is.

If you're looking for a NETWORK input then Arcam's new Receivers all have the option. The problem? The first new receiver doesn't come out until November and is $4,000. The other receivers (and their new pre-pros) won't be out until next Spring.

[Scotty]

Thanks for all of the feedback guys.

I'm really leaning towards the Denon 3808CI. I have a Denon 2800 now (about 8 years old). The music performance is pretty good, but like the reviews of all Denons, it is not intuitive at all and the remote basically sucks, but I can get by with it. The non-technical folks in my home (i.e. wife) can't use it at all. But I'm able to get it for $1,098 on a retail price of $1,699.

Anyone have any experiences with the Denon 3808?

Scotty.

[deacongreg]

Scotty,

You do need to demo some of these receivers when you can. Ultimately, You are going to live with this component. You should try and get a little familar with it, if you can.

[deacongreg]

Originally Posted by kennyt

The Marantz will handle 6 Ohm loads.

What`s going on kenny? Hope all is well. Picked some new Jazz cds that are smokin!!!!!

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by Scotty

Thanks for all of the feedback guys.

I'm really leaning towards the Denon 3808CI. I have a Denon 2800 now (about 8 years old). The music performance is pretty good, but like the reviews of all Denons, it is not intuitive at all and the remote basically sucks, but I can get by with it. The non-technical folks in my home (i.e. wife) can't use it at all. But I'm able to get it for $1,098 on a retail price of $1,699.

Anyone have any experiences with the Denon 3808?

Scotty.

I have some experience with the unit. I suggested it last year to a friend when it came out. He bought it, enjoyed it and replaced it last month with a Sherwood Newcastle R-872. The reason he replaced it was stereo playback. He had an opportunity to hear an R-872 in another persons home and was impressed with the audio. When he found out how cheap they are he went and replaced his Denon.

I believe all the Newcastles come with really nice universal remotes as well or at least they used to.

The 3808 has an interesting remote but it's not very intuitive. Their new OSD (on screen display) is pretty nice though.

I generally have these suggestions:

Budget less than $1300: Sherwood Newcastle (for a year it wasn't an option but the new units are out with HD audio codecs like the R872 and R772).

Budget less than $2000: NAD.

Budget less than $4000: Arcam.

Budget over $4000: Separates.

My personal experience has been that Onkyo, Yamaha, Denon, and Marantz are really good at putting out product that has all the bells and whistles while some of the other guys worry more about Sound Quality or Picture Quality or both.

Since you're looking to spend around $1,100 I'd suggest you demo the Sherwood Newcastle and the Denon. If music is really the priority for you, I'm pretty sure you'll decide on the Newcastle (their parent company actually manufactures the Denon receivers too).