Author Topic: Inherited 3 old 5.1 AVRs - which is best of 3 to keep please  (Read 5596 times)

Offline Comten

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Hello all,

Was gifted 3 now-old 5.1 AVRs, trying to determine which to keep and use as a daily driver, which to move to second line, which to use in garage.

I am hoping the collective wisdom here has experience with any/all and can suggest which to use. Thanks in advance for your help!

Note -
Yes I know there are better and now-affordable 5.X/7.X/X.X AVRs out there - but I hate to fill a landfill if all it takes is proper cabling to get value from these.  And Yes, I know - all old and with no phono support, but at least they do FM and all 3 can support the old TEAC CD player and dual-cassette drive I inherited as well.

First up, a Yamaha HTR-5930, supposedly 110W/Ch x 5 and can support an old XM Sat Radio I have that I could potentially use.
Downside to the Yammy is all speaker jacks are the old bare-wire spring-loaded type - and I spent time and energy converting speaker cables to RC jacks on the recevier end... Plus no remote.   Oh well.

Next; Sony STR-DE485, supposedly 80W/Ch x 5, looks to be able to support a variety of 5.1 adjustments; bit more to the right, bit more to the left rear, etc. Also has the dreaded spring terminals, but - it has a remote.

Lastly; the purty H/K AVR-130. Supposedly 40W/Ch x 5, looks to have some cool LFE-per-side soft-crossover settings that you can futtz with. It supports RCA speaker connections vs bare wire, and has a remote that would make a CHICOM space-shuttle pilot envious.

OldiesButGoodies

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Re: Inherited 3 old 5.1 AVRs - which is best of 3 to keep please
« Reply #1 on: May 02, 2017, 11:05:31 PM »
Hello all,

Was gifted 3 now-old 5.1 AVRs, trying to determine which to keep and use as a daily driver, which to move to second line, which to use in garage.

I am hoping the collective wisdom here has experience with any/all and can suggest which to use. Thanks in advance for your help!

Note -
Yes I know there are better and now-affordable 5.X/7.X/X.X AVRs out there - but I hate to fill a landfill if all it takes is proper cabling to get value from these.  And Yes, I know - all old and with no phono support, but at least they do FM and all 3 can support the old TEAC CD player and dual-cassette drive I inherited as well.

First up, a Yamaha HTR-5930, supposedly 110W/Ch x 5 and can support an old XM Sat Radio I have that I could potentially use.
Downside to the Yammy is all speaker jacks are the old bare-wire spring-loaded type - and I spent time and energy converting speaker cables to RC jacks on the recevier end... Plus no remote.   Oh well.

Next; Sony STR-DE485, supposedly 80W/Ch x 5, looks to be able to support a variety of 5.1 adjustments; bit more to the right, bit more to the left rear, etc. Also has the dreaded spring terminals, but - it has a remote.

Lastly; the purty H/K AVR-130. Supposedly 40W/Ch x 5, looks to have some cool LFE-per-side soft-crossover settings that you can futtz with. It supports RCA speaker connections vs bare wire, and has a remote that would make a CHICOM space-shuttle pilot envious.

Of that lot I would take the H&K, maybe followed by the Yammy. 

The missing remote for the Yamaha can be fixed with a universal one. 

The sound of HK will be better at normal volumes than the other two, I predict.

Offline Sir Thrift-a-Lot

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Re: Inherited 3 old 5.1 AVRs - which is best of 3 to keep please
« Reply #2 on: May 02, 2017, 11:07:27 PM »
Of those three I would say the Yamaha is best by a mile.   The HK is nice, but probably under powered unless you are in a small room or have big, sensitive speakers.   That particular Sony is a hunk of scrap (and I'm not a Sony hater), it's just that one was built for cheap all in one box systems.   Find on line pictures of the three with their lids off.   You'll see the difference.

bmwr75

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Re: Inherited 3 old 5.1 AVRs - which is best of 3 to keep please
« Reply #3 on: May 03, 2017, 08:47:09 AM »
Assuming they are all fully functional, I'd keep the one that weighs the most because it is better built.  Am betting that will not be the Sony.  :-)

Offline gdv

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Re: Inherited 3 old 5.1 AVRs - which is best of 3 to keep please
« Reply #4 on: May 03, 2017, 09:59:30 AM »
I agree, of those, the Sony would be last on my list...  I too am NOT a Sony hater!  :)  I have/had some Sony ES stuff that was/were worth keeping...

So either the H/K (I have an AVR 230 which I am using in one of my systems that I like) or the Yamaha...

The H/K receivers are underrated, so don't let the 40 wpc deter you...  Compare/audition the Yamaha vs. the H/K...  Let us know what goes in the house, the garage, & out the door!   ;)

My 2 cents...
George
5 out of 4 people have trouble with fractions...

OldiesButGoodies

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Re: Inherited 3 old 5.1 AVRs - which is best of 3 to keep please
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2017, 11:11:34 AM »
I agree, of those, the Sony would be last on my list...  I too am NOT a Sony hater!  :)  I have/had some Sony ES stuff that was/were worth keeping...

So either the H/K (I have an AVR 230 which I am using in one of my systems that I like) or the Yamaha...

The H/K receivers are underrated, so don't let the 40 wpc deter you...  Compare/audition the Yamaha vs. the H/K...  Let us know what goes in the house, the garage, & out the door!   ;)

My 2 cents...
George

Agree George.   Here's my take again,  with more detail:

- The HTR series from Yamaha is notorious for being the "economy" version of Yammyy receivers - that said they managed to make them sound decent.  The DSP is great if you are into DSP.   
- The H&K with its relatively small 40 wpc is actually more powerful than the Yammy's 110.  The Yamaha is rated "110 wpc at 8 ohms at 1Khz .9% distortion"  what is that supposed to mean?  Am I listening to 1 Khz tones with it?  The HK is rated at 50 wpc 20-20Khz in stero mode  at less than 0.07% distortion.  that is 13 times greater distortion at the rated level for the Yammy. 
- The short term current capacity of the HK is +-  25 amps,  which is explained by its heftier power supply (the HK weighs 11 kilos,  the Yamaha is only 9 Kg)

So all things considered I would bet the HK sounds better.

Offline Sir Thrift-a-Lot

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Re: Inherited 3 old 5.1 AVRs - which is best of 3 to keep please
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2017, 11:26:33 AM »

- The H&K with its relatively small 40 wpc is actually more powerful than the Yammy's 110.  The Yamaha is rated "110 wpc at 8 ohms at 1Khz .9% distortion"  what is that supposed to mean?  Am I listening to 1 Khz tones with it?  The HK is rated at 50 wpc 20-20Khz in stero mode  at less than 0.07% distortion.  that is 13 times greater distortion at the rated level for the Yammy. 
- The short term current capacity of the HK is +-  25 amps,  which is explained by its heftier power supply (the HK weighs 11 kilos,  the Yamaha is only 9 Kg)

So all things considered I would bet the HK sounds better.

Nice breakdown.   I didn't look up stats or weights.

Offline scorpio333

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Re: Inherited 3 old 5.1 AVRs - which is best of 3 to keep please
« Reply #7 on: May 04, 2017, 12:58:17 PM »
I'd believe the Yamaha and Sony would be more mass produced units than the HK. Whether that equates to better sound is only a guess.