Pioneer SC-75
I recommend the following receivers for home theater use based on observed performance of these products. The power you need to drive your system will depend on your speaker efficiency, speaker impedance, desired sound levels and room size. A product with some type of loudness correction is recommended if you listen at low levels regularly. The best of these are found in THX certified products.
- Yamaha AVENTAGE series (most flexible sound adjustments to correct for frequency errors and highly recommended for speakers less than about $5,000 a pair which are likely to have larger and more complex frequency errors.)
- Pioneer Elite (low distortion digital amplifiers that run cool for tight cabinets, high quality phase compensation and PQLS jitter reduction)
- Marantz (quality units that are easy to use.)
Tags: recommended receivers
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Any thoughts on the Emotiva Fusion 8001? Appears to the UMC200 processor with a seven channel Emotiva amp added. Effectively a UMC200-based receiver.
Considering this versus a similarly priced Yamaha like the Aventage 1030 (ie, a model with PEQ on all channels and pre-outs for connection to an external amp for the front channels).
(not 8001 but 8100)
I would be concerned about the power capability of such a small receiver. If you need 60 watts per channel or less it is probably a good pick.
Thanks for the advice. It actually has the same power as the Yamaha 1030, ie, 110 watts per channel when two channels are driven (8ohms load).
It’s funny that Yamaha calls that a 110 watt receiver, but Emotiva (while telling you what the two channel’s driven response is, ie, 110 watts) calls theirs a 65watt receiver, since that is the output with all seven channels going…..
I use outboard amps for the front three channels, so it’s probably okay. At this point, I am trying to decide if the quirks of the Emotiva are worthwhile, or whether the PEQ on the Yamaha is adequate….
…..because the PEQ on the Yamaha can only be adjusted to 1/3 octave precision, and not at all for the sub on several Aventage models. Maybe that’s okay for the mains, but perhaps a minidsp for the sub is a good call with the Yamaha.
For reference, so that people reading this understand what I am talking about, here is how the Yamaha’s work:
Filters:
7 filters for normal channels, only 2 filters may use frequencies below 198 Hz
2 filters for subwoofer, only frequencies between 31.3 Hz to 250Hz
Frequency: (selectable from)
31.3 Hz
39.4 Hz
49.6 Hz
62.5 Hz
78.7 Hz
99.2 Hz
125 Hz
157.5 Hz
198.4 Hz
250 Hz
315 Hz
396.9 Hz
500 Hz
630 Hz
793.7 Hz
1.0 kHz
1.26 kHz
1.59 kHz
2.0 kHz
2.52 kHz
3.17 kHz
4.0 kHz
5.04 kHz
6.35 kHz
8.0 kHz
10.1 kHz
12.7 kHz
16.0 kHz
Gain: (0.5 increments)
-20 to +6 dB
Q: (selectable from)
0.5
0.630
0.794
1.0
1.260
1.587
2.0
2.520
3.175
4.0
5.040
6.350
8.0
10.080
The more flexibility the better when it comes to EQ. The value of it varies by each system. In general the better the gear the less the value. Aerial 20T’s which cost about $35K a pair for example need little EQ if any when setup properly.