Advice for audio upgrade.
I recently moved into a new house with a dedicated game room. The room is 20ft x 40ft with 8 foot ceilings. I set up my system, level matching everything, and it sounds good, but now I’m looking for that next level.
My current setup is a 12 year old Denon AVR-x2000 running Kef IQ-90’s and two Emotiva 12s powered subwoofers. I use a Roku connected to a projector for occasional movie watching and a Nintendo switch. It’s mostly used for listening to music through Tidal and is where I’m looking to achieve better sound. I run it through a Wimm Amp Pro Plus.
I don’t want to add any more speakers. The options I’m looking at are:
1. Keep the existing Denon AVR and add a separate amp such as the Marantz mm7025.
2. Swap my existing receiver for the Marantz stereo 70s.
My budget is around $1500, but may be willing go a little more. My receiver just seems like it lacks a bit of depth and what I would describe as in your face loud. I want to explore what people say when they describe warm and immersive. My music preference is along the lines of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Clapton, Toto, the rat pack.
Are either of those options a worthwhile upgrade? Any other suggestions?
@maam522a +1 OP, you have the opportunity with a room that size to have a marvelous listening space. I suggest you treat the room as best you can before you consider any equipment upgrades. You will be amazed at how good your current system sounds and will continue to be dazzled as you improve your gear. https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/room-treatment-a-primer |
Yeah, I think that's what I'm looking for. It's starting to make sense the way parkergetdean put it. Nothing is going to beat separating the HT and 2-stereo. Maybe I should rephrase the question. My co worker offered me a Parasound HCA-1000A for a great price. Obviously, a completely separate 2 channel setup would be best, but would adding it to my existing Denon using the preouts improve the sound quality at all? |
No, you do not need two separate systems, and just adding an amp only addresses half the problem because you’ll still have the AVR’s awful preamp in the signal path for 2 channel that will remain as a huge bottleneck to performance because preamps matter a lot and preamps in budget, mass market AVRs suck, period full stop. Your best option is to add a good stereo integrated amp (preferably with a HT bypass although not absolutely necessary) using the AVR’s pre outs as then the Denon will be completely out of the signal path for critical 2-channel listening, which is definitely what you want. Given the size of your room and quality of your speakers I’d shoot to more the $2500 range (used) because both quality and power go up significantly for the added $$$. Here are a few good examples just as ideas and any of which would be a huge upgrade from your Denon… https://www.ebay.com/itm/227103034626 https://www.ebay.com/itm/336323413500 https://www.ebay.com/itm/116732580914 Hope this helps, and best of luck. |
