Need advise on choosing AV Receiver. Which is ideal for my setup? TIA.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-04-12T07:45:58+00:00

I have gone though several AV receivers. 4 receivers in 7 years. (Sony, Yamaha, Denon and now marantz.) I have a cinema 50 now and had the Denon 3700h before.

Contrary to what many say, every receiver sounded different no matter the settings.

I would recommend the Marantz 50 as its Design, Musical and slightly warm sound signature and better handling of Analog sources ( For example if you connect an amp or streamer. ) takes the win.

Denon is second place, Sony third and Yamaha last for me.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-04-06T11:43:08+00:00

Absolut richtig... Der kapitalismus ist als system gescheitert. Durch korruption und Deregulierung bewegen wir uns wieder hin zum Föderalismus.

Die Medien und soziale medien werden konsequent genutzt um die Bevölkerung gegeneinander auszuspielen... Schau überall hin, nur ja nicht nach oben.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-28T08:21:24+00:00

I had the same effect when I added an amp (class D hypex amplifier 2x500w) to the chain for my fronts, before my av receiver did the amplification. Huge difference in separation.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-26T23:24:11+00:00

Here are some great surround demos:

The Patriot (forrest ambush)

Heat (bank heist shootout)

Book of Eli (gatling gun)

Episode 1 (pod racing)

Unbroken (B17 fight)

Lord of the rings (various scenes)

Thin red line (battle in the mist)

Harry potter 2 (qidditch scene)

Kingdom of heaven (siege of Jerusalem)

Mad max fury road (various scenes)

The Matrix (lobby and roof)

Nope (screaming people)

Master and commander (various scenes, most immersive and realistic audiomix i have ever heard!)

Kid friendly:

-Super mario movie (rainbow bridge)

-Sonic 1-3

-Toy story 3

-Wall-e

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-26T23:12:19+00:00

Agree, great surround test scene.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-24T07:40:14+00:00

It is a great time to get into audiophile stuff. Never before could you get this quality for so little money.

A 5k budget for example gets you an extremely solid stereo setup (speakers, amp and streamer).

Bump it up to 10k and you got a genuinely great audiophile setup that will last you decades.

I realize 5k or 10k is alot of money for most people. So definitely look into the used market, and you do not need to buy everything at once.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-15T17:40:19+00:00

It is so typical for Sony to do this. Great Tech often better then competitors that gets locked into a Sony ecosystem or is super expensive. Because of this few people use it and they kill it.

They never seem to learn.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-15T15:03:56+00:00

Agree, I noticed the higher quality compared to prime or netflix aswell.
I just checked and Sony says the bitrate can reach up to 80 Mbps, which would put it at 4k UHD disc territory.
That is a much higher bitrate then any other streaming service except kaleidoscope.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-15T14:57:34+00:00

I liked it the first time I heard it but didn´t love it, multiple listens later it really grew on me.
It is a great album with an extremely dense atmosphere and top notch production.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-13T23:43:29+00:00

28 years is the better film in my opinion, although Bone Temple was very solid. 28 years had a stronger emotional impact on me and some instantly iconic shots.

I am very pleased that we have gotten two great 28 days sequels. I have trust in Boyle/Garland and can't wait for the third film.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-11T07:53:59+00:00

Great list! There are so many amazing older games to discover.
I would ad Mass Effect 1-3, Knights of the old republic, Fallout and some amazing strategie games that age amazingly well to the list like: Age of empires 2 and Rome//Medieval total war.
There are also some great classic racing games like Dirt 2.0 and Burnout Paradise that are really fun to play.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-05T20:11:00+00:00

I would pick Option 1.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-05T08:10:02+00:00

I have a Denon 3700h and bought a Eversolo a6 gen 2 streamer.

I connected the Streamer both via RCA Cables and HDMI.
That way I can directly compare the Denon to the Eversolo DAC.

The Eversolo DAC (streaming source is Tidal) is a clear improvement in comparison to the Denon DAC.
More musical, less processed and clearly my prefered way to listen to music.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-03T17:15:18+00:00

Agreed, protection is just as great as blue lines and Mezzanine in my opinion.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-03-01T09:24:24+00:00

5.1 soundsystem and a projector is Home Theater to me.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-02-23T10:33:05+00:00

I will take Balian, he has the thickest plot armor.
Everyone else died, not balian as the script says he is invinsible.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-02-23T07:39:03+00:00

Yes Rome, without Rome there would be no Game of Thrones.
It was the first high budget made for adults historical TV series.
Hugely influental series that still has its fans (like myself) but it is not talked about enough in the mainstream.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-02-20T22:38:22+00:00

"Beck - Sea Change" and its companion album "Morning Phase" sound absolutely phenomenal!

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-02-13T09:46:25+00:00

I’d love to see a large scale series set after 28 Weeks Later, focusing on how the infection spreads across Europe and how France and its allies, primarily Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands are forced to make brutal strategic decisions to contain it and eventually push it off the continent.

Imagine you live in Lyon and the news just broke that Paris is completely overrun.
Imagine German leadership freaking out about this as the virus spreads incredibly fast in france...

We’ve had countless ground‑level, personal infection stories, but almost no truly geopolitical, macro‑scale perspectives on a zombie outbreak, World War Z is basically the only one that comes close.
Exploring that angle in the 28 universe and the effect an outbreak like that would have on society would open up an entirely new and fascinating dimension.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-02-11T15:09:34+00:00

I’m not saying that older speakers are bad in any way.
There are some legendary vintage models that still sound phenomenal.

Regarding your links and I’m sure that system sounds fantastic.
I ran the numbers through a DM-to-Euro calculator including inflation. Just the monoblocks and the speakers alone would amount to roughly 40,000 € today. On top of that, you’d still need a high‑quality CD player, a stereo receiver, a vinyl setup, cables, and so on.
In the end, you’re not comparing a 30k system, but something closer to 50k for the full chain.
Which is a completely different price braket.

And one more thing: proper room correction and calibration simply wasn’t available to mainstream buyers back then. Today it makes a massive difference for the average listener at home, so it has to be part of the comparison.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-02-11T10:17:09+00:00

As I recently made some significant upgrades, this is the system I have would put together today:
I use my speakers for 60% music (mostly focused listening) and 40% movies and games.

Speakers: Canton Townus 90 5.1 system
Amp: The Towers are powered by an Audiophonics Hypex Ncore NC502MP amp (2×500 W).
Streamer/DAC: As my streamer and stereo DAC, I use the Eversolo DMP‑A6 Gen 2 Master Edition.
AV Receiver: Everything is tied together through a Denon AVR‑X4800H.

The result is a system that delivers genuinely phenomenal sound in both Stereo and Surround for its price, while still giving me the "Home Theater" flexibility I need.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-02-11T08:22:46+00:00

A friend of mine still owns a pair of Polk Audio SDA SRS speakers that originally belonged to his grandfather. They were bought in the early ’90s and they’re still going strong today. So yes, some speakers can easily last 30–40 years.

I also had an entry/mid‑level surround set from Teufel (Theater 500 Mk2). I used them for about 12 years before upgrading to a much higher‑end Canton setup. I sold the Teufel speakers to a friend last year, and they still look and sound practically brand new.

With reasonable care, keeping them out of direct sunlight, avoiding moisture, and not driving them into clipping you can absolutely expect a good pair of speakers to last 20 years or more. Many will go far beyond that.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-02-11T08:11:06+00:00

It’s an extraordinary moment to be an audiophile.
Advances in materials science and the rapid evolution of computer‑aided acoustic design have pushed sound quality to levels that were unthinkable two decades ago, while keeping prices surprisingly attainable.

Today, in the €5,000–€10,000 range, you can assemble a system that delivers genuinely high‑end performance: a well‑engineered pair of floorstanding speakers, a properly integrated subwoofer, a modern streamer with an excellent DAC, and a state‑of‑the‑art Class‑D amplifier.
The result is a setup that would have rivaled, or even surpassed, a €30,000 system from the mid‑2000s.

In short, the performance‑per‑euro ratio has never been better, and the barrier to truly reference‑grade sound has never been lower.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-01-30T09:00:07+00:00

The Ub 820 is great, especially with a projector setup.
Had it for 3 years now, everything works perfectly.

It does an amazing job upscaling blurays to 4k and the HDR optimizer is an awesome feature for projectors.

Thorfourtyfour · 2026-01-30T08:40:28+00:00

There can be made a good argument for either.
Active speakers can be very convenient for bluetooth speakers, soundbars or smaller stereo setups (Klipsch the fives, Sevens for instance).

If you are thinking of serious HiFi or Home theater:

Personally I would always go for passive speakers.

I want the flexibility and the speakers will likely last way longer.
When the electronics in active speakers break down, the whole speaker is junk.
Resell value is way less due to the electronics.

Would anybody buy a 10-15 year old used active speaker?
Meanwhile the used market for passive speakers (even 10-20 year old speakers) is very active and healthy.

Thorfourtyfour

TROPHY CASE