Calling All Home Theater Junkies...

[mudpuppy]

kind of related, but does anyone use a good fan for cooling a stereo receiver inside of an enterntainment center?

at our new years eve party we had to take the receiver out of the entertainment unit and put a fan on it to keep it working, i guess they are not meant for prolonged hours cranked up for "home use"

One of my amplifiers literally caught on fire once. Not good.

 

[Boomer01 PE]

kind of related, but does anyone use a good fan for cooling a stereo receiver inside of an enterntainment center?

at our new years eve party we had to take the receiver out of the entertainment unit and put a fan on it to keep it working, i guess they are not meant for prolonged hours cranked up for "home use"

Onkyo?

 

[Supe]

Onkyo's and Yamaha's run notoriously hot. My Pioneer if run at high output while doing a lot of video processing will get uncomfortably hot, but those heat sinks on the ICE amps are roughly the size of my head, and it performs flawlessly.

 

[Boomer01 PE]

My Denon has never had a heat issue.

 

[Dexman PE PMP]

Ive had my Denon for years without any problem. Its outlasted every other component in my system.

 

[Supe]

My Denon 3801 lasted I think 12 years before one of the rear channels crapped out on me. That includes making a few trips cross country. The other 5 channels are still functioning to this day.

 

[knight1fox3]

My Pioneer Elite series has been able to take quite the beating. Also had another Pioneer before that which lasted through college and all the house parties. The amp finally started having power issues after college around the 12-year mark.

 

[pbrme]

I'm looking at upgrading soon, so this is helpful for me. Anyone have issues with Bose? also, whats the best bang for your buck (used, new, brands, ect.) IYO?

 

[knight1fox3]

I'm looking at upgrading soon, so this is helpful for me. Anyone have issues with Bose? also, whats the best bang for your buck (used, new, brands, ect.) IYO?

Best bang for your buck that I've seen lately has actually been Onkyo. It's tough to beat the price for all that you can get in some of the 5.1 and 7.1 packages. But two things, as others mentioned, they tend to run hot and they are more on the "mid-grade" level in terms of performance from what I've seen. They usually have nice features though. If you're looking to go for more power and long-term brand reliability, then you will pay more of premium when looking at higher end systems like Denon, Bose, Pioneer Elite, Marantz, etc. Two key features for me in my recent upgrade were plenty of HDMI ports (in & out) and on-screen display for programming/setting up speakers. And finally input modes that are customizable. Man is that so much nicer than the old single line LCD set-up. One other thing I'd be looking for if I were to upgrade again would be Ethernet/Wi-Fi connectivity. Hope that helps.

 

[Supe]

I'm looking at upgrading soon, so this is helpful for me. Anyone have issues with Bose? also, whats the best bang for your buck (used, new, brands, ect.) IYO?

Run from Bose kicking and screaming. It is 100% marketing, and has the worst price to performance ratio of all things audio.

If you can provide us with what it is your looking for and approximate price point, I can give you some suggestions.

 

[pbrme]

Thanks for the intel guys! I'm in the air on price, nothing over 1k tho. Don't know what I'd gain 5.1 vs. 7.1 and after listening to a Bose setup at Best Buy (base cab and three speakers) am kinda hooked for 8fiddy. I've got a projector basement setup. I like KF's HDMI port and on-screen display req's and would steer this way. Ethernet would be cool, access to Pandora would be nice (but maybe on the PS3?). As for my specs: under a grand, upperend sound, good base, HDMI's and onscreen prog.. Ethernet, sure... and used is ok.

PBr

 

[Supe]

Is this including speakers?

 

[pbrme]

I've got speakers covered... unless there's a sweet package

 

[Supe]

My suggestion would be the Denon AVR-2312. 105 wpc, supports Pandora, Rhapsody, etc, interfaces with Apple devices, has Audyssey (automated speaker calibration for distance and room nodes), and runs about $850. For a bit less, you can get the AVR-2112 which is more or less the same features with less power. Audioholics is my store of choice for just about everything if they carry it, as they add on to the factory warranties and have great customer service. At this price point, I think they're better than all the competition including the Pioneer VSX line.

 

[knight1fox3]

Supe, any comments on my first post?

 

[Supe]

knight1fox3 - While I don't have any experience with them, Chief Mounts come pretty highly regarded (I had a lot of people steering me towards them for a projector mount). I wish I could offer more insight than that, but I'm actually going to pick up one of the Monoprice mounts myself for my 37" Samsung in the bedroom, since it'll never get moved once its up there.

 

[pbrme]

I thank you sir

 

[knight1fox3]

knight1fox3 - While I don't have any experience with them, Chief Mounts come pretty highly regarded (I had a lot of people steering me towards them for a projector mount). I wish I could offer more insight than that, but I'm actually going to pick up one of the Monoprice mounts myself for my 37" Samsung in the bedroom, since it'll never get moved once its up there.

Thanks!

 

[Master slacker]

Run from Bose kicking and screaming. It is 100% marketing, and has the worst price to performance ratio of all things audio.

We got a Bose iPod Series II deck from MIL for Christmas. It's a nice little package, but would NOT have spent my own money to buy it. Since it was a gift, I can't complain.

 

[Supe]

Run from Bose kicking and screaming. It is 100% marketing, and has the worst price to performance ratio of all things audio.

We got a Bose iPod Series II deck from MIL for Christmas. It's a nice little package, but would NOT have spent my own money to buy it. Since it was a gift, I can't complain.

The little cutesy stuff like that, the radio, etc, are fine, albeit tremendously overpriced. It's when you get into the actual surround systems where "oh, a tiny cube can recreate what a full size range of drivers can" marketing comes into play that you really want to run. I've actually seen measured frequency response plots from Bose systems, and the frequency range that is actually omitted due to driver size and crossover points is truly staggering.