Best 7 channel Receiver or Pre/Power for £3k

AventadorSVJ

Established Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2006
Messages
804
Reaction score
396
Points
224
Age
45
My Arcam AVR-600 has stopped working following an unfortunate incident.

I thought the sound was pretty impressive and am wanting to get similar or improved sound quality.

What do people recommend (new or used) for around £3k?

Happy with pre/power or receiver and need 7 channels of amplification.

Sound quality is number 1 and I do not not need the latest sound formats as I have an Oppo 105EU which I have been using to carry out Digital to Analogue duties.
 
What accident, being nosey?
 
I have an Oppo 105EU which I have been using to carry out Digital to Analogue duties.
Are you wedded to this arrangement, as then you will also require multi channel analogue inputs which aren't available on all devices.

Do you use the system for music and movies, and what speakers do you have, are you planning on adding more (atmos) or is it a 5.1 / 7.1 set-up?
 
Are you wedded to this arrangement, as then you will also require multi channel analogue inputs which aren't available on all devices.

Do you use the system for music and movies, and what speakers do you have, are you planning on adding more (atmos) or is it a 5.1 / 7.1 set-up?

Have 5.1 arrangement with 2.0 in zone 2. I'm not wedded to using the multi channel analogue inputs, as long as sound quality isn't effected.
 
Obvious choice is the Arcam AVR550, comes in under budget as well.

Will this sound as good as the AVR-600 without class G amplification (feel quite sceptical)?

I thought the AVR-850 was its natural replacement?

What about the used market - there must be some suitable amps out there for £3k?
 
I didn't suggest the Arcam 850 as it is over your budget. Are you sticking to 5.1? What speakers are you using? Do you use the system for both movies and music, or just movies? Do you want / need room correction?
 
I didn't suggest the Arcam 850 as it is over your budget. Are you sticking to 5.1? What speakers are you using? Do you use the system for both movies and music, or just movies? Do you want / need room correction?

Definitely sticking to 5.1 + 2.0 for zone 2. Speakers are Focal 816 signatures (front/centre), Rel Stentor 2 subwoofer and Monitor Audio Gold Signature GSFX Surrounds. Mission 780ses on zone 2.

Music and movies - sound is absolutely paramount. Appearance and features are secondary.

Room correction would be nice.
 
Have a look at these:

Cambridge Audio CXR200

Arcam 390 / 550 with a power amp, or the 550 may be okay on it's own

Marantz SR8012
 
Have a look at these:

Cambridge Audio CXR200

Arcam 390 / 550 with a power amp, or the 550 may be okay on it's own

Marantz SR8012

The CA is an interesting option as I have never seen them as high end audio (not bad, just not in the same market as Arcam et al).

What about Power Amplifiers?
 
You need to look for an 850 ideally to see an improvement - the 550 would be a downgrade.

Do you listen to music via the 600? It’s superb with music so even going for cheaper receiver and power amp won’t offer the quality you’re used to.

Pick up a used 850 which go about 3-3500 and you’ll have the advantage of Dirac too. Maybe arcam 390 plus something like an Emotiva may offer a bit more power but the Class G sounds superb.
 
The CA is an interesting option as I have never seen them as high end audio (not bad, just not in the same market as Arcam et al).
It depends how you are defining 'high end audio', are you looking for a premium sounding brand name, or are you looking for something that sounds good without it costing the earth? My Arcam 550 sounds very similar to the Cambridge CXR200 I have had previously. The Cambridge has very good internal power amps.

What about Power Amplifiers?
What would you like to know?
 
I listen to lots of music and watch films as-well.

AVR-850 (second hand or x-demo) seems like a logical choice, as the AVR-600 was a fantastic piece of kit.

I used to go to lots of hifi shows in Bristol and Heathrow and always thought that Bryston/PMC, Focal (not sure what amplifiers were used) and Meridian were the best sounding systems.

Hence, the power amplifier (Bryston / Meridian / Arcam) option - although, in truth, I'm not really sure that you would massively improve on the AVR-600 for sound quality (I've had a lot of AV amplifiers on the Focals - friends/ones borrowed) and the Arcam was the winner.

Not ever tried a Bryston or Meridian at home though?
 
I would possibly look at Nad T758 too (about 1100 open box) which you can get Dirac on and should be decent as a pre amp for music and has great streaming features for music too.

Then look at a beefy used power amp such as Bryston 9BSST/Classe/Sunfire/Nad M Series or maybe something like Nord. A set up like that is probably a nice upgrade over your 600

Nad T777V3 and Anthem MRX1120 are worth a look too.

The Jap stuff isn’t close to the 600 with music. SR8012 is probably the best but still some way off matching the 600 for hifi quality.
 
If you are seriously wanting hifi sound quality for music, you should consider not using an AVR for that. Split your budget in half and spend £1500 on a decent AVR for movies (Nad, Arcam, Cambridge, Denon) then spend the other £1500 on a stereo integrated amp with HT bypass ( e.g. Rega, Musical Fidelity, Yamaha AS-1100/2100).
 
I have a brand new MRX 1120 that I can start a for sale thread for if you are interested?
 
This is a bit of a sore subject. What I don't recommend is moving a heavy AV amplifier from one room to another. Accidents do happen!


I'm sure It'll buff out!;):D
 
Maybe try some of the class D amps ATI, NAD D-Sonic, etc all should run cooler be more efficient and less heavy than AB amps
 
Maybe try some of the class D amps ATI, NAD D-Sonic, etc all should run cooler be more efficient and less heavy than AB amps
All things being equal, I thought class D amplifier were inferior to class A/B, which is inferior to class A from a sound quality perspective. Class G seems to be a hybrid between A/B and A, which partially explains why the high end Arcams sound so good.
 
If you are seriously wanting hifi sound quality for music, you should consider not using an AVR for that. Split your budget in half and spend £1500 on a decent AVR for movies (Nad, Arcam, Cambridge, Denon) then spend the other £1500 on a stereo integrated amp with HT bypass ( e.g. Rega, Musical Fidelity, Yamaha AS-1100/2100).

Maybe an AV amp with power amplifier or a 7.1 pre/power ?
 
Maybe an AV amp with power amplifier or a 7.1 pre/power ?
The point of mixing an integrated stereo amplifier for music with an AVR or processor for movies, is that you use only the pre-amp of the integrated amplifier when you are listening to music, so cut out the AV pre-amp completely.

The benefits of this is that you get to enjoy the 'hi-fi' quality of the stereo pre-amp, without it being compromised by all of the electronics that are crammed into the chassis of multi channel Audio Video receivers and processors.
 
The point of mixing an integrated stereo amplifier for music with an AVR or processor for movies, is that you use only the pre-amp of the integrated amplifier when you are listening to music, so cut out the AV pre-amp completely.

The benefits of this is that you get to enjoy the 'hi-fi' quality of the stereo pre-amp, without it being compromised by all of the electronics that are crammed into the chassis of multi channel Audio Video receivers and processors.

That's a pretty good idea and is something I have tried in the past.

The Arcam AVR-350 replaced a Denon 3806 + Musical Fidelity XA2 and was definitely better overall. The AVR-600 was a pretty big step up though as this seemed closer to the Bryston amplifier quality that I had heard had the hifi shows.

A separate 3 channel amp would probably be the best as the centre channel is the most important for movies.
 
All things being equal, I thought class D amplifier were inferior to class A/B, which is inferior to class A from a sound quality perspective. Class G seems to be a hybrid between A/B and A, which partially explains why the high end Arcams sound so good.

That maybe the case years ago but class d has come of age, just have a listen to an ATI and you’ll quickly realise that it’s on par or better than class G, AB, having said all that it really depends on your upstream components speakers.
 
The main difference between the avr600 and the latest arcam avr's is Dirac. The 550 may have inferior amplification but to say it's a downgrade is something i do not agree with.

Depending on your room, dirac can completely transform the way your system sounds and would argue have a much bigger impact than the difference in the amplification between the 600 and the 550
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom