Topic: iMAtZ THxEATER

[ricky]

Congrats pare for going HD, makikinuod na lang ako syo ha iiwan mo na ako sa SD wala na ako ka-share :'(

[audiojunkie]

Hehe, yer right, borrowing a BD player tonight.   

borrow lang...

I still love SD & have no complaints with it, specially for the price.

This hobby is really contigeous after pre/pro now BD player then more BD movies... 

[MAtZTER]

That truly deserves a 1080p partner...

Tnx.

Wag ganyan!

Mahina tayo sa tukso...

Congrats pare for going HD, makikinuod na lang ako syo ha iiwan mo na ako sa SD wala na ako ka-share :'(

Not yet pare, I dont think so... for now. 

1080p display is quite an investment & I have no complaints with my 720p display... for now. 

[sanmig_ph]

pare ganda ng bago mo gears, congrats. na dispose agad ang 705 bilis naman.
anu pala gamit mo monitor sa htpc? mas na engage ako ngayon sa COD4 pc games eh nakaka adik.

[MAtZTER]

This hobby is really contigeous after pre/pro now BD player then more BD movies... 

Contageous indeed, but 10 BD's = 1 BD player na. Plus I only watch once (sayang). I dont think I will be jumping on it now.

pare ganda ng bago mo gears, congrats. na dispose agad ang 705 bilis naman.
anu pala gamit mo monitor sa htpc? mas na engage ako ngayon sa COD4 pc games eh nakaka adik.

Thanks Sanmig. I use a 22" AOC monitor.

Hehe, I was a PC games addict long ago. I am sober now. Buti na lang

[flak-jacket]

in my book, MAtZTER's and Munskie's HT setups are currently 1 and 2 (both change rankings in just a few hours or days hehe). 

[leomar]

Great sub for HT! For music I cant help but notice that the 12" woofer is sometimes slow. But I dont use subs for music so Ok lang.

sir Matz, comparing velo cht12R vs AT 272 THX, ano po ang mas maganda/favorable para sa inyo? o certain characteristics na maganda/pangit sa 2 subs na yan sir? thanks po 

[sanmig_ph]

may lumabas din bago VC hd3750 x2. grabe same prize na ng ps3 unit.
buti hindi ka na tetemp magupgrade ng VC

[MAtZTER]

in my book, MAtZTER's and Munskie's HT setups are currently 1 and 2 (both change rankings in just a few hours or days hehe). 

Thanks sir. Wala akong laban kay munskie, he can buy everything at once, I take years to save up for stuff.  We are both unworthy compared to other setups here. But the good thing is that we dont post on a competitive viewpoint to anybody else  (Yo racksrus!   ). But whats more important for us is to inspire & share the hobby to fellow members. 

sir Matz, comparing velo cht12R vs AT 272 THX, ano po ang mas maganda/favorable para sa inyo? o certain characteristics na maganda/pangit sa 2 subs na yan sir? thanks po 

Both are good, AT 272 THX has LOTS more SPL, waaaay more seat rocking power than the CHT12r. It was stiff at first but all it needed was a bit more of break in and proper positioning. I cannot tell you how many times this sub almost made me jump out of my seat. The CHT12r looked better though, and had more features (w/c I dont use anyway).

Pangit? Compared to the CHT12r, the outward appearance of the 272 is pangit.  And its too big. Performance wise they are both at the same class, with the velo being smoother and the AT sub louder.

[Munskie]

Thanks sir. Wala akong laban kay munskie, he can buy everything at once, I take years to save up for stuff.  We are both unworthy compared to other setups here. But the good thing is that we dont post on a competitive viewpoint to anybody else  (Yo racksrus!   ). But whats more important for us is to inspire & share the hobby to fellow members. 

  Totally agree except on the "he can buy evrything at once" part, hehehe.    Seriously though, we are hoping that information shared in our galleries is useful to enthusiasts. 

[MAtZTER]

  Totally agree except on the "he can buy evrything at once" part, hehehe.   

Hay naku, MODESTO dapat name mo! 

may lumabas din bago VC hd3750 x2. grabe same prize na ng ps3 unit.
buti hindi ka na tetemp magupgrade ng VC

I dont use the PC very much. I just tested its capabilities as a vid processor.

[MAtZTER]

Since comparisons are being asked, here is my little contribution to society; a comparison of my previous receivers:

DISCLAIMER:
1.) all posts are subjective, just my 2 cents worth. I am not forcing it on anyone.
2.) I do not mean to offend any user of the  receiver brands mentioned. No fanboy attacks please on this or other threads. 
3.) I am evaluating these $1,000 class receivers, I do not recommend any generalization of a brand by any means. Different models/class have different capabilities.
4.) Nor will I recommend that anybody get the lowest model receivers of these brands based on this review and expect the same thing from a different class receiver.
5.) I am not connected to any of these receiver distributors. There is no gain in these reviews, w/c I do for fun & sharing only. 
   

Also, reviews are for the processing only, I use power amps ever since so I seldom check out the "receiver only" power.

Harman Kardon HK630

Pros:
*Powerful! Dont let the 75w fool you.
*Best looking remote, nice looks
*Muscular presentation, visceral impact / dynamics on bass
*Musical   
*Great impact/ HT SLAM for action & horror movies
cons:
*not as detailed as others, but not bad
*runs hot
*heavy
*1.1 kw max power consumption

Yamaha RXV 2500

Pros:
*Details! Details! Almost as good as a dedicated pre/pro I once borrowed.
*Spacious Surround that makes you feel your space is bigger. Great for small rooms.
*Clear Dialogue
*Musical,  breaks the typical saying that Yamaha is good for HT only.
cons:
*Remote hardest to program or respond.
*not as powerful on its own (no power amps) & sounds not so good with harder to drive speakers.

[MAtZTER]

This year:

Denon 2807

Pros
Amusing  7.1 surround via DPLIIx, your 6th & 7th speakers are so active.
Very coherent / seamless surround processing.  All my 7 speakers sound connected to each other.
Left & right surrounds simulate the side speakers in a movie house, thus very active.
Easiest to program remote (best response)
Can output to a 2nd display in component.
Great for big rooms
cons
*fails to achieve certain levels of dynamics, lacks visceral impact of others, but not bad
*not as detailed as others, but not bad. The different way it handles surrounds is just amusing!

Onkyo 705

pros
*Detailed!.
*Great PQ for 720 native displays
*Neural THX is great for 7.1 use! Better than the usual PLIIx
cons
*not as good with surrounds as the others. But not bad.
*a bit noisy & lacks finesse. Beware of neighbors.
*You need to adjust audessy settings for a more acceptable sound

VERDICT: ALL of them are good in HT & music, each having their strong points.
My favourite among them: To follow 

[leomar]

Thanks sa info and insight sir Matz! astig! andami niyo na "pinag-daanan", swak na swak kayo sa kasabihang "experience is the best teacher"   
then siguro, Matz' experience is the best for babies i mean newbies  (subjective ito ha  )  

[audiojunkie]

Thanks sir. I wish I can afford separates like yours! But I find receivers more pratical (just me) for my personal upgrade habbits. 

Sir MatZ, most of my gears came from used market otherwise, no way to afford them in full price... 

Contageous indeed, but 10 BD's = 1 BD player na. Plus I only watch once (sayang). I dont think I will be jumping on it now.

Sarap seguro manood at makinig in FullHD 1080p and TrueHD ...   
pwede mo namang ipasa sa akin after you watched ...   

[MAtZTER]

My winner among the 4 is:

Its all a close call, they are all great in music & HT. I give 5 stars (excellent) to my favourite receiver and 4 stars (good) to the rest.

I love the visceral impact & muscular nature of the HK. It provides the scariest HT horror experience ever. But after I tried others, it wasnt as detailed.

I love the details of Yamaha, its just incredible to hear a lot of tiny clings & clangs here & there. Plus I love the way Yamaha gives a sense of having a bigger room (I have a small room) through its expanded surround setting. But it doesnt have the impact & slam of the HK.

I was so amused  by the way the Denon performs its surround duties. Simply incredible, seamless and all 7 speakers are active. But it fails to startle me or impress me with details as much as the others.

The Onkyo 705 was detailed and has slam, but I felt it was noisy and lacked finesse. and didnt have as excellent a surround as the others.

My favourite among the 4 would be the Yamaha. 5 stars!!! cuz its got a delicate balance of details & surround action, plus more importantly, I dont feel my room is small with the Yamaha with its expansive surround.



I only wished that there was a pre/pro that could give all my favourite characteristics in one: impact/muscularity, details, excellent surround, finesse. I resigned the thought of ever getting this from a price range that I can afford. I opined that all these can only be gotten from a high end 100++k pre/pro thats way out of my reach.

Until I tried the Onkyo 875. Thus that my friends sums up the review of the 875 ! Its just simply got the best of all I ever wanted rolled into one pre/pro! Finesse then w/ a sudden slam/impact (0-60mph in mseconds), details w/o being overbearing, excellent surrounds AND lots of details in surrounds! And the sound is so duh..."clean"!

Plus its got an awesome 1080p video processor! 5 stars indeed for this monster of a receiver.

Highly recommended!


Onkyo 875 review included inside (for ESI) 

[MAtZTER]

Thanks sa info and insight sir Matz! astig! andami niyo na "pinag-daanan", swak na swak kayo sa kasabihang "experience is the best teacher"   
then siguro, Matz' experience is the best for babies i mean newbies  (subjective ito ha  )  

Yes and "curiosity is my worst enemy" 

Its a pleasure to share what I know. Sayang if I keep my mouth shut about my experiements. However subjective they are.

gnew jokingly called me "receiver freak" compared to mikec being called a "sub freak". Its a funny name that I thought to myself while I was getting my NINTH receiver a few days ago... before gnew even posted it. 

Anyway, like I said  I have found the pre/pro of my dreams! so I guess I will stick to this for some time: this I am sure. But the definition of "some time" is open for interpretation. hehehe.

[streetsmart]

Matt, clarification lang. Your reviews were based on the receivers' performance as pre/pros lang, right? You used external power amps?

[MAtZTER]

805 is on my mind at the moment 

805 & 875 have very small differences.

If the 805 sounds like the 875 less the VP then go for it! highly recommended!

Matt, clarification lang. Your reviews were based on the receivers' performance as pre/pros lang, right? You used external power amps?

Yes sir. Only the HK was used for a long time w/ no power amps. 

Again subjective lang naman sya. 

[streetsmart]

Yes sir. Only the HK was used for a long time w/ no power amps. 

Again subjective lang naman sya. 

Ah ok. Important point yun kasi a lot of people may be using the power amps of their receivers.

Also, your reviews did not touch on their video capabilities. Any comments?

I noted your comments on the Yamaha. I used to have a DSP-A1 and I loved the 2 extra speakers sa harap. Gives nga an extra feeling of space. 

Have you checked the specifications of the DACs of each of those receivers? I guess that would have a big influcence on the "extra detail" you are referring to.

[flak-jacket]

Thanks sir. Wala akong laban kay munskie, he can buy everything at once, I take years to save up for stuff.  We are both unworthy compared to other setups here.

sir, MODESTO dapat ang name niyo ni sir Munskie! 

But the good thing is that we dont post on a competitive viewpoint to anybody else  (Yo racksrus!   ). But whats more important for us is to inspire & share the hobby to fellow members. 

siguro i can speak for the others, but malaki na din ang na contribute niyo nila sir Munskie dito sa PinoyDVD. you're one of the most informative members here. dito pa lang sa THE iMAtZ THxEATER, marami na akong natutunan sa pag setup ng HT.

[dieselsy]

CONGRATS SIR  great upgrade...kelan ko kaya yan mapapakingan?
 yung mga pinag lumaan dito sa akin ha......

[frootloops]

Ang MAHAL! pala ng amp na yan!!    Sasagad ang CC ko pag binili ko yan!!

[dts-HD 3D]

gnew jokingly called me "receiver freak" compared to mikec being called a "sub freak". Its a funny name that I thought to myself while I was getting my NINTH receiver a few days ago... before gnew even posted it. 

Wow! 9th receiver na pala ang 875  . . . in just 4yrs. lang ba yan sir Matz? I just base it fr. the date u joined pdvd if thats the case almost 3x ka pala magpalit ng receiver in 1 year.

Sama nga pakingan ng 'receiver freak' but American Heritage dic. also defines 'freak' as an 'enthusiast' so Oks pa din.

Receiver enthusiast = Matzter

Subwoofer enthusiast = MikeC

Speaker enthusiast = ?  (sino kaya may pnaka-madami speakers sa PDVD?)

[MAtZTER]

Ah ok. Important point yun kasi a lot of people may be using the power amps of their receivers.

Also, your reviews did not touch on their video capabilities. Any comments?

Have you checked the specifications of the DACs of each of those receivers? I guess that would have a big influcence on the "extra detail" you are referring to.

Good point. Thanks for the reminder, I editted the post & mentioned the power amps among the disclaimer.

Video capabilities:
HK & Yamaha were pass throughs only w/ no video processing. So no comment here.
The Denon 2807 had NSV, w/c IMhO was able to clean the image but only by a bit.
The Onkyo 705's Faroudja  was made for native 720p displays and had enormous improvements to my 720p display. The picture was brighter & sharper.
the Onkyo 875 did not impress me at first. But turns out I have to set my DVD player to 480i to avoid double processing. And WOW, beautiful upscaling! Not HD quality of course, but the picture was very clean. Maybe it will be better if I had a 1080p display (away satan!  ).

DACS as I remember:
HK: Cirrus Logic
Yamaha & Denon: proprietary DACS
Onkyo 705: 3 aureus chips
Onkyo 875: Texas Instruments & top bur brown Dacs.

[MAtZTER]

CONGRATS SIR  great upgrade...kelan ko kaya yan mapapakingan?
 yung mga pinag lumaan dito sa akin ha......

Thanks. PM ka lang a day in advance when you will be in our area.

sir, MODESTO dapat ang name niyo ni sir Munskie! 

siguro i can speak for the others, but malaki na din ang na contribute niyo nila sir Munskie dito sa PinoyDVD. you're one of the most informative members here. dito pa lang sa THE iMAtZ THxEATER, marami na akong natutunan sa pag setup ng HT.

Thanks sir, I am glad to help. Hwag lang financially, cuz even I need help there

[MAtZTER]

Ang MAHAL! pala ng amp na yan!!    Sasagad ang CC ko pag binili ko yan!!

But its worth it. I was playing my demo disks again & it just leaves me speechless. Its the best receiver/pre/pro I ever had, no doubt.

I remember you were asking about your big HT room before in one of the threads. This THX ultra receiver was made with big rooms like yours in mind.      

Wow! 9th receiver na pala ang 875  . . . in just 4yrs. lang ba yan sir Matz? I just base it fr. the date u joined pdvd if thats the case almost 3x ka pala magpalit ng receiver in 1 year.

3.5 years to be exact. Some of those are entry level AVR's & other receivers were for my bedroom setup.

I still kept an entry level AVR in my bedroom to remind me about the sonic differences between them and higher model AVRs.

Main setup evo:
Yamaha 450 (my first receiver!) in a different loc
Yamaha 650
HK630 (moved to current location)
Yamaha 2500
Denon 2807
Onkyo 705
Onkyo 875

Bedroom setup evo:
Onkyo 494
Denon 1705
Bada 5 channel integrated amp.

If I count correctly thats TEN, LOL. I have also tested 2 dedicated pre/pros Rotel 1066 and SONY 9000ES.

Anyway, maybe I upgrade cuz I feel there was something missing, but I cant be happier with my current setup in both HT & specially music. So these are gonna be here to stay for a long time .. (till further SARS notice )
 
So if I get lazy to update again, pardon me  .

[frootloops]

But its worth it. I was playing my demo disks again & it just leaves me speechless. Its the best receiver/pre/pro I ever had, no doubt.

I remember you were asking about your big HT room before in one of the threads. This THX ultra receiver was made with big rooms like yours in mind.      

Waiting for a chance to physically hear it. If I see a comment "speechless", this makes me more curious.

I had to move into a smaller room (10sqm.), the first one had a high ceiling and yes very spacious which worries me about totally upgrading my entire gears and cost of the modification which I am not ready at that time...and up to now  .

[charlie 669]

Goodbye 705, hello to my new pre/pro:




at 60 lbs, I agree!!! 

Oh Superman: I also think last na to!  Talaga!

sir, available pa ba yung 705? and hw much did you get the 875 and when to buy?

[Munskie]

But its worth it. I was playing my demo disks again & it just leaves me speechless. Its the best receiver/pre/pro I ever had, no doubt.

I remember you were asking about your big HT room before in one of the threads. This THX ultra receiver was made with big rooms like yours in mind.      

3.5 years to be exact. Some of those are entry level AVR's & other receivers were for my bedroom setup.

I still kept an entry level AVR in my bedroom to remind me about the sonic differences between them and higher model AVRs.

Main setup evo:
Yamaha 450 (my first receiver!) in a different loc
Yamaha 650
HK630 (moved to current location)
Yamaha 2500
Denon 2807
Onkyo 705
Onkyo 875

Bedroom setup evo:
Onkyo 494
Denon 1705
Bada 5 channel integrated amp.

If I count correctly thats TEN, LOL. I have also tested 2 dedicated pre/pros Rotel 1066 and SONY 9000ES.

Anyway, maybe I upgrade cuz I feel there was something missing, but I cant be happier with my current setup in both HT & specially music. So these are gonna be here to stay for a long time .. (till further SARS notice )
 
So if I get lazy to update again, pardon me  .

wow matt 10 receivers in 3.5 years!!!     ......congrats again bro...