Which ATMOS AV Receiver......and do I bother?
Discussion
Hello All,
We moved house last year and are slowly working our way through fairly comprehensive renovation....complete re-wire, new ceilings, lots of plastering etc etc. I'm about to get stuck in to the living room and while I was mulling over how I could get my home theatre kit installed as neatly as possible (reluctant to put cables in walls), I thought now would be the right time to put in some Atmos speakers so had a quick look at AV Receivers.
I currently have a Yamaha RX A3030 Aventage which I think is a pretty good amp and if it wasn't for the need for Atmos, I wouldn't change it, it does what it's meant to very well and got exceptional reviews when it came out. I bought this amp as I'd had an Onkyo NR609, which despite it not being as good as the Yamaha, I was also very impressed by it...until it melted one of the boards, common for this model apparently.
I currently run a set of Kef IQ90's as fronts, IQ70's as rears and a big IQ60 as a centre which I'll probably swap out for something thinner so would want to stay with Kef for the ceiling speakers.
The two amps I've got my eye on are the Yamaha RX A3070 and the Onkyo TX RZ3100. A couple of reviews for the Yamaha have all been mediocre which is a bit of a shame as I naturally assumed it was the same as what I already have (which had exceptional reviews) but with a few minor tweaks and the addition of the extra channels for Atmos, so surprised to see average reviews on it. The Onkyo seems like a quality bit of kit, but having been bitten by a common fault on my old TX NR609 it died literally a week after the years guarantee ran out, I'm mildly reluctant to give Onkyo another go but appreciate quality is probably fine, I was just unlucky with my previous choice.
Does anybody have a recommendation or experience with these two amps or a suggestion for something else?
Many thanks
We moved house last year and are slowly working our way through fairly comprehensive renovation....complete re-wire, new ceilings, lots of plastering etc etc. I'm about to get stuck in to the living room and while I was mulling over how I could get my home theatre kit installed as neatly as possible (reluctant to put cables in walls), I thought now would be the right time to put in some Atmos speakers so had a quick look at AV Receivers.
I currently have a Yamaha RX A3030 Aventage which I think is a pretty good amp and if it wasn't for the need for Atmos, I wouldn't change it, it does what it's meant to very well and got exceptional reviews when it came out. I bought this amp as I'd had an Onkyo NR609, which despite it not being as good as the Yamaha, I was also very impressed by it...until it melted one of the boards, common for this model apparently.
I currently run a set of Kef IQ90's as fronts, IQ70's as rears and a big IQ60 as a centre which I'll probably swap out for something thinner so would want to stay with Kef for the ceiling speakers.
The two amps I've got my eye on are the Yamaha RX A3070 and the Onkyo TX RZ3100. A couple of reviews for the Yamaha have all been mediocre which is a bit of a shame as I naturally assumed it was the same as what I already have (which had exceptional reviews) but with a few minor tweaks and the addition of the extra channels for Atmos, so surprised to see average reviews on it. The Onkyo seems like a quality bit of kit, but having been bitten by a common fault on my old TX NR609 it died literally a week after the years guarantee ran out, I'm mildly reluctant to give Onkyo another go but appreciate quality is probably fine, I was just unlucky with my previous choice.
Does anybody have a recommendation or experience with these two amps or a suggestion for something else?
Many thanks
I don't have experience of the amps under consideration but there's no telling how those amps will sound with your speakers even if you were to book a demo, maybe if the shop will allow you to bring your speakers in?
I was looking at an Atmos receiver too, and ended up with the Marantz SR7011. I'm building up to the speakers now, so coming from the opposite way to you. I would definitely throw this one (or the SR7012) into the hat too. I'm very impressed with the sound quality of this receiver at the moment, using it as a pre-amp and listening to it via a pair of active studio monitors.
My early impressions of the SR7011. Good room correction & Bass management by Audyssey; The DAC sounds lovely for compressed music; nice and tall sound stage with excellent detail retrieval. Even in stereo there is a great sense of the sound enveloping you. Can't wait to build up some height speakers and surrounds to listen to some Atmos tracks and upgrade to the Auro 3D which comes with the Auromatic upmixer for more basic 5.1 tracks. Audyssey setup gets close to optimum but also there's a lot that can be tweaked for tinkerers like me, to get it sounding just right!
I imagine, sometimes you get used to how certain things sound and anything different would take time to appreciate. Since you are happy with the A3030, I would definitely demo the A3070.
I was looking at an Atmos receiver too, and ended up with the Marantz SR7011. I'm building up to the speakers now, so coming from the opposite way to you. I would definitely throw this one (or the SR7012) into the hat too. I'm very impressed with the sound quality of this receiver at the moment, using it as a pre-amp and listening to it via a pair of active studio monitors.
My early impressions of the SR7011. Good room correction & Bass management by Audyssey; The DAC sounds lovely for compressed music; nice and tall sound stage with excellent detail retrieval. Even in stereo there is a great sense of the sound enveloping you. Can't wait to build up some height speakers and surrounds to listen to some Atmos tracks and upgrade to the Auro 3D which comes with the Auromatic upmixer for more basic 5.1 tracks. Audyssey setup gets close to optimum but also there's a lot that can be tweaked for tinkerers like me, to get it sounding just right!
I imagine, sometimes you get used to how certain things sound and anything different would take time to appreciate. Since you are happy with the A3030, I would definitely demo the A3070.
Denon AVR-X6400H will do 7.2.4.
Previous gen 6300 does pretty much exactly the same if you can find some NOS.
https://www.ortonsaudiovisual.com/index.php/tv-pro...
A steal at £1200.
Previous gen 6300 does pretty much exactly the same if you can find some NOS.
https://www.ortonsaudiovisual.com/index.php/tv-pro...
A steal at £1200.
Edited by B17NNS on Friday 12th January 15:21
I was at this point a year ago and did a huge amount of research.
Marantz 7011 was looking good for a while, but in the end I went for an Arcam as it was a better amp and supported Dirac which I felt would (and did) make a big difference given the acoustic challenges of my installation.
Atmos does add an extra dimension and immersiveness to the experience, but it's not the be-all. Most of the work is still done by the fronts so don't compromise on those.
You'll pay a LOT of extra money for an amp which can do 7.1.4 using internal amps; in the end I chose to go for my main amp doing 7.1 and a secondary amp for the Atmos channels. I got a 6 channel Rotel off ebay for about £120, and it's the dog's danglies. Powered up from the 12V channel when the main amp activates.
My speakers are XTZ cinema series for fronts and rears, B&W side and height channels (internals) and a Paradigm sub. The Dirac does an amazing job of balancing out the tonal differences between the speakers - don't underestimate the impact of this.
Marantz 7011 was looking good for a while, but in the end I went for an Arcam as it was a better amp and supported Dirac which I felt would (and did) make a big difference given the acoustic challenges of my installation.
Atmos does add an extra dimension and immersiveness to the experience, but it's not the be-all. Most of the work is still done by the fronts so don't compromise on those.
You'll pay a LOT of extra money for an amp which can do 7.1.4 using internal amps; in the end I chose to go for my main amp doing 7.1 and a secondary amp for the Atmos channels. I got a 6 channel Rotel off ebay for about £120, and it's the dog's danglies. Powered up from the 12V channel when the main amp activates.
My speakers are XTZ cinema series for fronts and rears, B&W side and height channels (internals) and a Paradigm sub. The Dirac does an amazing job of balancing out the tonal differences between the speakers - don't underestimate the impact of this.
PhilboSE said:
You'll pay a LOT of extra money for an amp which can do 7.1.4 using internal amps; in the end I chose to go for my main amp doing 7.1 and a secondary amp for the Atmos channels.
This is good advice, and one of my criteria when I was looking at amps.It looks like the Yamaha A3070 has 7.2 pre-outs but not the height channels. Reading a review of my amp, the power output drops, if trying to power more than 7 channels even though it can theoretically power 11 channels. However, there are RCA pre-outs for all 11 channels if I wish to use a power amp (or active speakers), so it was a big plus.
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