AVR for circa £500?

Atomicus

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I am very new to the AVR scene, never owned one before so I coming from a complete newb position. I have been to RS and heard a few, but I am still lost given their set-up doesn't mirror mine, different speakers etc. and to be honest they all sound good to my ears.

I was intially looking to go the soundbar route just for simplicity, but I actually already have a Q-Acoustics 3090C centre speaker and BK P12-300SB-DF sub. I managed to pick these up for a very good price a while ago, so it would seem silly not to put these to use. It would SEEM to make sense to complement the 3090C with a pair of their 3020 Bookshelf series... I don't think my OCD could deal with mismatched speakers either side lol! These seem very good value from reviews I've read. I don't have room for floorstanders. I would also looking at getting rear speakers for a 5.1 setup. The room won't have much in the way of sound insulation (although the walls are thick brick so it's not too bad), and in-walls aren't an option as I may only be living here for another year or so. Plus two of the walls are BARE brick anyway.

I would consider upfiring Atmos (in-ceiling isn't really viable for reasons above), if worth it, but not sure if that is worth the expense or if my room justifies it. The room size is 2.7m wide by about 4.5m long, with a ceiling height of 2.3m.

I plan on having a 110" screen and projector also. Might be able to squeeze in a 120", but I'd literally have mm to spare width wise. Nothing is set in stone yet anyway.

I am really stumped when it comes to AVR choice though. I have a budget of about £500 but could push that slightly if justifiable. There is a bewildering selection out there though, and everyone seems to have their favourite. After a while, it becomes a case of paaralysis by analysis lol! I am no audiophile though, so the subtleties of any model I am quite certain will be lost on me.

Any advice would be much appreciated. :)
 
There are two very good receivers in this price bracket. The Denon AVR X2500 and the Sony STR DN1080. Both well within your budget and both will do a good job of driving your speakers and allow for a 5.1.2 Atmos speaker layout.

The Denon is the easiest to set up, especially for Atmos and it also has a superior room EQ in the form of Audyssey XT. This end of the market is dominated by these two receivers and to be honest there is no good of bad decision. I'm not a fan of Sony but certainly a fan of Denon, having owned four Denon receivers, all of which have been trouble free.

Easy enough to get an audition of both at many dealers.

Denon AVRX2500H (Black)
Sony STRDN1080 (Black)
 
As above really either of those will do the job although the denon is more geared towards movies and not meant to be so good for music I have the Sony and its probably the best AVR I've had in a while very easy to setup, I narrowed it down to them two when I was looking at upgrading but the Sony just swayed it for me either way whichever you choose you won't be disappointed and the only way to tell which one you like the sound of is to demo them both if you do have it John Wick has a good demo scene where he is in the nightclub lots of gunfire and directional sounds bring that along with you ;)
 
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Note that the STDN1080 cannot utilise upfiring or ceiling mounted speaker assignments with which to portray DTS:X soundtracks with. Sony have for some unfathomable reason made it so that only speakers designated as being height speakers can be utilised to add DTS:X effects with. Sony are the only manufacturer to impose such a restriction and nor do DTS themselves support it. AIf including upward firing or ceiling mounted speakers then those speakers would not be engaged in association with DTS:X soundtracks.

The only assignment option that would work and that enables all of the speakers for both Atmos and DTS:X is the Front Height (FH) option.
 
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I would probably lean towards the Denon based on all I've read about both, and have always had good experience with Denon products in the past.

It seems you'd need to pay quite a bit more to get something significantly better than either of these anyway.
 
I would probably lean towards the Denon based on all I've read about both, and have always had good experience with Denon products in the past.

It seems you'd need to pay quite a bit more to get something significantly better than either of these anyway.
I wouldn't be put off the fact that it can't portay DTS X soundtracks it's still a fantastic bit of kit give them both a demo good luck in whatever you purchase
 
How you finding it?

Haven’t really had much time with it but it seems good. To be fair I already had a Yamaha 581 that there was nothing wrong with I just came down with a dose of upgradeitis:D
 

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