Need advice with choosing a receiver (1 Viewer)

[Nazxul360]

Hi all,

So my Pioneer SC-LX82 finally died and now I'm in the market for a new receiver.

PREFACE:
I'm not really an audiophile or savy with all the technical stuff speaker related. I did try doing some research myself, but the watts and ohms and watt ranges and RMS and receiver manufacturers all listing their specs differently and actual wattage rating getting diluted down when using more than two speakers... it's just a bit much for me to wrap my head around.

CURRENT SETUP:
I'm currently running a piecemeal 7.1 setup which is good enough for me for the foreseeable future. I'm not really worried about upgrading to Atmos or adding height channels any time soon.
Front: A pair of old Kef Q65 floor standing speakers. Specs here. On the back it says they are 6 ohms and 10-200W. Specs I find online say RMS 175W.
Centre: A big (200x545x305mm) Definitive Technology C/L/R 1000B. It has no power ratings on the back and for the life of me I can't find any specs online. All their other speakers are 8ohms though so I guess that's a safe bet for this one. Looks like this.
Surrounds: Little 3ohm LG things that came packed in with a cheap home theatre in a box. I would like to upgrade these to something half decent at some point, but from what I understand better speakers will be higher ohm which means they will need less power, right?
Sub: Jensen SPX-17 but subs are self powered so I don't think this is all that important.

Until now this has all been powered by a Pioneer SC-LX82. Specs here. At the time I bought it 14 years ago I was young, had the money to blow and was pretty ignorant to the specs. My thinking was essentially "big expensive receiver good". It's served me well though and has always sounded good to my ears.

BOTTOM LINE:
I'm on a bit tighter of a budget now than I was then, and from what I can glean the receivers in my current price range seem to have significantly less power output than the Pioneer.

I'm currently eyeing the Denon AVR-S970H. Specs here. It's recent, has all the features I want and claims to be able to power low ohm speakers (good for my surrounds). The only thing I'm worried about is that it looks super weak compared to the Pioneer... but then again the expensive ones don't seem all that more powerful, so I don't know if I'm reading the specs wrong or spec listing conventions have changed or what.

What do you guys think? Will it be enough to power my setup or do you recommend something else? I'm open to suggestions. In terms of other features all I really care about is that it have at least 2x HDMI 2.1 inputs and that it be able to handle all the latest video stuff (4K@120hz, HDR, Dolby Vision, VRR, ALLM, Quick Frame Transport, etc). If I need to shell out more cash then so be it but I would like to keep the cost down if possible.

My deepest thanks to anyone who has taken the time to read this and can give me any advice at all.

 

[JohnRice]

I wouldn't get too wrapped up in power ratings. You really should replace the LG speakers, which you said you were hoping to. No receiver is intended to drive 3 Ohm speakers. A new one is likely to go into protection shutdown at times, in fact.

In your price range, that Denon is about as good a choice as any. I know you don't plan on setting up an Atmos system, and with that receiver it's actually not an option unless you eliminate the rear surrounds and go 5.1.2. Still, I strongly recommend you get a receiver with Atmos processing, which will still allow you to take advantage of a lot of the benefits of Atmos soundtracks, even with your 7.1 setup.

 

[Nazxul360]

I wouldn't get too wrapped up in power ratings. You really should replace the LG speakers, which you said you were hoping to. No receiver is intended to drive 3 Ohm speakers. A new one is likely to go into protection shutdown at times, in fact.

In your price range, that Denon is about as good a choice as any. I know you don't plan on setting up an Atmos system, and with that receiver it's actually not an option unless you eliminate the rear surrounds and go 5.1.2. Still, I strongly recommend you get a receiver with Atmos processing, which will still allow you to take advantage of a lot of the benefits of Atmos soundtracks, even with your 7.1 setup.

Hey man, thanks for replying. Based on your answer and replies on other forums, I decided to go with the 970H. I did consider spending a bit more, but it seems like more expensive amps with more power have more channels (which I assume that extra power is intended for) and all kinds of other features that I just don't care about or need right now (and the 970H has Atmos. Yay!). Ultimately decided to put the extra money towards replacing the surrounds. To the classifieds!

Thanks again for your input! Much appreciated.

 

[Mike Up]

Didn't realize this was an older thread. The 970 should be an excellent receiver. I have the 960 and am extremely pleased with it. Especially pleased since it's performance follows the older, higher end model AVR-2312ci receiver it replaced, which would be in the same class as the AVR-X3800H.