Saw this on Videopro and bought 1 myself, seems like a pretty solid deal given it's even cheaper than buying from Sony and with $200 bonus Videopro giftcard. Effectively making it only costs $1095!!
Dont forget Topcashback also has another 2% cashback!
Consider an early xmas present for yourself ;)
Merry Xmas and enjoy!
How has the 1800H been? What speakers are you driving and do you feel it has enough power?
perfect so far - PSB X2T fronts / XC center / Alpha P5 as rears
it has way more power than my open 40sqm lounge/dinning needs, I've never used it below -10dB
Cheers, I'm tossing up between this and its bigger siblings (2800/3800) and trying to work out if the extra $$$ really adds much. I'm driving some medium/large Kefs (q750s mains and q650c centre). Your speakers look broadly similar in size/output.
@caitsith01: after much research I saw zero reasons to buy a 2800. In regards to power, the difference is imperceptible (my previous Yamaha was 100W per channel so I can compare), it's just to fool and justify more expensive models.
What really matters when driving speakers is not size, but how sensitive your speakers are. The KEF towers are 88db, not excellent like 90db in my PSBs but still pretty decent. Power / amplification is not a factor I'd be worried about, and feature wise, 1800/2800 are basically the same. Don't forget to bi-amp them.
What is a factor that could justify the 3800 is the XT32 Audyssey, basically the next level in room calibration, specially if your room is tricky for bass management.
But honestly, both our set of speakers are not premium enough to justify a 3800H, personally I'd spend the 1200-1500 difference from the X1800H and upgrade to better towers, or just save the money.
@CrazyTachikoma: Cheers, yeah I was being vague but looked at the sensitivity (I build/restore old speakers for fun). I find the Kefs are louder than 88db would suggest, if that makes sense. Amp power is a strange thing, I have a 10wpc vintage amp that can play sensitive speakers so loud you can't be in the room. A "real" 100wpc would destroy your eardrums, but modern power specs are fairly misleading.
Re better towers I am a big believer that there are major diminishing returns above the price point of our respective speakers, I definitely wouldn't see a $5k improvement in my enjoyment if I went up from the q750s. I use them exclusively for movies, music is covered by vintage gear (modified Kef Concertos, Acoustic Research speakers and others). The only thing I think I'd notice is a second sub, currently running a single SVS, and maybe Atmos speakers although I'm pretty sceptical. 5.1 is still the sweet spot at home IMHO.
That's sensible advice about the receiver. The only other difference I can see is a couple more inputs. Unfortunately with the pricing of the 3800 in Australia it's very hard to justify - basically $1000 more for sightly better room correction, seems like a terrible deal.
@caitsith01: yep totally agree, we will have to spend a lot of money in speakers to have a considerable upgrade
same 5.1 here, the amount of content that I watch with Atmos is minimal, and the amount of height sounds/effects in that content is also minimal, so not something I worry about. These modern receivers have height virtualization as well.
As for amplification, same as with my previous Yamaha V6A, I don't think I ever listened to anything at 0dB, it's just too loud, even for quiet / low volume content. And you can still go +20dB which doubles the perceived volume, twice. Reason why I didn't bother with the "just 80W" rating of the Denon. You have a big sub so setting all speakers to small and the crossover to 40hz+, alleviates the load on the receiver even further.
A nice surprise is that the 1800 is quite compact, much more elegant than those big tall AVRs. As I couldn't justify a 3800, instead I used the money to buy a nice rug and some wall painting / acoustic panels to improve the room :)
Thanks for sharing. Placed my order too. How will they deliver the gift card?
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I wanted this one early in my research but the amount of issues reports scared me away. Ended up with a Denon 1800H.
Best of luck you don't have any.