Nakamichi AV10 & Audio quailty

[RichL]

I know theres a good few Audiophiles around here, maybe one can answer my question.

Has anyone listened to the Nakamichi AV10 receiver-amp for purely audio purposes, and how would it stack up against my current Rotel RA820BX integrated amp?

(Yes, its that time of the month where I've paid off all the bills and I'm looking speculatively at the amount left from my paycheck )

[RichL]

*Bump*

Still havent bought one, mainly as the local dealer has been out of stock for the duration of the special offer (suprise suprise), although now they have one available on-line, but I have bought a Toshiba SD220E multiregion dvd player.

Anyone tried a Nakamichi for size? I need a decent AV amp so my beloved Rotel is going to be redundant no matter what. I may just have to live with any reduction in audio quality, although I'm hoping that £800 worth of new Nakamichi will be as good as £150 worth of 10 year old Rotel.

Alternatively theres the Sony STR1070B, which offers Dolby 6.1 and more inputs than the Nakamichi, and I've always been happy with the quality of Sony Audo/Visual gear. I currently have a Sony TV and VCR, so the remote might work my TV & VCR too.

[Dogbert]

I think Yamaha delivers better sound for the £ than Sony.

[RichL]

After reading some online reviews, it seems the AV10 is rated for excellent sound quality, but absolute crap build and a noisy fan (Hmmm, replace with an Evercool silent one ?), wheras the Sony is rated as decent but with awful music.

For an extra £30 over my original budget I can get a Marantz SR5200, which is supposed to be good for everything, and does DTS-EX, DD6.1 and ProLogic 2 to boot. (I've always wanted to say 'to boot' for something. Dont ask me why.)

If only it wasnt so tricky finding them in stock at a decent price I'd have a listen to all 3 together.

[Jammrock]

Nakamichi isn't very popular on US shores, where many of the MURC audio guys lives. The US only sees the 'designer' Nakamichi products. Their image over here is like the B&O of Japan, snazzy looking equipment that sounds very good, but not true audiophile stuff.

I did listen to some Nakamichi and Rotel stuff when I was auditioning equipment for myself, and found the Rotel better sounding. But like I said, the only Nakamichi stuff I heard was the expensive designer stuff, not their hardcore audio line.

Jammrock

[K6-III]

I'd suggest either NAD or Adcom....

If you can find Audio Alchemy...it is quite a bargain now...

[Taz]

I assume you've tried Richer Sounds

[RichL]

Of course! Their sheer cheapness (and mine!) is the driving force behind my foray into the world of DVD and Surround Sound

[nunchalnaomi]

Hi,
My friend had a nak ta[pedeck and it was great, much better then my dennon 3 head. I have a yamaha rv995 ( I think ) and it has a lot of digital inputs ( both coaxl and optical ) and sounds very good. It is much clearer then the tube amp I used to use. I'm running a sony minidisc, sampo multi region dvd, and harmon kardon cd burner in the digital ins, and the turntable, cassete deck, 3 svhs vcrs and mixer in the line level inputs. You can record to one thing and listen to the something else. Its not a krell amp, but it is good. I'm running jbl speakers. I think the speakers make more of a difference then the amp. Thats my 2 cents worth. My dads nad amp was cheaper and better, but it doesn't have all the inputs I need. Good luck. Nunchal

[Goc]

If you can find a good deal on it I would suggest Sherwood Newcastle AVP-9080R+Sherwood Newcastle AM-9080... It's a whole different ball game from all the recievers mentioned here, because it's a two component combo... You can see it for yourself here.
Sound quality coming from that baby is amazing, considering the price...

EDIT:
If you're uncomfortable with amp/preamp concept or amp's weight (70lbs ) you could also try Sherwood Newcastle models R756 or R956... They are normal recievers in standard hi-fi equipment size...

[K6-III]

I can vouch for Sherwood Newcastle....but be aware that the price and availability can be quite different....

[RichL]

I'd been shying away from the Sherwood gear on the grounds of its hi-fi abilities : I've heard the cheaper Sherwood gear is excellent for home cinema, but not so on music.
The 956 is over my budget, but I'll see if I can find a 756 and add it to my comparison list

As yet, I havent found a bad review of the Marantz SR5200 apart from "Mine blew up but the dealer replaced it and the new ones been fine".
Looks like it definately goes on my listen list

[Greebe]

I wouldn't touch a Sherwood even if that was the last POS on the planet.

I've see so many of their whimpy finals blow out it's not funny (and a seriously expensive repair)

[KvHagedorn]

Rich, don't even consider replacing your Rotel with anything you have mentioned here. Greebe is right about Sherwood in particular.

Nakamichi used to be very good stuff up until about 10 years ago, then suddenly they got new management and the really high end dealers started dropping them. As far as I can tell, they went down the crap road. Yamaha does pretty well with its AV receiver line.. it has been our main line for years. I own an RX-V995 and it's a pretty good sounding piece for a receiver.. plenty of high current power, great processing, great features. There have actually been three generations of replacements for the 995.. the RX-V1000, RX-V2200, and the current piece is the RX-V2300. Cost is $999.00 USD. You didn't mention any numbers for your budget, btw

[RichL]

My budget for AV Amp, Rear & Centre surround speakers and a Subwoofer is £600 (about $700 given the way the prices work), excluding interconnects and speaker cable.
Thanks to cut-price suppliers like Richer Sounds, that can buy me a fair amount of kit

I'm looking at a Mission 77C1 center (£100) and Mission 77DS rears (£80), or very possibly some Wharfedale PPS-1 "Picture frame" flat panel speakers(£80) for the rear, and probably an Eltax A8 or A10 sub (£100). This leaves me about £320 for the AV Amp.

For front speakers, I'll be using my existing Castle Trent bookshelf jobbies.

As much as I'd love a Rotel AV Amp, the cheapie shops dont sell them and regular dealers want about £800+ for them.
I could go the route of a seperate surround processor, using my existing Rotel as a pre-amp stage, and adding a five or six channel Power amp, but thats likely to cost me a lot more than my £320 budget.