Replacement for Denon AVC-A10SE required
Hi,
I've had a Denon AVC-A10SE for over 11 years and until recently it's provided excellent sound quality and service. But recently I've had two problems with it. A hissing in the rear left channel and now a sharp cracking noise from the left front speaker. Swapping the speaker has proved it's the amp and not the speaker.
I think it's likely the amp is coming to the end of its useful life. So I'm looking for a replacement which MUST be good enough to handle music as well as 5.1 sound.
My speakers are B&W CM4, CMC and DM600 S3 for the rears. The CM4s cost £900 11 years ago so are probably comparable to CM8s.
I've shortlisted a Pioneer LX85 and hope to demo it in store with my speakers in a week or so. Are there any other amps I should consider? I feel the sound balance with my Denon is quite smooth but wouldn't mind a bit more bite providing it isn't too harsh.
Budget is reasonably flexible up to £1.5K.
The Pioneer LX85 is a good machine. You could also consider, within your budget of £1,500, the Yamaha RX-A3010. This is the big brother of the RX-A2010 that has been in my kitchen for the last two months, and I'm very happy with it, so the RX-A3010 will be even better, as both Rick at Musicraft and David at Frank Harvey will concur. You can read the What Hi-Fi review of it here and the Home Cinema Choice review here. You'll see that both magazines liked it muchly. There is also a more informal, but very detailed, review from Blu-ray.com here. And the good news is, that since it is now an outgoing model, you can now get it for about half of its original listed price of £2,000. This is for a brand new machine, not ex-demonstration.
Yes, the Pioneer SCLX85 and Yamaha RXA3010 would be an ideal starting point. Tonally, you'll probably find the Yamaha closer to what you have, but the Pioneer's Class D amplification will definitely provide more bite without sounding harsh (as long as your dealer knows how to use it). If you find it slightly on the bright side, ask him about X-Curve. He'll either be able to demonstrate it to you, or he'll say "what's that?". If the latter, get yourself a better dealer 
Yes, the Pioneer SCLX85 and Yamaha RXA3010 would be an ideal starting point. Tonally, you'll probably find the Yamaha closer to what you have, but the Pioneer's Class D amplification will definitely provide more bite without sounding harsh (as long as your dealer knows how to use it). If you find it slightly on the bright side, ask him about X-Curve. He'll either be able to demonstrate it to you, or he'll say "what's that?". If the latter, get yourself a better dealer
I would agree with David on this one, I have / had all three brands.
The Pioneer is a great amp, but does need setting up correctly.
Have you considered splitting the budget and getting an AV amp with front pre-outs and a stereo amp? Front speakers and music sources plug into the stereo amp, centre, rears and subwoofer + home cinema sources plug into the AV amp. When playing music you only need the stereo amp on, when playing home cinema, you switch the AV amp on and set the stereo amp to a pre-adjusted volume (12 o'clock is the norm I think).
It's trickier as you need to find a stereo amp which balances with the AV amp when performing home cinema duties, but it's an idea. Another solution would be the same as the above, but simply unplugging the front speakers and switching them over between the two. A bit of a fiddle, but again, gives you much more flexibility to choose a stereo amp which fits best for music and an AV amp which fits best for home cinema without having to compromise.
Just thought I'd throw it out there
Professorhat, that is a great idea, which I wish that I had thought of! However, it may not be so necessary in this case, because the Home Cinema Choice review of the Yamaha RX-A3010 receiver says, in the introduction: "Aside from the familiar pleasures of living-room cinema, the RX-A3010 promises audiophile grade two-channel performance" and later, in the Performance section: "And this model is astonishingly good with stereo sources; there’s a musicality here which recalls Yamaha’s A-S500 stereo amp."
Absolutely and I should have made clear I'm not dissuading auditioning the Yamaha (or any other AV receiver). But just something to keep in the back of the mind that, if these receivers don't make the grade musically, you don't have to compromise as there are other options out there.
Hi Ray
My son has left a Denon AVC -A10SE with me ,
no remote or ac lead.
As far as I know this is in working order. Any use to you let me know ,I'm in Milton Keynes.
Mike
I don't think you will do it for your budget, that’s a big hard one, you have to factor in inflation over 11 long years. The AVC-A1HDA would be the logical route to take and it has more connections to spurt out what you need.