Does a AVR reciever have to have THX to be worth looking at?

Question

Been awhile since I have looked and was wondering it this is still the best format? someone enlighten me please.

the reason I asked was I am going from a denon avr 5600 to something a little less expensive but with hdmi connects. I am buying the denon 887 I think, not quite my old one but many more options to fit todays televisions

Actually henry, I did know something about home theartre as you pointed out 8 years ago. this is why the 5600 powered my home movie system and my polk assortment. but I appreciate your all knowing input. As for audio, my adcom amps and preamps do all my music and blow this denon away for pure audio.

Answer 1

Hi.The answer is no. The manufacturer of the receiver is paying LUCAS FILMS LTD a fee for having the THX logo on the front of their equipment. And that is passed onto the consumer as part of the price . As a matter of fact some receivers with the THX circuitry actually performed worse than other receivers without it.There are both good and bad with or without the THX circuitry .

Answer 2

The best answer for that question is a question. Do your ears think that there is clearly a difference? Some people can't hear a difference from a "high end" system from a K Mart blue light special, others though can hear almost imperceptible differences. So it all really depends on what you think. I can just say that THX is supposed to be the "ultimate" in home theater experience, but I think that the standard has really dropped recently and now more products are being THX certified and I just don't know if they are all legitimate or not. Anyway, I would recommend that you go to an AV specialty dealer that allows you to listen to what different receivers can do as well as different types of speakers. Also, speaking of speakers, since you didn't say anything about speakers, I'm going to assume that you are not replacing any existing speakers that you may already own. In which case, if they are not THX certified as well then my suggestion would be to NOT go with a THX AVR. Anyway, let YOUR ears be the judge and you won't go wrong but just in case be sure to ask whatever dealer you go to if they have a 15 to 30 day exchange policy. Just in case you take it home and it doesn't meet your expectations. Good luck!

Answer 3

lasuremartin hit the nail right on the head.

Having the THX logo used to mean that that piece of equipment met a certain criteria for high performance.

But that has since given way to different levels of THX certification, ie "THX Select", THX Ultra", etc. allowing the more budget minded consumer to be able to point to the logo and say "hey hey, THX baby!"

So in other words, don't kill your self trying to buy a reciever with a THX logo on it.

Answer 4

There are speakers and receivers that DON'T have the "THX" logo and sound much better than speakers and receivers that DO...The point of "THX" in a nutshell is to ensure that instead of having ONE "sweet-spot" for listening with everyone else suffering horrible sound, the entire audience is ensured an AVERAGE home theater experience.

Answer 5

If it's been ten years or more, I'll give you a little history. When THX first came out the standards were really stringent. The only way to do it was to make really expensive components. Like $8,000 for what you're looking for. They eventually lowered that standard so they could sell more logos.
The most important thing is to make sure it has the receiver has the appropriate inputs for you.

Answer 6

Agree with other posters. The money you spend on the logo could be spent instead on higher quality and you would thus end up with a better sounding system.

Answer 7

THX post-processing likely is still the best quality sound. But depending on your level of discrimination, it's not the only thing worth looking at, esp if you're on a tight(er) budget.

Answer 8

some of the best equipment is not THX but could be.

Answer 9

depends on what you want

Answer 10

No. THX is still awesome but it's not the only thing to look at. You should consider all specs together with price and your actual home theater objective.

----INFO ADDED---- (given your additional details)
Your AVR-5600 was one of the higher Denon models 8 years ago but is pretty old now with only Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Prologic decoding and THX processing. It doesn't include DTS decoding. It has impressive 140W x 5 of amplifier power. It doesn't even have component video inputs/outputs to fully suport DVD video. Some features like Denon's DDSC are still in use but this is found starting on AVR-3806 at US$1200. To match the 140W per channel and THX processing you will have to jump up to the AVR-4806 at US$4000. But at the end the AVR-5600 it will do an awesome job decoding 90% of DVD movie content which is Dolby Digital 5.1.

Surround sound is changing right now to Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD and DTS-HD so maybe is not a good idea to go for those expensive high end models. So the AVR-887 at US$700 will be a good choice with today's added features: improved DAC's, Dolby Digital Surround EX, Prologic II, DTS ES 6.1, DTS Neo:6 and DTS 96/24. HDMI inputs/outputs. It also include 6ch external decoder inputs to support DVD-Audio, SACD and the newer Bluray and HD-DVD. But I think your AVR-5600 will do pretty well if you use it just for audio decoding (Dolby Digital and THX processing) for DVD soundtracks and HDTV dolby digital sources, keeping video conections out of the receiver and better waiting for the new receivers to incorporate the whole new HD audio technologies.

If you are planning to use HD-DVD or bluray your AVR-5600 will still work with some improvement over regular DVD audio (because the new formats can include full 640 kbps Dolby Digital Vs regular DVD's that used 448 kbps max) but as this receiver lacks of 6ch analog external decoder inputs you will not get full advantage of the new formats' HD audio. Then go for the AVR 887 wich will provide you better support.
------END OF ADDED INFO-----

-----INFO ADDED #2 ---------
Stereo Hi-Fi will be always ahead of surround sound, because any disc storage capacity can be used with better resolution for 2 audio channels than for 5, 8 or more. Actually Dolby Digital in DVD discs doesn't even reach CD quality, it is more like some sort of 128 kbps MP3 or less. (640 kbps is the top for Dolby Digital format which means 128 kbps/channel, but actual Dolby Digital soundtracks found on DVD's use smaller bit rate)
This is why with HD-DVD and bluray we will take out the full power of 640 kbps Dolby Digital, that we could not achieve before with regular DVDs (although not CD quality yet, here is where your AVR-5600 still will work). But for beyond CD quality the AVR-887 will do a better job as your AVR-5600 doesn't have required 6ch analog inputs (to take advantage of SACD, DVD-Audio, Bluray or HD-DVD players' built-in decoders)

THX technology is in constant change. First THX improved Dolby Prologic 5.1 Decoding, then it was modified to improve Dolby Digital 5.1 (And as far as I could research your AVR-5600 was the first AV receiver to incorporate THX processing for Dolby Digital so if this is true then you have a piece of history there). Right now THX has evolved into THX surround EX for 7.1 surround sound. For sure THX will change again as the new HD formats are already here. But THX also focus on video performance because sound+picture = full experience. If you want to see current THX standards for Home Theater read here:
http://www.audioholics.com/news/trade-show-coverage/2004-cedia-expo/thx-certified-home-theater-program
-----END OF INFO ADDED #2 ---------

And yes, THX is still at the top of home theater equipment (with its THX select/ultra certification). But only if you are ready to spend a lot of money and build a dedicated home theater it's worth. Because THX is much more that just a THX certified receiver.

Of course THX specs can be reached and even surpassed by non THX certified equipment. But again it will take expensive high end equipments to acomplish that.

If you really want to understand a little about THX then read ahead:

It's true that THX has now a broad range of certified equipment but this is because they are trying to focus on 4 specific aplications (1 for multimedia, 1 for home entertainment and only 2 for dedicated home theaters). Yes I agree this is for marketing purposses to take advantage of the THX logo on consumer entry level equipments (although they really improve performance on those aplications) but as long as you're able to differentiate those from the high standard home theater THX certified equipment then you will be ok.

Then you will have THX multimedia wich will certify PC speaker packages. So this speakers will sound for sure better than most average non THX certified PC speaker packages out there (and they are expensive when compared to average PC speakers). Of course they are not meant to be used for a dedicated home theater just for PC multimedia use.

There is another THX certification for HTiBs (Home Theater in a Box). They are not meant to be used for a dedicated home theater either. (Right now there's only one Onkyo HTiB with this certification).

Now here's the serious THX Home Theater stuff:

(This is where all people who said that THX lowered their standards are wrong! - Actually THX standards are everytime rising the bar for home theater set-up)

The high end line of THX certification is now called THX select/select 2 and THX ultra/ultra2 to differ from THX used on multimedia and HTiBs and these should be used acording to viewing distance and room size. These are the only THX certification for dedicated home theater use.

The confussion comes in as year ago there was only one THX certification that only high end equipments could achieve. Now people must choose carefully THX equipment and lots of people get confussed.

But THX is not only to buy a THX certified A/V receiver. There are lots of variables to control to get true THX experience and we're talking from source to display and from media to speakers. Most people belive THX is just audio specs but it's not.

What I'm trying to point out here is that THX still is at the top of recreating the real cinema experience when talking about dedicated Home Theater equipment.

As a little example: THX requires a minimum viewing angle to the screen of 36° to get the desired image impact. This is not just fortuitous, image size is important because a movie should be an inmersive experience so picture has to get closer to human panoramic view. Now 36° is a huge screen you will need a 60" screen from just 2 meters away. This will take out most plasmas and LCD.

Another requirement of THX is that front speakers to be right behind the screen. Again take out plasmas and LCD because the only way to put speakers behind the screen is just the way is done in cinemas: with a perforated screen and front projection (If you haven't notice cinema screen has little perforations to allow the sound come from speakers behind it). But this kind of screens have to meet some audio/video performance specs. This is why you will find THX certified acoustically transparent screens. These screens are very expensive but not for the THX certification like some people belive, they require lots of materials engineering and audio and video performance tests. Want to learn a little about this:

http://www.stewartfilmscreen.com/white_paper/microperf_wp_rev1.pdf

See this US$12500 klipsch THX Ultra 2 speaker system.
(THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE THX LOGO AT SIGHT - but anyway they are going to be hidden behind the perforated screen so why bother)

http://www.thesoundbroker.com/Images/Klipschthxultra2.jpg

So actually a THX certified home theater will look something like this (this is a picture without the screen so that we can see speakers arrangement):