Need advice before "pulling the trigger"... (1 Viewer)

[svenge]

OK, I'm ready to pull the trigger for my first A/V receiver. I've spent quite a bit of time researching and reading posts (muy informative, BTW) and I'm down to these last three from JandR.com (I've bought from them before and trust them). The three are:

Sherwood RD6108
Panasonic SA-HE75S
Yamaha HTR-5540

I don't have the money to get a higher-model receiver such as the SA-HE100, so don't suggest other models, please. BTW, I'm using Jensen JHT-525 5.1 speakers if that matters. Any advice regarding the best choice would be most appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Bob McElfresh]

I'm a big Yamaha fan so that would be my first choice. The first unit I got 7 years ago has survived a daughters college and is still working great.

 

[JeremyFr]

2nd for Yamaha here quite happy with mine.

 

[Donnie Eldridge]

Ditto! Go for the Yamaha.

 

[Ray Kerr]

Another vote for the Yammie... I'm just "retiring" my HTR-5280 to the Master Bedroom HT system.

 

[Alan M]

Another vote for the yammi,I own the 5560 and love it.

 

[Danny Tse]

Both the Sherwood 6108 and Yamaha 5540 will do 96kHz/24-bit D/A convertion (I checked both model's owners manual), but I am not sure about the Panasonic. The Sherwood has spring clips for speaker connectors, while the Yamaha will also accept banana plugs. The Sherwood has more digital inputs, while the Yamaha only give you 1 TosLink and 1 coaxial digital inputs.

On the other hand, the Sherwood is only $139.99 here. You can also go to CircuitCity.com have them match the price and get it with free shipping.

I personally like the Yamaha better, but the Sherwood is not bad at all either.

 

[RobWil]

Between those three I also would go for the Yamaha. I don't know about the Sherwood, but the Newcastle looks intriguing. Ecost.com had a refurb for $399 for awhile...120wpc. They also had a refurb yamaha rx-v630 shipped to your door for $314. Not sure what they've got going now though.
EDIT:
I got curious and looked. They've currently got the Kenwood VR6070 shipped for $279. That's an awesome deal.
They also have the Denon AVR-2802 for $339 shipped..another awesome deal! That may be more than you want to spend, but they also have the Denon AVR683 for $194 shipped. I think these may only come with 90 day warranty but you can add an extended warranty if you wanted to.