Receiver Advice Requested (1 Viewer)

[BadgerDude]

I'm currently shopping for a home theater receiver in the $300-500 price range. Ideally, I want the following minimum specs:

7.1 channel
>75W/channel
HDMI video interface (2 inputs ok, audio not req'd)
User-friendly setup, operation, and remote (I'm no audio guru)
A good layout and assortment of connections that will make it versatile

The receiver will complement Polk Audio M60's, CS1, and PSW505 speakers and sub. In addition, I purchased an Onkyo tape deck and Sony SACD 5-Disc cd changer. I will also need to purchase an HD DVD/VCR combo (that's another story).

These are the namebrands that I've looked at:

Onkyo, Harman Kardon, Denon, Yamaha

Onkyo and Yamaha seem to be more user-friendly, but HK and Denon seem to put out the best sound albeit at a steeper price.

Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'm entirely new in this world, but I'm doing my best to educate myself.

Thanks!

 

[BadgerDude]

Let me give options to make this a little easier:

Onkyo TX SR605
Denon AVR 788
Harman Kardon AVR 347
Yamaha RX V661BL

I'm always open to new ideas.

Thanks!

Jim

 

[JohnW]

First of all, welcome to the forum!

Among your options, Onkyo 605 would be a great pick. It has a lot of features packed in for the money. If you look around, you can probably find it for under $400 shipped. If you do not mind factory refurbished, you can actually get it for about $300. It is pretty tough to get so much receiver for so little money.

You may not need all the features of the Onkyo for now, but it is always better to have them for not too much extra. The bad thing is that you would not find too many excuses to upgrade your receiver in the near future.

 

[mayhem13]

just purchased a sony str-da3200 es for $400.00 new. it's 7.1,hdmi upconverting and 125w per channel with 5yrs factory warranty-the list price on this reciever was 1299.00-if you're interested i'll pass on where you can get it at this price. oh by the way this reciever is phenominal !! The Power output is amazing and the SA-CD input brings new life to my music collection-spent about 2 months looking for a reciever and for the price you can't beat the features available.