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Need help buying first receiver

#1
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7/11/09 at 10:23am
  • Joined: July 2009
  • Post Count: 7
Alright I'm looking to spend no more than $300 on a basic receiver. Nothing fancy, it just needs to do what it's supposed to do.

Specifications:

Must have optical digital input
Hooking it up to 5.1 surround sound speakers
Must be able to hook up to my TV so I get surround sound while watching TV
Must be able to hook up to an iPod Touch so I can listen to music through it


I think that's it, I don't know anything about this kind of stuff so please bare with me. If there is anything else you need to know please ask, I'll reply soon. Thanks!
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#2
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7/11/09 at 11:59am
  • Joined: April 1999
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The only receiver under $300 that is somewhat future-proof IMO is the Sony STR-DH700. All your specifications you list are completely universal, there's no surround receiver that doesn't do those things, only the bare cheapest stereo-only receivers wouldn't.  But the Sony does some things that you don't list that may be useful to you in the future.  (Mainly audio over HDMI).

ipod touch you have many ways to go.  You can get a cheap dock adapter->RCA audio cable, or any of a zillion ipod docks with varying features.  Or a Sony ipod/"digital media port" dock to remote control via the Sony remote, some of these have OSD to browse on the TV.
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#3
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7/11/09 at 7:07pm
  • Joined: January 2009
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Wow! I have to mark this down that someone on this forum is suggesting a Sony receiver. As a Sony and Onkyo owner, I must say that Onkyo is the way to go. The TX-SR507 is just above 300 at a couple sites on the net. I would only buy from an authorized dealer of course. The only problem that I see with the Onkyo is that the is only 5.1 and not 7.1. So if in your future you see a 7.1 system you may need to step higher in the Onkyo food chain.
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#4
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7/11/09 at 10:36pm
  • Joined: April 1999
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[quote]Wow! I have to mark this down that someone on this forum is suggesting a Sony receiver. As a Sony and Onkyo owner, I must say that Onkyo is the way to go.[/quote]

Well the guy did say "no more than $300", and possibly wants an ipod dock, so I try to work within constraints when possible :).  I often recommend the Onkyo to people with bigger budgets, but it's closer to $340 (w/o dock) from most authorized internet dealers with reasonable shipping+return policies, while the Sony is only ~$200-215 & satisfies the requirements leaving room for a dock.

I actually forgot about a perhaps better option, for  ~$300, the new Pioneer VSX-819.  It comes with an ipod cable and has on-TV track selection I think.
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#5
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7/12/09 at 7:43am
  • Joined: August 2003
  • Location: SF Bay Area
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As an addimttedly weak alternative to the Sony and Pioneer (well, the Pioneer, anyway  ) ac4l.com has a refurb  Onkyo-4100-htib with iPod dock and a free DV-406 dvd player for $249 + shipping. You could sell the speakers and dvd player for $100 and make out pretty good. But I'd probably get the Pioneer anyway.
"Everyday room": Mitsubishi 52631 RPTV, H/K 520, H/K dvd-5, H/K 8380, H/K CDR 20, OPPO BDP-83 BluRay player, Dish-HD, Infinity Beta 20's-C250-OWS1's, Dayton HSU10.
"Movie/Music room": Toshiba 65HM167 RPTV, Pioneer Elite 59txi, Elite DV59avi, Elite CD-59, Pioneer PD-51FD BR, Dish-DVR, Swan Diva...
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#6
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7/12/09 at 1:17pm
  • Joined: January 2009
  • Post Count: 50
Yep, I forgot about the ease of Ipod interface with the pioneer models. Pioneer may just be the ticket here.
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#7
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7/13/09 at 11:49am
  • Joined: July 2009
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alright, forgetting my original post here, what are some cool features that receivers have that i should look into? i know all the basic stuff they do like control tv, speakers, etc but what are some cool things about them that i could get?
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#8
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7/13/09 at 2:10pm
  • Joined: April 1999
  • Post Count: 1,573
The features on receivers, that aren't necessarily found on the bottom-most cheapest models are:
- HDMI inputs that can process audio
- auto-setup/calibration/equalization routines, that include a microphone & a software program to set up levels/crossovers/delays on all your channels, and potentially compensate for problems caused by reflections from room boundaries.
- ability to handle "TrueHD" and "DTS-HD/MA" codecs found on Blu-ray, so you can get an older cheaper Blu-ray that doesn't decode them
- video conversion features, allowing you to convert from one type of video to another, minimizing the number of cables you have to run between receiver & TV.  Also scaling to different resolutions.
- instead of 5.1,  7.1 speaker terminals, or possibly even more, to handle rear surround channels and/or 2nd rooms. 
- pre-outs for connecting external amps for more power.
- volume stabilization features compensating for volume differences between programs/commercials etc.

IMO the first 2 are very useful, the rest the vast majority of people can live without.
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