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taking the plunge into home theater........

post #1 of 20
4/22/05 at 7:54am
Thread Starter 
Hi guys,

Im new to home theater and am in the market for some home theater equipment. I want to start off by getting some advice on a really good receiver to get.

I appreciate your help
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post #2 of 20
4/22/05 at 8:09am
Welcome to Home Theater Forum, James. You will enjoy yourself here.

As for your post, please note that the Basics area strictly is for general discussion at the beginner level. For specifics as to equipment purchased, please post in the appropriate hardware-related thread. And since you're asking about receiver recommendations, your post now is located in Receivers/Amps.

Best of luck.
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post #3 of 20
4/22/05 at 8:09am
Budget????

For most people new to HT, many including myself suggest the Onkyo 770 system... This has a real full featured AVR at it's heart. Not all built in stuff like a lot of HTIB's out there. (Home Theater In a Box = HTIB)
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post #4 of 20
4/22/05 at 8:13am
Welcome to the world of home theater where you'll find all your spare change......

You're in good hand here... we'll help you spend it. Have fun and enjoy.
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post #5 of 20
4/22/05 at 9:46am
Thread Starter 
Thanks guys for the welcome.

I was initally thinking of spending around 5-600 on a receiver. Some people have told me to spend the extra money on a receiver because it is the heart of your whole home theater.
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post #6 of 20
4/22/05 at 10:04am
Pioneer 1014 for a great budget choice.

If your going to spend more, you probably have to go up to a Denon 3805 type price point to get truly better.

The 1014 when I evaluated one for a week, seemed a little better than the Onkyo that comes with the 770 system.
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post #7 of 20
4/22/05 at 10:17am
Thread Starter 
I have read some things where some people have said that they wished they would have spent the extra money on a Pioneer 1015. What is the difference between the two and is the 1015 worth the upgrade in your opinion?
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post #8 of 20
4/22/05 at 6:40pm
Email sent.
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post #9 of 20
4/22/05 at 7:55pm
Thread Starter 
What are the advantages of denon? Is it a quality product?
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post #10 of 20
4/22/05 at 8:20pm
I have an entry level Denon AVR1705. I love the Denon sound. My father has purchased Denon for awhile so I just grew up around their equipment all the time. The AVR1705 is an excellent solid product for what you pay.
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post #11 of 20
4/23/05 at 2:24pm
You may also want to look for used on audiogon and ebay. In your price range I would recommend the Pioneer 1014 or 1015. If you look on audiogon.com there is a Pioneer Elite 52 on for $599. Even Ebay has them cheaper.

Kevin
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post #12 of 20
4/23/05 at 7:50pm
Thread Starter 
Ive got it nailed down to 3 receivers, they are all pioneer.

The 1014
The 1015
or
The Pioneer Elite VSX-52TX Receiver

I am having a hard time figuring out which receiver will be best for me. I dont want to spend the extra money on features I will never use. I appreciate your help.
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post #13 of 20
4/23/05 at 8:24pm
While no one else has mentioned it, it's important to consider what speakers you'll be using before necessarily picking your receiver. People have different theories, but I'd recommend spending most of your money on the speakers (as that has the greatest impact on the sound) and then getting a receiver that has enough power to drive those speakers and has whatever features you desire.
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post #14 of 20
4/23/05 at 9:37pm
Thread Starter 
Between those receivers what are nice sets of speakers to get and where? What would be some nice sounding speakers?
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post #15 of 20
4/23/05 at 10:12pm
James, did you listen to those receivers yet? One thing no one has mentioned so far is that you should listen to numerous receivers and speakers before purchasing anything. The specs don't tell the whole story. Bring your own music and have fun listening.

I am not sure what your price range is but other brands that are highly recommended around here are Denon, Marantz, Harmon Kardon, and Onkyo.

Good luck and have fun listening
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post #16 of 20
4/23/05 at 10:19pm
Thread Starter 
I am now maybe leaning towards a package system for my first home theater. I was recommened the onkyo770 system. I would be willing to spend to $700 on a package sytem. What is the best system to get in this price range?
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post #17 of 20
4/23/05 at 11:33pm
Go Paradigm with Yamaha or Denon receiver you wont be disappointed...plus I am drunk so everything seems good about now man..lol...i am sorry for the drunken post ahead of time
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post #18 of 20
4/24/05 at 4:21pm
James,

You might want to wait a week or two when the Panasonic sa-xr55 comes out, you can pre-order it at jandr.com for $250.

It's a pure-digital receiver, do a search on this forum as well as avsforum, audiocircle, and others---apparently a good 90% of the word has been very good, some people even say they're selling off their separates costing thousands of dollars and replacing with this.

$250 for the receiver leaves you with a lot more options, I'd invest heavily on the front 3 speakers and go with a $125 Dayton subwoofer from partsexpress.com. Go cheap on the surrounds ($100 pair of Polk R15s) or get them later on, go cheap on the DVD player ($50 Toshiba 3960 will do just fine) and especially the cables.

If you absolutely must have 5.1 right now, look into the Athena Micra 6 system, $350 shipped from Amazon.com

The Panny plus the Micra and esp. the Hsu would easily beat out the Onkyo HTIB.
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post #19 of 20
4/24/05 at 7:10pm
I think to get the most out of your plunge into your first home theater purchase, you should figure out what you want to buy and how much do you want to speand.

I would recommend first listening to speakers...but you need to decide if you want to buy a 5.1 system, a 2.1 system (what I've got), a 3.1 system...etc etc. Go to several speaker stores in your area and just listen. Bring in some of your favorite CD's and listen to as many different brands as you can. For further recommendations, check out the speaker message board on here, you'll find plenty of options & opinions at all price ranges.

If your budget for speakers is under $1000, I think you'll find that just about any of the receivers recommended above will be fine. While some would disagree, I don't think you'll hear much of a difference in different receivers, especially in the $500 and below categories. I'd go more for the features that you find important (for example, do you plan on running your cable box, xbox, & dvd player all through your receiver? does your TV have HDMI or DVI?...etc etc).

While all of this can be overwhelming for some. Just spending a little time really figuring out what you want to get can yield some nice dividends. You'll feel better about your purchases and you'll be more prepared as you get the never ending urge to upgrade.
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post #20 of 20
4/25/05 at 8:16am
I only used Denon as an example of the price points...


The price points still have the most impact on performance. I stated you would have to go up to the price point of a Denon 3805 to get significant performance increase over the Pio 1014 / 1015.

Best of luck. For a total budget of $700, you cannot get any better or maybe even as good as what you get in the Onkyo 770 system. Not just the AVR, but the entire system budget.
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