Need advice on ~$200 Receiver (1 Viewer)

I'm a poor college student who for some reason has a compulsion to have a home theater of his own. The problem is that I have very little money to work with. These are the items that I already have to work with, and please don't laugh :-/

Cyberhome 500 DVD Player w/ DD and DTS decoder ($80)
Jensen JTH-525 5.1 speakers ($40 bucks after using gift certificates)

And these are the receiver models that I'm looking at (all ~$200 which is my maximum)

JVC RX-6030VBK
Kenwood VR-606
Panasonic SA-HE70
Pioneer VSX-D411
Sony STR-DE595 Black

Which unit do you think would be the best suited for my setup?

No laughing from me.. We all started off at similar places
in this hobby unless we were born with a gold spoon in our
mouthes.

I think in your price range any of these units will offer
similar performance. I think the deciding factors for you
will be which features of each are the most beneficial to
your requirements.

I believe that your best bet would be to sit down and think
about what you want the reciever to do, what features are a
must have and then go from there untill you narrow it down
to the unit that best suits your needs.

It would not hurt to demo each of these units in person also
if possible to see how they sound and perform.


Good Luck!

I think you would be happy going even lower down on the price scale. I got a really good deal on a Sherwood RD6106. Mine was only $69 but I think it would be a bargin at twice that. It has Pro-Logic, DD and DTS. I have a similar budget for my home theater and am very satisfied so far. Check out these reviews:

http://partner.consumerreview.com/re...ite_ProductID%

In your price range, I would seriously consider looking at used receivers also. There are a lot of really compulsive upgraders out there that are already letting go of relatively recent models. You might do very well to buy a 2 or 3 year old model from much higher up the line.

Refurbished Harman Kardon HK120 directly from Harman Kardon online. You can get one for $198 and has full warranty. BTW it weighs 6 lbs more than the current AVR125 and has one more usable A/V inputs on the rear (minus the 6.1 input).

Harman Kardon online store

Hold the phone! First, avoid the SOny's like the plague. Second, go right over to J&R (jandr.com) and pick up the Yamaha HTR-5540 (or the AVR-430, same receiver) for $199. Great, powerful, clean receiver with actually listenable DSP modes. Brand new, excellent quality, and you'll want to keep it when you get $$$ to upgrade your speakers.

The Yamaha 5540 is $179.95 at J&R at time of this post.

yes the yamaha entry receivers are very good.

Also, keep an eye on the Sherwood 6108. When on sale at Circuit City, it can be had for $130.00. From what I can read on this forum, excellent performer.

I second the HK 120 B-stock. Absolute best buy for sound quality.

I just bought the Yamaha 5550 from JandR, because there was only a 30 dollar price difference at the time, the 5540 was 199, 5550 was 229.

didn't know about the HK receivers, where was that deal when I was shopping!!??

New to this site so I hope its ok to offer to sell my last receiver. Its a JVC few years old. What state are you in I'll let it go for $50. Willing to help out a college student in need. David

WA State, Ellensburg

I know that Goodguys always has plenty of open-box models that are under $200, but originally retailed for 3-4, sometimes even 5 bills.

Harman also have remanufactured receivers at their site.. BTW, Circuit City is clearing out the Pioneer 711 (new in box) for $190.00.