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looking for a receiver for a friend, 2 hdmi video outputs (1 Viewer)

JoeGibs

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Nov 5, 2004
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I'm helping a friend setup his stereo and I don't know where to start with the receiver. This is going in his newly built garage, upstairs is a lounge/hangout/pool room, and the main level is the garage/workshop. He wants to be able to output video to the TV and switch to a projector for football games and movies. We're building a nice set of towers for upstairs, along with a subwoofer, and another set of speakers for the main level. A lot of receivers have the speaker channels listed as front and rear, but do the rears output the full sound? I'd be super upset if we got everything installed and the main level speakers running on the rear channel only output "rear surround" sound... if that makes sense? Basically we need two sets of speaker outputs that output full range sound. Preferably able to disable the main level speakers for watching movies, keeping the upstairs towers running.


We're wanting something with apple airplay, unless bluetooth would work from say 30 feet away. I'm not too familiar with the whole bluetooth technology, but i'm assuming it works similar to the airplay. If bluetooth can work from a decent distance, say from the back yard next to the garage up to the receiver in the lounge, I think we'd prefer that over airplay because airplay needs wireless internet to work, and if we can avoid having to install wireless out in the garage, that'd be nice.


The one that I found that looks like it fits all my requirements is the Sony STR-DN1050

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_158STN1050/Sony-STR-DN1050.html?tp=179


I don't know how to feel about Sony, so i'm open for suggestions. I don't know what brands are awesome and which ones to avoid like the plague
 

Al.Anderson

Senior HTF Member
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Jul 2, 2002
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Al
A lot of receivers have the speaker channels listed as front and rear, but do the rears output the full sound?

All the amps on any decent receiver are equal. If you are reproducing a 5.1/7.1 recording, then the rears will have much less information because the rear channel usually carries effects; but if you run a 5.1/7.1 receiver in all-speaker-stereo they'll all pump out full volume.


But instead of using all-channel stereo, I'd look for a stereo receiver with an A/B switch, so you can *easily* run the upstairs, downstairs, or both. Alternately you can get a 2-zone receiver, but controlling the zones is much more of a pain in the ass than a simple A/B switch.

I don't know how to feel about Sony, so i'm open for suggestions.

Most of us avoid Sony for receivers, but that's mostly because they cost more per feature than the other main brands. The mainstream (not elite) manufacturers to consider are: Marantz, Yamaha, Denon, Pioneer, Onkyo, and Harman/Kardon.
 

JoeGibs

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 5, 2004
Messages
116
thanks for the replies guys. looking into receivers is overwhelming, there's a ton to choose from and a million features to sort out


Good info anderson, i wasn't sure if these high end receivers had a straight up stereo mode. I personally hate the whole surround sound thing, much prefer to get the full effect straight in my face.


I did a little research into bluetooth, it looks like it compresses audio and only works over short distances and gets worse with interference like walls. so airplay is the better option i guess. yay for having to get another wireless router...


so bottom line is we're going to be spending more than the original budgeted 500 for a receiver to get what we need it to do
 

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