$500 range- Denon, Onkyo, or Pioneer- opinions please (1 Viewer)

[davidMac]

Looking to purchase a new/refurbished AVR receiver and have narrowed it down to 3. I'm looking for the best quality & longevity using this for home theater and music. Important for me is running a 7.1 system, networking/internet, sirius, pandora, HD radio, hook up MP3 player.


The rest of my system:

TV- Panny 54G25

Front Speakers- Polk Monitor 60

Side - NHT

Rear surround- Polk RC601R ceiling mount

Sub- Cadence XSub


(1) Refurbished Denon AVR3310CI or 990 (basically the same)


Pro:

Best quality of the 3 across the board

Con:

May be overwhelming to set up, I'm kinda green in all of this

Refurbished and from either Dakmart or Ecost


(2) Refurbished Onkyo TXNR807


Pro:

More power than the other two, this will be in a partially open basement
Ac4L a more trusted dealer

Con:

Refurbished

A notch below Denon for quality and longevity


(3) New Pioneer VSX1120


Pro:

New rather than refurbished

A lot of bells and whistles


Con:

Also a notch below Denon

I don't need 3D or Ipod features

Pioneer speaker set up inferior to Audyssey ????


Opinions please


Also how does the Onkyo Audyssey ???? DSX compare to Denon MultEQ

 

[John_Bilbrey]

What makes you say that Onkyo is "below" Denon in quality? Both are very highly regarded here, as are the higher-end Yamahas. Secondly, I don't know that refurbished is a bad mark on either unit, especially considering that each will have full factory warranty if purchased from AC4L....The way I look at refurbished - the "bad" component that was going to fail down the road, has already failed and any other sketchy part has also had at least a second cursory look. Plus, you save a ton of money

 

[Jason Charlton]

The power difference between the Denon (120Wpc) and the Onkyo (135Wpc) is negligible. Wattage numbers are about the least useful in comparing models from different manufacturers. They are rarely indicative of real-world performance, and are measured in vastly different ways.


If your speakers have moderate to good sensitivity, they will produce sufficient volume even at "power" levels well below 100W.


When it comes to receivers, it's all about connectivity and ancillary features (like the Internet streaming, Pandora, etc.) I am a big believer in not over-spending on a receiver and saving money to put towards better speakers - they have the biggest impact on how your system sounds. The receiver's biggest impact is on how easy it is to add devices. I wouldn't spend an extra $100-200 on a receiver simply for an extra 30 or 50 watts per channel. Not worth it, IMO.


If all of the models offer what you need, I suggest you download the manuals and give them a thorough look-through. Denons are known for being much less user-friendly than Onkyos. As far as longevity, I don't think you can many any generalizations about any of the major brands. If you search the Internet long enough, you'll find horror stories for every make and every model.


For what it's worth, I've owned two Onkyo receivers since the mid-nineties and have never had a problem with either one.

 

[gene c]

The Pioneer is a fine receiver but I would take the 3310 or 807, refurbs or not, over the 1120. I give as much "weight" to the weight of the receiver and it's power consumption as I do it's power output. But as Jason said, all three would be more than enough for 90% of us.

 

[davidMac]

Well after a little further research and opinions here I decided to go with the refurbished Onkyo 870


Went through Ac4less and thought it was a great deal at $469


One question, wilth all three- AVR, TV and blu ray internet/ethernet ready do I just need to have one of these set up with a wifi or ethernet direct connection for all three to function with internet/network?

 

[Jason Charlton]

As I understand your question re: ethernet, the answer is no.


If your Blu-Ray is connected to the Internet, it does not automatically enable the networking features of your TV or reciever, and vice-versa. Each device would need to be connected and configured in order for their respective options to be active.


Based on your first post, you may not need all three devices connected to the Internet unless each one has a service that you want to use that is not supported by any other devices in your system. For example, Netflix streaming is something that can be done via TV or Blu-Ray player (not sure about recievers), but either device is all you need - you don't need both.


The services you listed (HD Radio, Pandora, Sirius/XM) are all services generally provided by the receiver. If those are the only streaming services you're interested in for now, then connecting the receiver to your ethernet should be all that you need to do. Adding Netflix, Blockbuster, HULU, YouTube, etc (the video services). will require connecting either your TV or Blu-Ray to the network as well.