Good receiver for under $350? Panny? Pioneer? Sherwood? (1 Viewer)

[Nivo]

Ok the power supply of our Aiwa DV67 died and we want to replace the receiver with a decent unit. Our living room is not huge and we have inwall 8" jbl speakers and bose 501 as surrounds. Our floors are marble so there is no carpet to soak up sound. also we have a 10" powered sub in the corner hiding somewhere...

Just looking into a new receiver, I seen the pros and cons of the Panny XR series like the XR45 and the XR70. any input on those?

also the Pioneer 914k, although the looks arent there(almost looks plastic/cheap like the aiwa DV67)it seems like a performer.

any other suggestions from the experts? lol

 

[Wayne Ernst]

Yamaha HTR-5760. Easy to setup and operate. Great performance and great sound. 7 amplified channels and the ability to power speakers in a 2nd zone, if desired.

 

[Hank VT]

It's been a long time but won't you need some significant power to drive those 501's?

 

[Nivo]

They sound just fine as surrounds, they actually are the 501 series V. they don't do too bad as surrounds, heck we got them for almost nothing as we live near Bose and GF worked there.

So far I have 1 suggestion and I will look into this receiver.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

If you can up your budget to $400 then you could get the Pioneer 1014TX, which is truly an Elite level unit in standard Pioneer asthetics. It has 7ch of amplification, auto setup w/ room eq, and is a much more heavy duty unit. If you don't want to up the budget than either the 914 or the Panasonic Digital amps should do a great job also. The 914 isn't cheaply built at all and at under $300 it's a solid performer w/ great processing and adequate amplification. The Panasonics are supposed to be amazing for the price on digital sources but less than stellar on analog sources, so if you watch alot of TV or listen to other analog sources then the Panasonics might not be for you.

Hope this helps

 

[DorianBryant]

I had some 501 series V's as well. I thought they were decent. I have owned since December, Yamaha HTR-5590, Pioneer VSX-41 (similar to VSX-811,912), and the Panny XR50. I think all of the receivers are decent. I think the Yamaha has the best build quality while the Pioneer and Panny are about the same. I know the Panny is lighter and does not have binding posts but it has a better display and they both are plastic.

I believe the Panny had the best sound followed by the Yammy, and then the Pioneer. I use fiber optics for my dish and dvd/cd player. Great sound at a great price.

The Panny does not have quite the power of the Pioneer or Yamaha but it is very slight in my system. I only notice the power difference in the headroom. The Panny pushes my speakers louder than I can stand to listen to.

 

[JustinG]

another vote for the Yammy. Has all the new features for decoding PL2x and has awesome sound. You can get it for just under $400 shipped from jr.com.

 

[Nivo]

hmm? so the Pioneer 1014tx vs Yamaha 5760.

priced between $370-$450

 

[Rex.G]

The Harman Kardon avr 330 can be had at that price. Excellent unit.

 

[Scott L]

I bought an H/K AVR-525 used on HTF for $375 shipped, but it was a steal. Before that I was looking at the Kenwood VR-6070, 7070, 7070A, and 8070. All these are the cheapest receivers that offer analog preouts on all channels, so you can add an outboard amp later.

 

[Chris Brock]

I will put another recommendation in for the Yamaha 5760. I have been so pleased with this unit and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. The sound quality is phenomenal, the features are phenomenal and the price is phenomenal.

 

[Blaine_M]

One more vote for the Yamaha, my friend just got one and it is awesome for the $.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

The yamahas are known for not outputting very close to their rated power. The 5760's version of YPAO also does not include the parametric room eq. The Pioneer 1014TX would have a much stronger amp section as well as automatic room eq.

 

[anthony_b]

Would the audio quality of the Yamaha 5740 be the same as the 5760 ? (I'm not intrested in the YPAO).