Mid-level receiver options and opinions? (1 Viewer)

[Arthur Legardo]

Hi all, I've been out of the HT scene for a while being satisfied with my current HT (various Paradigm Monitor series speakers, Denon 3801 receiver 34" Sony XBR CRT display and Samsung DVD player).

Well, the HT bug has bitten me once again after I replaced my TV with a new 46" Sony XBR2 LCD screen. I am considering upgrading my 4~5 year old Denon receiver, but I don't know what is a good value anymore, let alone how much the market has changed in all of those years. Now that Denon and Marantz have merged, are the products just as good as before when they were separate entities? Are Yamaha receiver still considered "bright"?

That's why I leave it up to you to throw around some suggestions. I would, however, like the receiver to have:

- auto room calibration feature,
- as many HDMI inputs as possible (within mid-level budget constraints),
- the ability to upconvert to, at least, component video,
- flexible digital audio inputs (in digital audio input can be assigned to any video input),

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Arthur

 

[Mike_J_D]

What is your idea of mid-level? Also, why the need to upconvert? Most receivers don't do a great job of this. If you are looking to pass HDMI through a receiver, I would say look at the Denon 2807. It passes, according to Denon, 1080p via HDMI. Not sure about component video, and it has flexible audio inputs, assuming I understand what you mean.

Pioneer 1016 is another consideration. Don't know about upconversion, but it does pass HDMI, don't know if it passes 1080p, I'm sure other people here would know.

 

[Arthur Legardo]

Mid-level to me means around the same the same level as my Denon AVR-3801 receiver. I wouldn't mind going than that, but not that much higher.

The up-conversion is a nice feature (IMHO), especially for convenience sake.

 

[Arthur S]

Yup, Denon 2807.