Need advice on how to pick a good receiver (1 Viewer)

[reierme]

I am looking for a good receiver in the $500 to $700 range that will work well with my 52" Panasonic plasma, my PS3, and with my digital cable. So far I have been looking at the Onkyo 806 because of the power and HDMI hookups. Right now I just have some cheap sony cube speakers with a small sub and will be replacing those speakers in the near future with $1000 to $1500 of the best speakers I can get for the money. I've looked at Bose speakers I'm not sure they are the bst for the money. Any reccomendations?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Onkyo receivers have a reputation of giving a lot of "bang for the buck", so you'll probably get lots of favorable responses to that model given your stated budget.

As for speakers, I would recommend almost any brand over Bose. On the "bang for the buck" scale, they would be at the extreme end of "not". Bose is mediocre sound quality at a premium price. Brands I would suggest listening to in your price range would be (in no particular order) Paradigm, Energy, JBL, Klipsch, Boston Acoustic. I'm sure others can give some more suggestions that would blow away Bose from a price/performance standpoint.

 

[David Willow]

Onkyo - Absolutely.
BOSE - Absolutely NOT!

Check out the 606 or 706 as well. Going with a cheaper (but still capable) AVR will allow you to invest more in the speakers.

In addition to the local B&M brands, check out internet direct speaker vendors like SVS and Axiom Audio.

 

[reierme]

What kind of watts per channel should I be looking to get out of a receiver if I purchase an axion surround set-up?

 

[David Willow]

That depends on the size of your room. Unless you have something super large, anything with 100 watts is fine. Only issue is with the Axiom M80's. They are 4 ohm and you want a receiver that can handle it. Go with Denon or the Onkyo 806 or above (among others). I can easily archive higher than reference with my Onkyo 705 (of course my 50 watt HK could as well). I have M60's.