Need receiver recommendations for $400-$500 (1 Viewer)

[george.Legeza]

Well, I'm finally upgrading the budget Technics receiver that I've been using for a while. I have up to $500 to spend, but I'd like to keep the price a little lower if possible. Right now, I'm using B&W DM303s all around and have an extra pair that I bought for my center channel. This means that I have a 6th speaker that I can use for a rear center as well.

These are the receivers that I've been looking at:

Yamaha HTR-5650
Yamaha HTR-5660 (not sure it's worth the extra $100, though)
Kenword VR-7070
Harmon Kardon AVR225
Onkyo TSXR601

Most of those are in the $500 price range, but this is really stretching my budget. At the moment, the Yamaha HTR-5650 is my favorite, since I didn't hear much of a difference between it and the 5660 when I auditioned both at my local HT shop.

I'm open to other suggestions too, of course. These are just the receivers that stood out to me.

Any advice?

 

[JeremyFr]

It appears the differences between the 2 yammies are the 5660 is 105wpc x 6 the 5650 is 95 wpc x 6, the 5660 has front AV inputs, analog bass & treble knobs and thats about what I can see, so if you want a tad more power s-video & Optical in on the front and Analog knobs for tone control instead of digital tone control then the 5660 would be what you want otherwise the 5650 would probably do the trick.

 

[george.Legeza]

Jeremy,

Yeah, as far as I could tell a few extra features were the only thing that made the 5660 any better. As far as sound goes, I really couldn't hear a difference between the two. The place I auditioned these in has a room set-up with all DM303s (lucky for me) so, hopefully, I have a pretty good idea of how the two yamahas would sound with my setup.

Also, one receiver I forgot to put on the list was the Denon 1603. Unfortunately, it only has 1 optical and 1 coax input which almost definitely takes it out of the running for me, sadly.

 

[JeremyFr]

I came down to a similar Denon/Yamaha Descision mine was with the Denon 1803 and the Yamaha RX-V730 and I ended up going with the Yamaha and haven't looked back.

 

[ChrisLazarko]

Well I was able to get my HK for $400 even and it offered alot more than the Yamaha's. HK uses High Current amps and all channels are discrete, as for Yamaha I am not exactly sure if each channel is discrete or not. The HK offers alot of extra features such as video in's and more digital audio in's and such. It is also a very good looking piece of the outside. I had to make my decision mainly between a Yamaha HTR-5650 and the HK225 and the 225 was the best out of the two for me, especially with it's good price.

 

[JeremyFr]

The Yamaha's have all discrete channels as well and also uses a "high current" amplifier.

I know for features my Yammie came with 4 optical in 1 coax in, 1 coax out, 2 component in 1 component out, also includes 2 S-Video Loops, a total of 5 video in's and 2 outs all equiped with S-Video. Has on screen display, pre-outs for all channels, & low impedance drive amplifier.

 

[BobJ]

One thing to consider if you need component switching is the bandwidth rating of the various units. The Onkyo has the highest rating (50mhz) of the ones listed.

 

[Karl_Sp]

at the future shop by my house the prices are:

avr225 950 cdn
htr5650 600 cdn

this is a pretty huge difference. plus the 5650 is rated at 80w x 6 according to the futureshop website. earlier in this thread i think someone said it was like 95w x 6. what is it?

 

[NicholasTS]

I have the Yamaha HTR-5650 and in the manual it states that its minimum RMS is 80 wpc X 6. The maximum RMS is 95 wpc X 6.

 

[NicholasTS]

As far as sound output, quality and power, I could not tell any difference between the HTR-5660 and the HTR-5650. I only see the difference when you jump from a HTR-5650 to a HTR-5590. But those are obvious even before you hear anything...

 

[AndrewKC]

I don't know if you can swing it or not, but onecall has the HK AVR-525 for 548. That is a great deal on a 7.1 channel receiver with amplification to all channels.

 

[Doug_B]

Look at the deals listed on the HTF Deals Page from Onecall for the HK 525 (both new and refurb) and the HK 325 refurb. I talked a friend at work into getting the 325 refurb from them.

Doug

 

[Josh~H]

I went with the HTR-5660. Paid about $350, but not through an authorized Yamaha dealer, so no warranty -- that's a risk I was willing to take. It's been a great receiver. I have it paired with 6 Paradigm Atoms, a Paradigm CC-170 and a PDR-10. Sounds fantastic, has copius inputs/outputs, and has way more than enough power to produce very clean, loud, undistorted sound (with plenty of headroom leftover).

One thing to consider if you need component switching is the bandwidth rating of the various units. The Onkyo has the highest rating (50mhz) of the ones listed.

I've run HDTV through my 5660, and it worked fine. It's true that the manual claims a 30Mhz bandwidth, but various sources on Yamaha's website claim 60Mhz, as well as specifically point out that the component monitor out is capable of HDTV bandwidth. I don't know whether it's actually 30Mhz or 60MHz, and Yamaha doesn't answer the e-mails I sent about this.

 

[ReggieW]

George,

If I were you I would seriously consider the Denon 1804. Check the Denon USA site and you will see that it has more features and power than any of the other receivers mentioned here.

Reg

 

[Tom_Es]

I've suggested this in a couple of threads, but I am in no way affiliated to Yamaha

Wait a few days/weeks for the Yamaha 1400 - It should fit your budget, and gives a lot of features for the money, including automatic speaker tuning (w/equalization)