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Recommend a receiver for under $500? (1 Viewer)

Bryan X

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My Sony receiver died yesterday. It makes an awful noise and goes into protector mode when turned on.

Anyway, after doing some research here I'm pretty much going to stay away from any of the Sonys.

Any suggestions for a receiver under $500 ($400 - $500)? I looked at the Onkyo TX-SR602 and it looks good, but I don't know if the 85 watts/channel is enough. My room is about 20x25. Is this a good receiver? Any other suggestions out there?

Thanks!
 

Brian_D

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Pioneer vsx-1014 is on sale at best buy now for $473 I believe. It can be found a little closer to $400 online at onecall. I just bought mine a few weeks ago and have been very happy.
 

James Phung

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I don't think you're going to find anything better than the pioneer 1014 at under $500. I'm not sure if I missed something or what, but I paid $450 for it at OneCall.
 

John Garcia

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I recently installed a 601 in a fairly large room and with average sensitivity speakers it had no problems filling the room. Don't let the rating fool you, it's a solid 85w. Good sound and plenty of features. The 1014 will deliver more power however.
 

Bryan X

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Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll take a close look at the Pioneer 1014 and the Onkyo 602.

Thanks for the words about the 602 John. I was a little hesitant about the 602 with it only being 85w.
 

Cameron_Johnson

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Go with a Harman Kardon AVR-230 or 330. Though the watts per channel are lower, these recievers actually push more overall sound output, because they use the power more efficiently then other recievers.
I had a Pioneer reciver that boasted 100 watts per channel but when I compared it to the HK AVR-330, the 330 was way louder at only 55 watts per channel. The sound was also sigificantly clearer and fuller, even though I was using the same speakers.
Hope this helps.

-Cameron
 

John Garcia

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H/K doesn't use the power more efficiently, they simply give realistic ratings of their amps. The Pioneer obviously delivered less than 55w in reality.
 

Bryan X

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Man, all the playing with numbers that the manufacturers do sure makes it difficult doesn't it. I really appreciate the suggestions from you guys. I'm off this morning to the stores to check some out and probably buy one.

I still haven't made up my mind on one, but you guys have helped me narrow it down to 3.

I'll let you know which one I get.
 

Bryan X

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Well, I haven't even taken it out of the box yet (that will be happening very shortly), but I bought the Pioneer vsx-1014-tx.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions. They were a great help!
 

Dalton

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Good choice Bryan. Having owned almost every brand of receiver out there(including the 1014) i can say that the 1014 doesn't lack for power at all. There are other good choices(HK, Onkyo, Marantz, Denon etc.) as well but for the money the 1014 is easily the best bargain out there right now IMHO. I don't think you will be dissapointed!

Enjoy
 

Stephen Hopkins

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The 1014TX was tested by S&V and Home Theater Magazine at 115 watts per channels w/ 5 channels driven at 8ohma and 197 watts per channel w/ 5 channels driven at 4ohms. So based on the tests the 1014TX can OBVIOUSLY deliver more power.
 

Bryan X

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I got it hooked up and it sounds great. Definately a lot of power and features for the price.

The only thing I miss is the nice big blue light that my Sony had when it detected a digital source. :D It was kinda cool looking. Oh well, a worthwile sacrifice for a much better receiver.
 

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