Suggestions for a $300 receiver...?? (1 Viewer)

[Jared Boehm]

Sorry for the repeat post, but it occured to me after the fact to add some question marks to my subject. Please ignore the previous post.
I'm currently running an ancient Sherwood Pro Logic receiver and figure it's time to go digital. I'm a poor college student who's only going to be able to afford $300. Period. I just can't swing any more than that, and $300 is pushing it as it is...
Anyway I was looking at the Onkyo TX-SR500 due to Onkyo's good reputation and discreet amplifiers giving cleaner sound and then I made the mistake of going to Circuit City and being enticed by the dumbass sales associate. He claimed he was a "wattage" guy and would reccomend the Pioneer VSX-D711 or the Panasonic SA-HE100 over the Onkyo due to more features and wattage.
I treked on over to http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Holl...1/ratevsac.htm and looked at the numbers, and if I'm reading this right, and I'd like to think I am, the Panasonic actually scores quite a bit better than the Onkyo TX-DS474 (the TX-SR500's prececesor) when it comes to wattage and THD.
Now, I don't currently have anything that needs component video, or even S-Video for that matter, but it would seem that both the Panasonic and Pioneer are geared for the future and have more wattage to boot.
Any suggestions on what I should do? Thanks in advance guys. You're the best.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

For $300, my recomendation would be the Pioneer VSX-D811S ordered from:
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/simplero.../vsxd811s.html
The price at this place is $278. The great part of the deal is that they're only charging around $19 shipping, so the total comes in under $300. I purchased the 811S from another online vender for roughly the same price, but payed $37 shipping.
As for the receiver, it is nearly the same as the 711, but offers DD EX, DTS ES, and Neo6. It has a much higher build quality than the he100, w/ binding posts instead of spring clips and an over all better apearance. It also has provisions for dual back surrounds for a 7.1 setup.
I think you would be very happy w/ the 811S, even over the Onkyo, simply because of the features it offers and quality it offers. If you do searches on this bored about the 811S, you'll find it is a very well regarded receiver for it's price range, and can compete w/ receivers costing twice as much (Denon 1802, 2802, several Yamaha's, even the entry level sony ES)

 

[Jared Boehm]

Thanks for the info, I'll look into the 811s as well as Simple Robots... Where did you find this retailer? They seem to have things for very cheap.
Anyone else have suggestions? Comments?
Thanks!

 

[RANDY FISHER]

I would stay away from the low end Pioneer and Sony stuff. They way over state their amp power and leave a little to be desired sound quality wise. I just receintly moved to a brand new house and all my high end equipment from my dedicated theater room from my old town shouse is now sadly in storage until I get the $$ and time to buld a new room in my unfinished basement. To tide me over until then I decided to by a "temp" system and stick it into what will someday be my dining room. (I don't have formal dining room furnature either). I talked to Jason from Onecall.com and he hooked me up with a low end Harmon Kardon receiver for right around $300 plus shipping of coarse. At that price I had my choice of an HK, A Marantz and an Onkyo of similar price/power output/features. Do not let the power rating of these receivers scare you (45 - 65 watts @ 8 ohms). They play LOUD and clean due to better quality power supplies and electronic components. This coming from a guy who previous system consisted of a loaded DC-1 for a surround processor..which I do miss a little.
Call OneCall and ask for Jason.
Randy

 

[RANDY FISHER]

I just wanted to say I did just check out that Pioneer and it DOES indeed look like a pretty nice peice for the price. Just wanted to point out some other options.

Randy

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

I found the dealer using shopping.yahoo.com

The 811S claims 100watts x 6, and through tests done by people smarter than me, it actually puts out around 65 to 70 watts per channerl when ALL channels are driven. All channels being driven completely at the same time is a rare occurence, so actual power when being used under normal conditions should be more than 65 to 70 watts, but will still most likely be less than 100.

This being said, keep in mind that cutting your power in half (from 100 to 50 watts for example) would only cause a 3db loss in volume.

 

[ColinM]

Harmanaudio.com factory rebuilds/returns with a great warranty. Don't be afraid of HK's power rating. I run 40x5 pretty hard and love it.

Also seen on ebay direct from Harman. My buddy landed a 2-channel from them for $160 shipped, perfect like new shape.

Good Luck!!

 

[Gary_Coleman]

Harman Kardon AVR 225 for $350 at Frys.

 

[Jeff_LIII]

Jared, shoot me an e-mail and we'll talk. If you can cut loose another $60 or so, i can get you a kenwood vr-6070. Go to
http://www.kenwoodusa.com/product/pr...productId=2452
BTW- working full time, going to school full time, playing with my HT full time...I know how it is...

 

[Kevin Parker]

I will also recommend pioneer 811s for that price range, and it puts out not 60 or 70 watts but 74w all channels running as compare to onkyo 600 34w and yamaha htr5560 27w.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

Only problem w/ the Kenwood 6070 is it doesn't have provisions for dual surround back speakers (7.1 setup). When you pay retail for that receiver, you're really paying for the THX certification.

However, $360 is a really good price for it. I don't know if i would pick it over the 811S, but it is tempting.

The only thing holding the 811 back from THX certification is the fact that it has a distributed monoblock amplifier instead of discrete, it's component video switching isn't high enough banwidth for hdtv (but most hdtvs have enough inputs so it's not even needed), and the fact that Pioneer probably wouldn't pay the $$$$ to Lucasfilm to put the THX logo on a receiver that is in the sub $400 price range.

 

[Arthur S]

I would like to know the lowest price on a Pioneer 811 from an authorized dealer. I don't want to run into warranty problems because I got it from a dealer that is not authorized for Pioneer.

Thanks

Artie

 

[AllanN]

The 811S claims 100watts x 6, and through tests done by people smarter than me, it actually puts out around 65 to 70 watts per channerl when ALL channels are driven. All channels being driven completely at the same time is a rare occurence, so actual power when being used under normal conditions should be more than 65 to 70 watts, but will still most likely be less than 100.

Where did you find this information?

The 811 also has preouts, that I believe the 711 does not. This gives you a nice bridge if you ever want to get into separates. That was one of the reasons I got the 811 so if I moved into a house and could really crank it I can always go out and purchase separate amps.

 

[Stephen Hopkins]

I don't remember the website right off, but it listed actual power in watts for a large list of brands/receivers. The numbers i gave were actually for the 810, but i don't think the amplification staged changed any from the 810 to the 811. I thought it was really interesting that the Pioneer Elite 49TX actually OUTPERFORMED it's 130x7 raiting, putting out 149x7 with all 7 channels driven.

As for pioneer waranty issues, i've had speakers from them purchased from ebay of all places repaired under waranty! I didn't even have a receipt. They checked the serial number, and since it was manufactured within the last year, it must have been purchased in the last year, so they sent me a letter authorizing my local technician to do the repairs. This makes me think that pioneer is extremely flexible with their warranty policy, so anything purchased new, with a receipt, will probably be covered, however, that decision is up to you.