Help finding a reciever

[Brand X]

I am extremely out of touch with home audio /I never really been in touch with it, and am looking to pick up a new receiver in the next few days and have no idea the quality of one receiver over the other. I know enough about them to stay away from the shit morphix is buying and go in the direction of Denon and Onkyo sets, but I really can't differentiate between them in terms of quality.

My price range isn't much, between $200-$400, but if anyone can help point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated,

[stormy]

In that range there isn't much difference between them all. You should throw Yamaha into the mix too.

What are your plans? Stereo? 5.1? 7.1? What mix of movies/music do you think you'll use it for? What speakers do you have or are you planning on? Speakers would have the most variance in quality at this price, so you make sure you get a well regarded set.

I think we should start a home theater thread. Maybe it would have given Morphix a clue before wasting his money. Schlep and I can stop people from buying the crap. We can talk about set up and show off our stuff. We already have the gaming set up thread but one focusing on the HT aspect would be cool.

[Brand X]

See, this is why I ask questions here, because I would have never thought to ask myself all of those questions. And the google isn't a person.

The speakers I have are the ones in the picture below. The reason I am looking for a receiver is because my old one got murdered by sparks shooting out of our plugs in a storm and got completely fried. Ideally I really am just looking for a decent receiver that will hold me over until I decide to completely revamp my home theater set up (video and audio), but I also don't want a piece of shit that I won't really get good performance out of. I know what I want specifications wise, 6.1, component switching, 600-700 watt range, I just really don't know product wise what is quality as opposed to crap.

[stormy]

Well you can go two directions with this. Stay in the $300-$400 range and just replace what you had, or step up and get something with HDMI support that will last. But then you're probably doubling your $$$ range and wasting a lot of the capability till you upgrade speakers. What is that set? Onkyo HTIB? I can't tell.

The reciever market is in a transition phase right now because of HDMI. A lot of people are waiting on HDMI 1.3 before upgrading, but there are HDMI 1.2 recievers out now that will handle HD audio too. At least take a look at the Yamaha RXV-1700 or Denon 2807 to see what you'd be missing. (those list for $1100 or so but I think street price is much lower).

I've also heard good things about the Panasonic and JVC digital amp recievers. I think those get in or close to your original $ range and the new digital amps are supposed to be very good.

[Brand X]

That's for the help stormy.

From what you have said it doesn't really seem like there is much of a difference then between receivers at the price range I'm looking for right now, and since I don't have a TV yet that can take advantage of HDMI hook ups (and most likely won't for another 6 months or so) I am probably going to pick up something along these lines and just replace what I have lost until I get some more worthwhile equipment.

And yeah, the system was the HT-S680. It sounded pretty good to me when it was working, though I'm no audiophile.

[stormy]

I did a little more reading on the Panasonics with the digital amps. You should go for it. It's even got HDMI and a lot of people use them over much more expensive gear.

http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=4112933
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ight=panasonic

Last couple pages mention them getting clearanced at Fry's for $160 so I ran out and checked mine but they didn't have any.

[Schlep]

http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=5101504

imo.

I think we should start a home theater thread. Maybe it would have given Morphix a clue before wasting his money. Schlep and I can stop people from buying the crap. We can talk about set up and show off our stuff. We already have the gaming set up thread but one focusing on the HT aspect would be cool.

I would be up for that.

[stormy]

http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=5101504

imo.

Good in theory, not in reality. Denon refurbs have a reputation for sucking ass (as in arriving DOA) and eCosts reputation is terrible. I wouldn't buy anything from them or Dakmart (the other big Denon refurb seller).

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=825081

[Schlep]

Oh man, I didn't even notice the "Manufacturer recertified" part of it (instead of saying refurbished). Sneaky eCost.

[Hot Like Wasabi]

stormy is pretty good with audio, a few months back in IRC I had some questions about a new reciever then he made me realized saving my money for a good set is the only route to go.