Another surround system question

[GohanX]

As a few of you might remember from a previous thread my surround receiver died on me a little while back, and I have yet to replace it. However, my budget was limited (was trying to get a 360 at the time) so my options were crap, or nothing. I opted for nothing, but I'm keeping my eye out for deals.

My budget is in the 200ish range (yeah, I know, crap) and only one or two systems I've listened to didn't make my ears want to bleed. Then I found this on craigslist, it's a used one of these:

http://www.shopping.com/xPF-Sony-HT-6600DP

With a matching VCR for $120. Highlights:

Dolby Digital, Pro Logic 2, DTS (my old unit was DD and PL I only)
120 watts per speaker (probably peak power, not RMS)
2 component, 3 S-Video, 4 optical and 1 coaxial input
DVD player is a seperate piece (that I won't use)
Powered subwoofer
Has almost universally positive reviews (although user reviews are almost always positive unless something breaks)
Originally sold for $500ish
I could actually use that VCR


Negatives-
2 years old
Speakers may be meh (I don't really need speakers, but they may be better than what I have)

The next best thing I was thinking of getting that was new was this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1166840609889

I played with it in Best Buy for a bit, and it actually sounded (to me) better than any of the sub $400 sets in the store. It had excellent sound qualitiy at the higher freqencies, a sub that was way more powerful than I needed, but absolutely no midrange and only a few inputs. Most of the other setups had larger speakers for better mids, but did not have the crispness of the Sony unit. Of course, a standalone receiver with seperate speakers outclassed all of the all-in-one boxes, but were way out of my price range.

So, the question is, would I be nuts to not get the used system, stick with the newer stuff, or wait a bit longer? I have a great set of 2.1 speakers hooked up to the game systems now, but on 5.1 sources like DVD and 360 games that don't have 2 channel option it gets maddening when I can barely hear voices without jacking the sound really high.

[Shin Johnpv]

I built mine up slowly, and always checked out places like onecall.com I believe it is and any other electronics stores or sites for deals.

I got my receiver for like 80 bucks less (making it 200) from PC Richard by just talking the guy down. My speakers I got because they were on close out at onecall for 200 bucks instead of the 500 - 600 they usually went for. I still need a better sub though.

Personally I'm a bigger fan of Yamaha receivers, I think you get just as good of quality as the sony ones but you get much more bang for your buck.

this is the receiver I have http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/p...l?CNTID=200022 and I've had it now for hmmm 2 years or so (you can probably find it for under 200 if you look around at this point) and I've been more than happy with it. It can decode Dolby Pro Logic IIx, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, DTS Digital Surround, DTS-ES (DTS-ES Matrix 6.1 and DTS-ES Discrete 6.1), DTS Neo:6 and DTS 96/24 and has more than enough power for the room it's in.

If you have speakers I would try and spend the 200 you can on the receiver and hook up the speakers you have to it. Adding 3 speakers to your 2.1 set up wouldn't be all that much down the road.

[stormy]

They're both junk. The only sony audio product you would ever want would be something from the ES line, but that isn't cheap and personally I wouldn't even get those.

[GohanX]

Actually, I have been doing some research on avsforum, and I may go for another option. When I was originally looking at getting a receiver only, I dismissed them since they cost as much as whole systems. I was looking up the sony systems on avsforum, and discovered that on the low end they seem to get wet over the Onkyo TX-SR304 receiver, which can be had for 100 bucks (refurb, sells new at Circuit City for 200.)

The reviews seem positive for it, I think I might snag one of those and use them with my existing speakers for now. My speakers are very similar to the ones in the Sony satallites so I should get at least the same sound, if not better, and can upgrade to some really good speakers down the line if I choose to do so. The only downside is that although the reciever isn't super powerful, they could easily blow my speakers if I turn them up too loud.

*edit*

It seems that receivers by themselves require a powered subwoofer, all my subs are passive. Dammit.

[stormy]

You don't like the Logitech surround sound systems huh? If you are strictly in that $200 price range, I can't think of anything else decent that includes everything. They even have a pretty nice sub.

[Rumpy]

I have the Yamaha receiver that Shin has (he recommended it to me). Very happy with it. Got a bad ass sub woofer from Dayton Audio to go with it and used some Kenwood surround speakers I had previously. So I recommend that Yamaha as well.

[Shin Johnpv]

I have the Yamaha receiver that Shin has (he recommended it to me). Very happy with it. Got a bad ass sub woofer from Dayton Audio to go with it and used some Kenwood surround speakers I had previously. So I recommend that Yamaha as well.

Glad to hear you're happy with it. It really is an awesome little receiver. Most of the other receivers out there just have features I'll never use, or more power than I'll ever need. For me the Yamaha just hit the perfect balance of features and power for my needs. I think it's a highly underrated receiver.

[haohmaru]

I've never really understood running the video through your receiver. Can someone explain this to me? Why would that be an advantage over directly connecting your DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-Ray/Xbox/etc... to your television set? I was looking at a few ~$1000 receivers with HDMI ports, etc... and I don't understand what the advantages of that are.

Edit: Yamaha makes great stuff, with the exception of their remote(s) which are usually designed terribly.

[kingoffighters]

Many receivers can upconvert 480i/480p to your TV's native resolution. Probably a moot point for HD feeds though.

[Schlep]

The main advantage to having HDMI go through your receiver is that you can actually get audio. Not all devices will give you DD 5.1 out of the optical/coax when running HDMI. Also, some receivers will give you a visual cue on screen for volume, mute, etc when you run the video through it first.