Shopping for receiver

[GRExpert]

Hey all,
I'm beginning to shop for a receiver for my home entertainment system. I currently use a home theatre box from Sony. I have a 1080i CRT, a Dish Network 622, and sony upconvert dvd player. I will probably be upgrading to a PS3 or Blu-Ray soon. My room has speakers wired for surround sound. I will also probably upgrade my center channel speaker. What are some good receivers to look at. I'm looking to spend 300 - 400. Thanks for any help.

 

[jayn_j]

Hey all,
I'm beginning to shop for a receiver for my home entertainment system. I currently use a home theatre box from Sony. I have a 1080i CRT, a Dish Network 622, and sony upconvert dvd player. I will probably be upgrading to a PS3 or Blu-Ray soon. My room has speakers wired for surround sound. I will also probably upgrade my center channel speaker. What are some good receivers to look at. I'm looking to spend 300 - 400. Thanks for any help.

Take a look at the Onkyo 606. It is in the price range, has 4 HDMI inputs, upconverts analog inputs to HDMI Out and has decent sound and build quality. I believe it is the current value leader, and a lot of board members agree.

 

[gross67]

Take a look at the Onkyo 606. It is in the price range, has 4 HDMI inputs, upconverts analog inputs to HDMI Out and has decent sound and build quality. I believe it is the current value leader, and a lot of board members agree.

I just bought this receiver a few weeks ago. I moved up from an earlier Onkyo model and couldn't be happier. You will be very pleased with the auto setup by Audessy. Once you set the levels with the supplied mic, you can tweak things from there. Although I must say that it did a pretty good job all by itself. Mostly, I played with the subwoofer settings (By lowering the sub power just below 50% and then running the auto setup again). But different subs will behave uniquely. One note is that the receiver does get quite warm. Be sure you have good ventilation.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

+3 on the Onkyo. Extremely happy with mine. (Onkyo 805) One of the better price/value pieces of audio equipment I have purchased in my life. Driving Maggies (4ohm load), to louder levels than one needs, with no problems.

 

[Zookster]

I'll throw my hat in for the Yamaha 663. Yes it has fewer HDMI inputs, but the sound quality is amazing (Burr Brown DAC's for under $400!) and there's no heat issues. I feel like I'm listening to my entire CD collection for the first time again (and that's with entry level JBL speakers).

A recent post at AVS tells you how to get it for $349 with free shipping from 6th Ave.:
The Yamaha RX-V663 thread. HDMI 1.3 upconversion, TrueHD, DTS MA decoding. - Page 231 - AVS Forum

Go to the first post of that thread to get a good overview of its pros and cons to see if it's right for you. Some people have issues with its BTB/WTW clipping via HDMI, but most will never notice even if they had equipment and media that was capable of those levels. Not to mention, you can just run the video directly to the monitor.

At any rate, enjoy your new receiver, whichever one you decide on.

 

[stimpson]

I'll chime in with the Onkyo group.. I have a 705 and LOVE it. I have only one complaint. I am on my second one. I have my Sat receiver connect to the Sat/Cab S-Video input. Well about 3 or 4 months after I had it, I turned everthing on to watch some TV and the picture looked like some one turned the brightness all the way up on the TV. Hooked the S cable directly to the TV and the picture was normal. Called Amazon, and they overnighted a new to me. Got up this morning, turned everything on, WTF, not again. Same problem. Again, about 3-5 months old. Not too concerned about it. Going to get a Dish HD soon, I'll use HDMI then, but just kind of strange this happened again. Other than that, it's a rock solid receiver. Good luck.

 

[navychop]

I'm happy with my Onkyo 805, and I know lot's of people happy with 605s. So the 606 should also be a winner.

 

[teachsac]

You will get many different opinions here. You might want to increase your budget a tad to ensure you get the most and best quality for your money and something that will last for a while to meet your growing needs. Sound is something you want to be happy with. On a budget 606 is pretty good. You can get it for around 379 on Amazon or at CC. For $599 I would recommend the Denon 789 for the best quality. It has 3 HDMI inputs. Yamaha 663 was bitten by the DTSMaster bitstream bomb. They did release a patch for it though, if you don't mind doing the upgrade.

S~

 

[griz_fan]

Either the Onkyo 606 or Yamaha 663 are great options for your price range. Don't over-spend on a receiver, spend as much as you can on speakers.

As far as your center speaker goes, what do you currently have for front speakers? It can actually make a big difference if you don't match the center to the front speakers.

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Either the Onkyo 606 or Yamaha 663 are great options for your price range. Don't over-spend on a receiver, spend as much as you can on speakers.

As far as your center speaker goes, what do you currently have for front speakers? It can actually make a big difference if you don't match the center to the front speakers.

Sound advice. (No pun intended.)

 

[Zookster]

Yamaha 663 was bitten by the DTSMaster bitstream bomb. They did release a patch for it though, if you don't mind doing the upgrade.

S~

As discussed in the AVS thread on the receiver, the so-called "bomb" was more of a "pop" and was not experienced by many users, if any. Regardless, Yamaha did acknowledge a potential problem and hence addessed it in a firmware upgrade. Any new receivers sold since June/July should have the current firmware that corrects for it.

 

[teachsac]

As discussed in the AVS thread on the receiver, the so-called "bomb" was more of a "pop" and was not experienced by many users, if any. Regardless, Yamaha did acknowledge a potential problem and hence addessed it in a firmware upgrade. Any new receivers sold since June/July should have the current firmware that corrects for it.

It was much more than a "pop" and anyone bitstreaming to those affected receivers with certain titles experienced it. There were more receivers affected, but that was the only one mentioned in this thread. The only ones not affected were those that had players internally decoding and sending PCM, basically the PS3.

S~

 

[yourbeliefs]

Looks like the 606 is a good choice for what I'm looking for. That leads me to the next fun game: Picking the right set of speakers..

 

[Paul Wozniak]

You may want to reverse this buying process. Knowing the power requirements of your speakers makes it a lot easier to pick a receiver. For instance, My speakers are Magnepans, notorious current suckers, and a 4 ohm load to boot. Sensitivity is about 86. While the Onkyo 605 would have worked, the Onkyo 805 that I bought has a lot more reserve power and is capable of handling the 4 ohm load, these fantastic speakers present. If I had bought the 605, I would have been dissatisfied, no fault of the 605, (I'm sure it's a great receiver), it just wouldn't suit my speakers very well.
The bottom line is - nothing like finding the speakers that make your heart sing, only to find out your receiver is not up to the task. I learned this the hard way many years ago. Used equipment (no matter how new) has a bad resale price.

Find your dream speakers (or at least the ones that make your heart sing, and don't wreck your budget completely), and then buy the right receiver to drive them.

 

[JamesJ]

have you looked at the Yambeka speakers that digital dude reviewed? I have read many good things about these, and mine are being deleievered tommorow.

 

[yourbeliefs]

have you looked at the Yambeka speakers that digital dude reviewed? I have read many good things about these, and mine are being deleievered tommorow.

I did and they looked VERY intriguing, but I have a bunch of questions I need to ask you guys beforehand, and I don't have all the specs I need yet (Room photos, dimensions of room they're going in, etc.)

 

[yourbeliefs]

Ok so I just took measurements of the room I'll be using. The room is rather small, with it being 12 1/2 feet by 11 3/4 feet. I want to upgrade my audio system with a new receiver and speaker system to go with my PS3 (and upgrade from HTIB sound,) but I'm worried that getting those Yambeka speakers with their size may be too much for a room that small to properly enjoy. At the same time, I don't want to have to buy 2 sets of speakers, one for now and one for when I have a bigger room. Am I ok with getting these big ones now, or does it look like I need to wait until I get another, bigger place?

 

[Paul Wozniak]

Go with the bigger ones, they'll sound just fine if you take the time to place them properly. Plus you won't have to upgrade later. The good news is that Onkyo 606 is the right receiver for the job.

 

[JamesJ]

by the way, I got my speakers and am still putting them through the paces, but all I have to say is now I need a center channel these speakers are very impressive when compared to my old HTIB speakers, really has opened up my eyes abit about different sounds and such.

 

[jayn_j]

Go with the bigger ones, they'll sound just fine if you take the time to place them properly. Plus you won't have to upgrade later. The good news is that Onkyo 606 is the right receiver for the job.

To be fair, they will visually dominate the room. If you don't have a WAF, and can tolerate the dorm room look of huge speakers in a small room, then Paul's advice is good. The sound will be there, and you will likely place less stress on the system this way.