Any Recommendations on Recievers?

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Rcmdawg

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For any of you that have surround sound recievers, what is a good one? I don't know enough about them, so any info on what to look for in a reciever will help.
 
Onkyo one the cheap, Denon on the good, you can spend more on a reciever than you would on a house if you wish. I use a cheepo Kenwood from a HTIB set, and am perfectly satisfied (I feel I got more than what I payed for). Check it for features mostly, and I personally avoid Sony/Pioneer like the plague.
 
Why avoid Pioneer? (out of curiosity). I didn't realize they were anything like sony (as far as quality goes).

I do have a problem with overloading my current Pioneer now that I think about it
 
Onkyo...

That's one I bought after doing a lot of searching around. I've been nothing but satisfied so far. It came highly recommended on some home theater forums. Worth looking into for the price range.
 
I love my Onkyo. Got it pretty cheap (about $120) from a sale a while ago, haven't had any problems with it, and some nice features on it :cool:
 
Well we really need a budget and a goal to give you a good recommendation.

However if your budget is in the $1000 mark for a reciever, I just did some research and auditions for a new reciever that might help.

I personnally looked at the Denon 3805 and the Yamaha 2400, nothing wrong with Onkyo or Pioneer. Just these two models had the feature set I wanted (I/O's, surrounds, etc).

Anyhow, I demoed both Denon and Yamaha. Both sounded very good on their own right, but with a side by side compare I just liked the sound of the Denon better. I actually was rather surprised that I would be able to hear a difference between them, but it was very different. The Denon had IMHO a more natural sound to it, particularly with voices.

I did not like the remote with the Denon, but that was of little concern for me since I would be using my HarmonyRemote anyhow regardless of the receiver.

I would stay away from Sony though they tend to not be built very well, including their upper-end ES stuff.
 
Agreed. Without a budget, this thread isn't of much value. Which Onkyo did you get Ducky? One of them TX SR-500 from Ecost?
 
IdiotInCharge said:
Onkyo one the cheap, Denon on the good, you can spend more on a reciever than you would on a house if you wish. I use a cheepo Kenwood from a HTIB set, and am perfectly satisfied (I feel I got more than what I payed for). Check it for features mostly, and I personally avoid Sony/Pioneer like the plague.
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Your advice is somewhat unfounded.

Onkyo cheap? Denon and Onkyo sit on the same shelf at every high end REF class hometheater shop on the eastern seaboard. Compared to EAD, Rotel, Krell, they are low end. However, comparing Kenwood to Onkyo/Denon is like comparing jessica simpson to monica belluci. not even the same class of chic.

Sony is not as good as pioneer, these days anyway, but then, each of them have different models. Pioneer has the Elite Line, and Sony had a decent ES line. but they no longer use the same manufacturing facility. So no, Sony does not = Pioneer.

As for avoiding them, if this receiver is for a computer, receiving a COAX or TOSLink connection, a $150 pioneer or sony will do fine. onkyo/denon is overkill, cause the source will add more distortion than the amp=receiver.
id spend the money like i did, on a Audigy 2, then get a reasonable amp/receiver. i got a pioneer to power my PC's audio. havent looked back since.
 
My personal opinion on quality.

Best: Denon, Marantz, Integra

Good: Yamaha, Sony ES, Onkyo, Pioneer Elite

Not So Good: JVC, Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood

There are smaller less known brands that are supposed to be good. Like Outlaw for example. For sound quality I would generalize and say there are 3 price brackets. Less then 500 bucks, 500-1500, and the 1500+ flagships. Obviously the more you pay the more features you get and quality improves somewhat. I think the multi thousand dollar receivers are a waste. Obsolete as fast as computers and the sound quality is still a far from seperates.
 
Stereophile said:
My personal opinion on quality.

Best: Denon, Marantz, Integra

Good: Yamaha, Sony ES, Onkyo, Pioneer Elite

Not So Good: JVC, Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood

There are smaller less known brands that are supposed to be good. Like Outlaw for example. For sound quality I would generalize and say there are 3 price brackets. Less then 500 bucks, 500-1500, and the 1500+ flagships. Obviously the more you pay the more features you get and quality improves somewhat. I think the multi thousand dollar receivers are a waste. Obsolete as fast as computers and the sound quality is still a far from seperates.
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Denon, Marantz, Integra is your best? What about EAD, Krell, Carver/aka Sunfire, Rotel?
 
this IS a thread of opinions, isn't it? Does that make my opinion wrong? And my perspective is that Denon IS high end, cause that's the most I'd ever spend on a reciever- at least in this situation.
 
Kenwood's are great and they're cheap too (which is why I bought one). Though if I had the cash and was spending money on a sub $300 receiver (anything above this price range doesn't exist for me atm), I'd go yamaha or onkyo. Can't go wrong with those two brands.
 
DeepFreeze said:
Denon, Marantz, Integra is your best? What about EAD, Krell, Carver/aka Sunfire, Rotel?
Click to expand...

If a person can afford those receivers, chances are they wouldn't be posing this question on the Hardforums. So yes, the Denons and Integras are "the best" in this case.
 
I have a Denon for my workstation (1604 - lower end) and at home, I have Yamaha (RX-Z1 - flagship). Both sound very good. Both can handle Dolby Reference without distortion or overheating (haven't pushed the Denon too hard though - it is in my office).

Kenwood anything to me is bottom of the barrel. Sony used to be good but is disappointing these days. Can't comment on others.

If I had the money, I'd go Lexicon
 
If PS-RagE can afford an RX-Z1 then it is not in any way out of place to discuss Rotel, Sunfire, Krell, McIntosh or whatever else. Especially since you can buy premiere brand amps used or refurbished on-line for around the same price as high end consumer recievers.

Of course the number of people with dual Xeon boxes on this board already shows this. :p

I myself would take a Kenwood over either a Sony or a JVC of the same cost any day of the week. Pioneer is about comparable in my mind in terms of amp quality, but I could care less about tuners on cheap recievers. Aiwa is probably on par with a cheap Sony.

My primary amp is a harman/kardon, but their current models look quite stupid IMO.
 
m1abram said:
Well we really need a budget and a goal to give you a good recommendation.

However if your budget is in the $1000 mark for a reciever, I just did some research and auditions for a new reciever that might help.

I personnally looked at the Denon 3805 and the Yamaha 2400, nothing wrong with Onkyo or Pioneer. Just these two models had the feature set I wanted (I/O's, surrounds, etc).

Anyhow, I demoed both Denon and Yamaha. Both sounded very good on their own right, but with a side by side compare I just liked the sound of the Denon better. I actually was rather surprised that I would be able to hear a difference between them, but it was very different. The Denon had IMHO a more natural sound to it, particularly with voices.
Click to expand...
I recently (3-4 months) got the Yamaha 1400, baby brother to the 2400. I think, IIRC, the major difference was in the power output, with a couple other minor things thrown in to boot. Since I'm driving my mains with a separate Carver amp, the power rating wasn't a big concern to me. The auto-tune feature made an immediate difference in the sound quality in my particular room (one side of the surround space is an "open" (non-existant) wall, so I was looking for a product that would help me tune the setup better than my ear could. I think it did a pretty good job, though I'm sure a professional installer may have been able to tweak it in further. Anyway, without being able to comment on the Denon, I'll say that I'm very pleased with the Yahama 1400 / 2400 and feel that it's worth looking into for those in the $1000 or less budget range.
 
Although I don't care for their new designs Harman Kardons are nice. Denon and Onkyo are great as well.

I have a H/K surround receiver in the living room and an Onkyo stereo in my bedroom ($200 something or other, i specifically wanted a phono input).

I would also avoid anything in the lower end Sony or Pioneer. They advertise high wattage output like 100+ watts but won't be as clean and strong as a H/K rated at lower wattage.
 
There is only one name in home audio for me..... NAD.
I was foolish enough to "upgrade" from a very nice NAD 7020e (late 80s receiver) to an Onkyo TX-srPOS about a year ago and I have been kicking myself ever since.
I even prefer the sound from my 24 year old Marantz office system to the Onkyo.
Thankfully I won't be kicking myself for much longer cause a shiny new T742 shipped yesterday. :)
 
leukotriene said:
<snip>..... Of course the number of people with dual Xeon boxes on this board already shows this. :p
Click to expand...

<Puts up hand> Got one of those too. :D That is what the Denon is connected to
 
I have a Denon 3802 and love it. I use B&W as my speakers and velodyne as the sub. For high quality I use dvd-audio (but only when i have the time to listen). Everyday I use the toslink out on my receiver for mp3s and divx. Honestly sounds fine when not "critically listening". Denon = you wont be disappointed. I have used three of their receivers now and all have been awsome (one exception-the 1701 had the well published resistor problem, which will be fixed soon me hopes).
 
I'd say if you want great value for you money, you can't beat yamaha. When I was shopping around, I ended up w/ a kenwood only because I got it like 35% off so the feature set beat the yamaha I was looking at. But Yamahas look great, sound great, and don't hurt the wallet that bad.
 
well i think they are cool (especially their higher end models). Ive hear some pretty amazing sound fields during demos; however, i would not want to live with one..get a denon 1703 or something, youll be happy
d
 
I think that if you're a musician, or have been, you know what I mean by the lack of soul. Yamaha is very precise, and analytical, but it plays things to stiffly. As it were.
 
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