Recommend me a 7.1 receiver

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[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 11, 2008
Messages
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I've been running 2.1 in my living room connected to my htpc most the time, recently got a center and surround to fill out the 5.1, I'd like to grab another set of the surrounds and do 7.1. I currently use a Pioneer VSX-523. The only gripe I've had with this is a loss of sound once in awhile. Audio will cut out for a few seconds and start up. Has done it with my 970/290x/Furyx. I'd like a few more HDMI slots if possible, I'll be upgrading the main tv to 4k sometime this year so will need that support. $400-500 is the range I'd like to stay in.

Edit: My speaker setup is a pair of Energy RC-70, Klipsch R25C/pair of RB-10 and sub-12HG synergy series.
 
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I just bought a "refurb" Onkyo 646 for half the cost of retail price and its mint and still comes with a 1 year warranty (versus brand new 2 year). Like Verge just linked you refurb or B-Stock receivers are awesome deals. Mines super clean and looks brand new not a scratch on the unit and works great so I'd look at going that route for sure, it saved me a ton of cash.
 
Samson4EiT said:
The only gripe I've had with this is a loss of sound once in awhile. Audio will cut out for a few seconds and start up. Has done it with my 970/290x/Furyx.
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that's not the amps fault its the sound card/windows. look for this option in windows settings or the control app for your sound card:
and I love my onkyo too. bstock/refurb will save you a good chunk and with refurbs they are tested really well so don't be afraid of em.

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pendragon1 said:
that's not the amps fault its the sound card/windows. look for this option in windows settings or the control app for your sound card:
and I love my onkyo too. bstock/refurb will save you a good chunk and with refurbs they are tested really well so don't be afraid of em.

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I've had that enabled since day 1. I just connect to the ARC and pass audio thru the video card. It does it with my other system sonnected with a different audio chipset on the mobo. Between 3 video cards and 2 different chipsets, its either the receiver or something else in windows than immediate mode which causes it.

That Denon seems pretty nice for the price, that's what I paid for this lol
 
Ragenrok said:
I just bought a "refurb" Onkyo 646 for half the cost of retail price and its mint and still comes with a 1 year warranty (versus brand new 2 year). Like Verge just linked you refurb or B-Stock receivers are awesome deals. Mines super clean and looks brand new not a scratch on the unit and works great so I'd look at going that route for sure, it saved me a ton of cash.
Click to expand...

Yea don't know if you used A4L or not, but i've got 3 from them, everything has been flawless.
 
Samson4EiT said:
I've had that enabled since day 1. I just connect to the ARC and pass audio thru the video card. It does it with my other system sonnected with a different audio chipset on the mobo. Between 3 video cards and 2 different chipsets, its either the receiver or something else in windows than immediate mode which causes it.

That Denon seems pretty nice for the price, that's what I paid for this lol
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ah ok
I guess it is kinda both the receiver and windows. the issue is that windows doesn't send a constant signal so the amp stops listening. then sound starts and the amp goes oh shit I got a signal and the switch isn't instant so you get that gap of silence. theres this keep alive tool that might help(supposed to work with hdmi too).
https://blog.rhysgoodwin.com/htpc/spdif-keepalive/
 
pendragon1 said:
ah ok
I guess it is kinda both the receiver and windows. the issue is that windows doesn't send a constant signal so the amp stops listening. then sound starts and the amp goes oh shit I got a signal and the switch isn't instant so you get that gap of silence. theres this keep alive tool that might help(supposed to work with hdmi too).
https://blog.rhysgoodwin.com/htpc/spdif-keepalive/
Click to expand...

That doesn't sound like what's happening really. It only ever happens after audio has been playing for a while. Some movies or tv shows I can make it completely thru without the signal being dropped. Sound will stop when it happens and I get a popup saying an audio device has been disconnected, 5-8 secs later it comes back saying audio device has reconnected. Spotify is pretty bad though, that will make it happen about every 20-45 mins. Sometimes the audio will just completely stop while listening to spotify and I have to restart the program to get sound back thru it.

Edit: It's pretty much all automatic recovery except in spotify's case. But all my video players and other music programs fix the sound loss isue on its own quickly enough that I've been able to tolerate it.
 
hmm very weird. in that case, skip onkyo as ive seen most complaints about this issue with that brand. that denon looks good. but i'd google what ever avr you decided on to make sure nobody else is have that issue.
 
Yeah it's puzzling. The receiver makes some clicking noise when it happens, so maybe something gets stressed out too much and it fails.
 
that's exactly how my onkyo acts. if there is nothing playing the amp stops "listening" then when something plays it takes a split second for it to start. its some sort of "power savings" I think. and it make an even louder click when it switched between audio types, like going from DD to DTS or stereo. this is normal though but dropping signal while playing is not.
 
Yeah I can understand that issue and the common 500ms delay at start or similar. Just randomly dropping signal without changing anything consistently just does not compute lol I never run any eco or power saving stuff, I've had too many issues usually with most products. Same behavior across all the various formats and channels. So it doesn't seem like a power issue or overloading type thing if it does 2 speakers or 5.1 the same. There's gotta be something on the receiver end though tripping up. I can't remember if this is in warranty or not yet, gonna look for the information and possibly contact Pioneer and see if it is something that would be RMA worthy. At least then I could get a little more reselling the fresh receiver.

Edit: Ahh defiintely not, still just a 1 year warranty for retail purchase. Was thinking if it was 3 I might have been in period still
 
+1 for accessories4less just make sure you're getting the features you'll actually use and not extra bells and whistles for no reason
 
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