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What's a good receiver

C

CORVETTEZ06

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
Messages
289
I'm looking for a new receiver that is 6.1, high current, low distortion, big name, andsomething I wouldn't be afraid to tell people (like my current receiver, the Panasonic). I am looking at the brands Onkyo, Denon, Harman\Kardon, Yamaha, and possibly others. I have a connection with my Uncle who is the manager of a Magnolia Audio-Video (used to be called Magnolia Hi-Fi) and can get good deals through him (like up to 40% off the sale price), but I am waiting for an e-mail back from him telling me the brands that his store carries. I'm looking at spending no more than 400 dollars out of my own pocket (I don't have very much right now but I would like to see if it's worth it to save up that much for something, gives me motivation ya know).

After I get the receiver I plan to replace my Monster XP-CI speaker cable with Audioquest Type 2 or Type 4 speaker cable (which I can get thru my Uncle again) just for the front speakers... (imagine 30 feet per rear speaker with Type 4 which is about 4 dollars a foot! I don't think so, this monster will work for the rears).

Help me out please! Thanks.
 
so_cal_forever said:
For higher end at lower prices, Marantz fits the bill quite well:

http://www.accessories4less.com/Ama...516282WR-EVEREST-PEB11&ic=MAR+SR5400&cc=&tpc=

Other than that, Denon is great, and Onkyo isnt too shabby in comparison.
Click to expand...

Denon and Marantz are both subsidiarys of D&M. As is said here: http://www.dm-holdings.com/eng/brand/index.html
That said I like Denon receivers, I currently am using a 785s. I was receiver shopping about 3 months ago and did my research and decided on that. Of course Denon has a wide range of receivers depending on your application, but I assure you they won't let you down.

H/K is also nice, but I think their price premium isn't worth it. H/K doesn't overrate on their power (and I know there are some people that will disagree with this next statement) but Denon doesn't either. If I was to do it all over again I would probably still buy a Denon (maybe a higher model though), but H/K is a close second.
 
My dad has had a Denon AVR1801 receiver now for serveral years and its been flawless.

Just recently I purchased a Denon AVR685s (same as the 1705, just silver) and I really like it for the price of about 280$. They even have a cheaper one for about 230$us, the AVR485. I have had no problems with it at all. If I had to do it all over again for the price, I would have got the AVR 1705 because I like the all black a little better.
Mine does'nt have a phono stage input, if that matters to you. The build quality is very nice, even though the front plastic. The remote is much better then the older version my dad has, but the insturctions were very crappy. You can tell their "translations" were sometimes off which is really a shame. You can read thier instructions on their website.

There are quite a few people here who will recommend HK receiver, but to me the build quality on the front is cheap. I was at the local circuitcity, and I tried to lower the volume fast........ and it actually increased. You had to lower it very slowly... The person working there also noticed this. Not a good sign of things to come in my book.

As others said, Marantz is pretty much just the professional version of the Denon's. If you have the money, I would look into those as well.

~Hope this helps, and keep us posted.
 
towert7 said:
As others said, Marantz is pretty much just the professional version of the Denon's. If you have the money, I would look into those as well.
Click to expand...

Check my post. Marantz and Denon are virtually the same. If you want professional grade quality from either, simply look into "D&M professional". A sub-catergory of that has pro audio from both Denon and Marantz.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
Check my post. Marantz and Denon are virtually the same. If you want professional grade quality from either, simply look into "D&M professional". A sub-catergory of that has pro audio from both Denon and Marantz.
Click to expand...
That web site link you gave us showed that D&M was ruler of Marantz and Denon but I highly doubt that all of those subcompanies make the same products. For example, Honda and Acura are pretty much one the same company except the Acura's are better than Hondas (ride, comfort, luxury, etc...).

I am not stating that they are different but I'm also not stating that they are the same. I would like to see some more information proving they are the same and not owned by the same company.


Okay as for the posts, thanks so far. I like how many people are happy with Denon. My Uncle deals Denon's at Magnolia Home/Audio so I could get a big discount if I find the right model...

I've been waiting for someone to ask me what kind of sources I will be listening to... But I'll answer that question before it is asked:

I listen to Music most of the time. It is my priority to hear quality music out of my speakers. I watch occasional movies and play computer games both hooked up in surround sound but I'm not looking for quality there because most of the time the movies and the computer games aren't that great sounding in the first place (try putting headphones on hooking them up directly to the Audigy 2 ZS and you'll see what I mean). n Music, for me, includes radio, Ipod, some music off the computer, and my new favorite, DVD Audio. The surround sound is critical for me to listen to the DVD Audio disks that I am gradually getting but also the fact that I want to watch movies and play computer games in surround sound.

Thanks for the help so far!
 
I would say get the Harman Kardon AVR235. High current and conservative power ratings. Not to mention, a superb customer service that will back you receiver. Before I went with separates, I had an HK330 and it was much superior to any of my Yamahas.
 
You'll find most any current receiver has plenty of features for surround sound... even the low end ones seem to come with things like DTS now.

Some may just have a few more inputs and outputs....... like two optical inputs instead of two.

The denon even has things like preselected Low Frequency crossover points for the sub... which is an improvement over those that used to just have one preset frequency. It also has tone defeat which is nice in such a cheap receiver and other things like 5/6ch stereo which is nice to me.

But, as always (as im sure you know), its always a good idea to see them in person and make sure it satisfies you.

If you couple this up with a nice little HDA mistque 7.1 card with the DDL (dolby digital live), then all you need to do is hook it up with a digital coaxial cable or fiberoptic cable to the receiver and get true surround sound, instead of having to connect multiple analog connectors into the extension inputs.

Here are two pics of my little setup
http://home.comcast.net/~towert7/pics/bw601.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~towert7/pics/bw601-2.jpg

~Hope this helps
 
CORVETTEZ06 said:
That web site link you gave us showed that D&M was ruler of Marantz and Denon but I highly doubt that all of those subcompanies make the same products. For example, Honda and Acura are pretty much one the same company except the Acura's are better than Hondas (ride, comfort, luxury, etc...).
Click to expand...

Ugh even that example is bad. Honda and Acura are the same company, but beyond that if you go to Japan Acura doesn't exist. However if you look at the Honda lineup in Japan, you'll paculiarly notice that every single "Acura" car is for some reason in the "Honda" lineup. The same goes for Nissan/Infinity, and Toyota/Lexus. Americans need to have rebadged cars, becuase for some reason they can't drive 40k Honda's (it can't be classy, it's Honda right?).

Okay enough of the side tangent Denon and Marantz are slightly different (they have made rebadged products in the past, but that's a different), yes this is true. However you'll directly note that one is not better than the other which was precisely my point. You can check for pricing which can be used as a general barometer of performance (yes price doesn't always dictate performance, but we're talking ballpark). My quam with towert7's comments was one being "pro" and the other one being "regular". Heck there isn't even a way that you could throw a "Honda vs Acura" concept in here. Which is then why I pointed out that Marantz and Denon BOTH make pro audio gear.

Moving on. Anything from D&M or H/K will provide you with plenty of good audio fidelity for the buck. Of course the receiver can only be as good as the signal it's processing or putting through. That said the ZS should be great for your game audio, and somewhere in the medium class for music listening.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
My quam with towert7's comments was one being "pro" and the other one being "regular".
Click to expand...
Yea, I just say this because denon USA consideres the marantz to be "professional". When you goto the denon USA website, they have a "Home audio" link, which brings you to denon, and a "pro audio" link, which brings you to some denons and marantz...

You are right though, it does not mean eaither is better/worse.
 
i'd take whatever money you plan on wasting on 4 dollar a foot speaker cable and put that toward my receiver and/or speakers...

any of the denons or hks mentioned will do the job...

imo...

ps. what speakers are you hooking this up to?

pps. what don't you like about your panny receiver?
 
To answer this question first:

ccotenj said:
i'd take whatever money you plan on wasting on 4 dollar a foot speaker cable and put that toward my receiver and/or speakers...

any of the denons or hks mentioned will do the job...

imo...

ps. what speakers are you hooking this up to?

pps. what don't you like about your panny receiver?
Click to expand...
First off, the speaker cable is as follows:

Type 2 @ $1.76 a foot - 14ft = $24.64 16ft = $28.16 20ft = $35.20​

Type 4 @ $2.35 a foot - 14ft = $32.90 16ft = $37.60 20ft = $47.00​

I'd be getting 30 foot all together for my 3 front speakers (right, center, left). My rears, dang that would be expensive. So I'm looking at $52.80 for great speaker cable and $70.50 for nice nice nice speaker cable. The 2 and 4 after the "Type" would represent how many dollars it is per foot (just so you know what kind of deal I can get).​

My speakers are as follows (currently have them):​

Front Left: Boston Acoustics Micro90x (200 bucks)​
Front Right: Boston Acoustics Micro90x (300 bucks)​
Front Center: Boston Acoustics Center Sat 7 (200 bucks)​
Rear Left: Boston Acoustics Micro80x II (100 bucks)​
Rear Right:Boston Acoustics Micro80x II (100 bucks)​
Subwoofer: Yamaha YST-SW105 (100 watt, 8" sounds great for the price of 150 bucks)​

I listed the prices of those speakers so that you have a feeling what kind of quality I'm looking at. These speakers when they were being manufactured, were nicknamed the "Bose killers" because they are extremely rugged and could out blow any Bose cube speaker. I'll get you a picture of my current set up if you would like to see pics of them.​

As for my Panasonic receiver. It is the model SA-HE70. First thing I realized that I didn't like, it was supposed to be rated @ 100 watts x 5 channels ... and then I realized that was at 6 ohms and not the standard 8. My speakers are all 8 ohms (except the subwoofer). So this thing was only making 60-70 watts of yucky power. Which my next point is it's low current, high distortion rating of 0.9% THD. Whereas most nice receivers now are <0.07%. I have blown speakers with this receiver (none of my current ones because I learned my lesson) and the speakers were supposed to handel up to 100 watts anyways but having only 60-70 and still blowing them whew! I realized this thing sucks. Besides I want something that will sound good and last me a long time (looking at about 6 years).​

Okay so point understood, Marantz = Denon in quality. In that case, I would go with the cheaper although I do like the way the HK's look with that blue look.​

Thanks again! Keep the comments going!​
 
HK's do look reaaaal nice!
Click to expand...
My opinion varies.

Anyway, corvette, how much are you looking to spend all in all, including these "good speakers that will last over 6 years"?
And when you say "good"................ what do you mean. Good is a very relative term, and although I have not heard the boston acoustics... if they were aimed to beat the bose speakers then that should be a little indication of the sound quality (instead of say... better then some paradigms).

When you start getting to decent speakers, you may be talking a minimum of 300$us for a pair of bookshelfs. So, if you went with 4 bookshelfs, a center, a sub, speaker cables, a 300$ receiver, speaker stands, etc... it starts to add up. You might be talking a minimum of 1500$.

But, if it makes you happy and you can spare the cash, go for it and be happy!
 
CORVETTEZ06 said:
... Type 4 which is about 4 dollars a foot! I don't think so, this monster will work for the rears).
.
Click to expand...

your dollar figure, not mine... :rolleyes: the speaker wire you already have is more than good enough...

as far as being "bose killers"... ummm... it ain't hard to "kill" bose cubes... :p

i wouldn't get too hung up over the "high current, low distortion" routine... any decent consumer grade product is going to be able to drive the speakers you have... if i was you, i'd hunt the various refurb sites and give myself a budget of maybe 200-250 bucks and go from there... a bottom of the line hk/denon/onkyo/yamaha is going to be more than enough to do the job for what you are driving...

it's your money... but i'd save some of it and upgrade my speakers if my "priority to hear quality music out of my speakers" (your words)... i also wouldn't bother playing crappy lossy formats either... but that's just me...
 
Edit: darn it, posted in the wrong thread again................ ohhhhhhhhh im tired.
 
Hmmm lots of posts...

First off, the speakers I have were part of a main system that my Uncle had until he got a Krell amplifier and Martin Logan speakers (talking about lots of money). Then I baught the whole set of Boston Acoustic speakers from him for 200 bucks and I already had the subwoofer. These speakers sound great. The problem is the bottleneck in my speaker setup... the receiver

Okay well if my Monster XP-CI speaker cable (at 80 cents a foot) is plenty for what I'm doing, then I won't look into the Audioquest speaker cable for a while. Although I would like to mention a quote from my Uncle:

Wire is actually considered a component when putting together a system. It can be as important as the speakers, amp and source of information (CD, DVD, MP3 etc).

I just didn't want my speaker wire to be a bottleneck to my system after I get a better receiver. Again, the speakers are great speakers and were nicknamed the Bose killers because they wanted to advertise for less money, you could get something that would outdo the Bose speakers. In reality, these were my Uncle's main speakers for a while and he was pleased with them.

So for the record, I am not looking at buying NEW speakers, I am keeping these. So according to you guys, I will just get a receiver and the speaker cable I have will work good for what I will have.

To what degree receiver would I need to compliment the speakers and speaker wire I currently have? 100-200 bucks, 200-300 bucks, 300-400 bucks, 400-500 bucks, etc...?

I guess the question would be also, would you guys actually get a new receiver or just stick with this one until it dies (which is supposed to happen in about 3 years)?

I had a choice between Sony and Panasonic and both are notorious for having low current, high distortion, plus overrating their equipment and yet I chose the Panasonic and the Sony was actually rated 100 watts @ 8 ohms while the Panasonic I chose was rated 100 watts @ 6 ohms! I should have done more research plus I should have gotten a better receiver for the speakers I ended up getting--At the time all I wanted was a receiver that could take digital inputs for surroundsound so I could play my Xbox! My priorities have somewhat changed since then... I no longer have a Xbox.

 
By the way, my price range is according to what would be needed to match my speakers. So the question that I repeat is, how good?
 
Wire is actually considered a component when putting together a system. It can be as important as the speakers, amp and source of information (CD, DVD, MP3 etc).
Click to expand...
yea, without speakers you don't get any audio. Without speaker cable you don't get any audio.

Honestly though!!! have you ever "heard" a diffrence in speaker cable. ;)

Goto your local home depot, get some el cheapo extension cable (power cable), strip about a half inch off each end and tell me if that improves the sound or degrades the sound. ^_^

Ive seen reviews that say generic extension cable "sounded" better then the 100$ Monster Z1 speaker cables.

Untill you start getting into expensive speakers (thousands of $$$), the money is better spent on just upgrading the speaker and other components first. After all........ how can speaker cable improve a speaker if the speaker just sucks.... you can't add what's not there.

Get 50$ sony speakers, and use 1000$ speaker cables............ tell me if it sounds better then 1000$ speakers :rolleyes: . I think I know the answer to this already, because its blazingly obvious. The only reason you might want to spend more money on cable, is with thicker gauge for longer runs..... or "conveiences" like banana plugs and sleaving. I got a pair of 10' dayton audio speaker cable.... sleaved, banana plugs, 14 gauge twisted for about 32$... not too bad. Is there a diffrence between this and acoustic research 14gauge bulk cable....... maybe not, but it looks cool and I really wanted the banana plugs (I did'nt want to solder speaker wire).

Back to the receiver. First off narrow down by deciding what Features you need... Once you have done this, just go around to all your local audio shops... bring a CD your familer with, and see if you can tell a diffrence between the 230$ receivers and the 400$ receivers. Then you can determin if the extra money is worth it. Also, if possible, try and have them play speakers with similar Sensitivity ratings as your's. When listening to receivers, ask them to turn on any tone defeat (tone bypass) settings to try and get as much of a level playing field as possible. After all, one receiver with the Bass set to +12dB will sound diffrent then one with the bass set to 0dB.. even if they sound the same at the same settings.

Lastly, if you find a audio shop with people who are frank with you, listen to them. They usually have a lot of first hand experience and want to keep your business by being truthful. If you find an audio shop like this, suport them if possible... its SOO hard to find them where I live.

Easy enough, ea?... just follow your ears without getting into "gimick numbers" like THD+N

~Hope this helps
 
CORVETTEZ06 said:
Hmmm lots of posts...

First off, the speakers I have were part of a main system that my Uncle had until he got a Krell amplifier and Martin Logan speakers (talking about lots of money). Then I baught the whole set of Boston Acoustic speakers from him for 200 bucks and I already had the subwoofer. These speakers sound great. The problem is the bottleneck in my speaker setup... the receiver
Click to expand...

Ahh.. your uncle and I think alike. Notice that we have similar speakers.

Hehehehe....

I would say that the HK235 is right up your alley. It has high current output, good power, awesome looks, and a good UI... not to mention awesome customer service and warranty.

Joey
 
Okay time for another quote from my Uncle out of an email he sent me (and no he's not trying to sell me something, he's my Uncle who wouldn't get any commission off of his relatives):

So, here are some basic facts. Years ago, everyone just used old lamp cord to hook up their speakers. It worked and it was inexpensive to use. The some pioneers in Audio decided to play around with the idea that wire can make a difference. One of the first was Noel Lee. He found that wire mass made improvements. He decided to produce a very large 12 gauge wire and sell it. It was so thick that he decided to name it “Monster Wire” which resulted in his naming his company Monster Cable. Over the years Noel Lee experimented with using various sizes of micro fibers and time alignments. He became the first company to really show manufactures that wire is very important. Today, Monster Cable has the lion share of a multi-billion dollar business. He is a master of marketing. He will take a single wire design and package it in numerous ways with different names on them.
So, is Monster Cable the best wire? No, not even close. Is it good? Yes! There are a number of bad wires being marketed that Monster wire will blow away. Example being Radio Shacks products. Radio Shack is just mass marketed ordinary wire that performs about the same as the old lamp cord. The average person never knows this and thus RS just keeps producing it at huge profits for themselves.



So who makes better wire? There are literally dozens of wire companies today, but most of them are very high end in nature and are sold at High End Audio stores. So who is the number two seller of wire next to Monster Cable? The company is Audioquest. Magnolia carried both Monster Cable and Audioquest for the last twenty years. As of this last year, Magnolia dropped Monster. We only carried it because it was the number one asked for cable. All the salespeople in our company would sell the Audioquest instead, when given the chance. The reason? Performance.

Audioquest was invented by another pioneer in wire design, Bill Low. Bill researched the idea that what a wire is made of is important as well as the way the cable is made. He believes in solid core wires that are isolated from each other so there is no jumping of signal. When even the most entry level of his wire is compare to some of the very best Monster Cables, the Audioquest beats it in performance. Here is the link to Audioquest web page. If you really want to know about wire, read his Cable Theory PDF locatedat the bottom of the main page.



[url="http://www.audioquest.com/"]http://www.audioquest.com/[/url]

I think I will look into the HK a little more and see what kind of prices new and refurbished I could get. My Uncle's Martin Logan front right and left speakers are the Odyssey series and he has a center channel speaker made by them that he didn't mention what the name was. His rear speakers are the tripolar Lucasfilms speakers that he says George Lucas actually uses on his ranch.

What my Uncle recommended to me:

I prefer the solid core wire if you can afford it.

I would like to have the Type 2 or Type 4 being the "solid core wire". Enough said about wire.

Any more comments on receivers or possibly seperate amp and pre amps? Thanks for all your comments.
 
separate amp and preamp are out of your price range. Don't even bother looking unless your willing to pony up alot more cash...

You will always get more "bang for the buck" in a reciever.
 
There are things called "intergrated amps", which are a preamp and an amp all in one unit. Still though, they start at about your maximum price range.......... and they do not have anywhere near the features as common receivers (they are geared toward a diffrent type of listener).

Honestly, from what ive read in this thread.......... that's about all the help your going to get. You REALLY have to just go out and see/hear them for yourself.... no if's, and's, or but's about it.

~Good luck, and keep us posted.
 
No way can you go into separates with the budget you gave us to work with.

Take mine - the GS-1 is $750 and the Rotel RB1070 is $800 including tax.

$1550 for both.

You have to add to that the external Channel Islands VDA-1 + VAC1 DAC/PS combo which is $500 and you have $2050 for separates.

Stick with your HK or Denon. Those are your best bets.
 
Okay well you guys have mentioned "features" many times so here it goes.

DTS and Dolby Digital a must
Prologic I/II a must
at least 5.1 a must
Does not have to have DSP effects etc.
Radio a must (i have a local radiostation that I do listen to a little bit)
Speakers A/B/C optional, 1 set is all I really need.
Even a built in equalizer or fading or balance isn't really even needed.

Basically all I want is a receiver that has a 5.1 channel input (or 2) in 6 RCA plug form and at least 1 fiber optic input and 1 digital coaxial input.

Is there an older model Harmon Kardon that isn't 7.1 because I imagine that could shave off a few dollars?

Thanks. And I'll go look around. Keep the comments coming if you recommend anything!
 
Onkyo, HK, Denon.. I went through that whole thing looking for the best. Had an Onkyo 801, HK635 and a Denon3805. Had them all in my home with my system for extended periods (the HK only a month as I just returned it). I ended up buying a 3805 but I got a pretty awesome deal on a used one, list price it was the most expensive out of those. They all sounded great.. I didn't LOVE one over any of the others.

I would recommend, since you don't know.. that you go to Circuit City (HK), Magnolia (Denon), Fry's (Onkyo) (Good guys carries this stuff too) and take them home for the 30 days and give them a whirl.

Something that sounds kind of up your alley is a newer Onkyo, check it out. For the price they're tough to beat.

Onkyo602
http://ww1.onecall.com/PID_23908.htm
 
Well.

I have come to the sad conclusion that I'm not ready yet to upgrade--I was just listening to my current system with a DVD Audio disk and I relized that I would barely be able to tell the difference in sound if I had a new receiver and yet it would cost me nearly 400 or 500 bucks to get that difference which today for me, is not worth it. I think I'll be satisfied with my current system until I get a good job and get paid good enough and I think I will get seperates and maybe even an Amp made by Krell (yep that's really pushing the envelope) but I think I'd rather just save up my money at this point instead of dropping it on something that isn't necessary--my current receiver isn't broken so it shouldn't need to be replaced.

But back to the speaker cable just for a glance, yes I could hear a difference between lamp cord cable and my dad's Audioquest CV-4 speaker cable in his system. He's running about 160 watts per channel (only in stereo being 20 years old) into nice floor standing speakers. I am sold on this solid copper idea and if it's still the thing to do in the future, I'll do it.

Thanks everyone for helping me out so much! The companies HK, Denon, Onkyo, (and even Marantz) will stick in my head for something for me to get if I don't get something better. Thanks again!
 
Glad to see you made a logical decision.

In the meantime, you can read up on some books and reviews. Keep somewhat current and uptodate on what's good and what's not, and when the time finally comes you will be much better prepared.
 
wire...

click 1

click 2

click 3

click 4

i could go on... but i think the horse is already dead...

from your post...

"He decided to produce a very large 12 gauge wire and sell it. "

ok class... what doesn't make sense about that statement?
 
ccotenj, the first two links are the same.

" 'He decided to produce a very large 12 gauge wire and sell it. '

ok class... what doesn't make sense about that statement?"
Ide like to find out what your getting at with this, because I have my own views with monster cable as a company.
 
I went Denon on my last two a/v receivers and have very few complaints.

Biggest complaint: Denon doesn't know sh*t about remotes. :) They seem to have two types, a chiclet remote where every button is exactly the same---no fun in the dark, even when it is backlit---, or a monster programmable LCD that is the size of a tank.

Now since I bought those receivers for a/v, and my biggest complaint is the remotes, I guess I should be happy.

I also use denon for dvd/cd.

Speakers are a mix of Martin Logan, Ascend, and Jamo, Hsu subs, and a bit of extra amplification I'm playing with, courtesy of Crest Audio. Current receiver is a 4802. I just can't find a compelling reason to upgrade it.

With only $400 in your budget, I wish you luck finding the feature set you listed, and a significant amount of power in the same box. Might get a 1705 for that, 1706 is about $50 over, at least at your typical Denon dealers. Denon is very particular about their dealers, make sure you buy from one they honor, if you do buy denon, otherwise your warranty will be meaningless.
 
for your information we were talking about speaker wire/cable here not interlinks. two of the links you have there are only about interlink cables.

I have had lamp cord speaker wire and radioshacks wire and all I can do is agree with my uncle. The wire has no formation, it is full of oxygen, is very ugly, and very cheap. I am pleased with my current speaker cable and those of you that still think that lamp cord or electrical wire from home depot is no different in sound quality from Type 2 or Type 4 made by Audioquest, you are wrong.

My uncle who you may think is nuts at this point is just like you and I. He has strong feelings against Bose, against cheap brands of receivers like Panasonic, Technics, Sony, and basic Pioneer. When someone, who has invested nearly 50 grand into his own stereo equipment to hear the audio quality, tells me that this is good and this is bad, I will believe him. He ins't made of money by the way, he is only the manager of a Magnolia Hi-Fi / Audio Video and is actually went overboard with his equipment he has (because he rents a house and has no retirement plans).

I hope you understand where I'm coming from.
 
Pinipig523 said:
I would say get the Harman Kardon AVR235. High current and conservative power ratings. Not to mention, a superb customer service that will back you receiver. Before I went with separates, I had an HK330 and it was much superior to any of my Yamahas.
Click to expand...
amen.

I love my AVR235.
 
Have you checked out Harmon Kardon's (refurb) store? I remember seeing some decent receivers for under 400 there. If you don't mind going the used route, perhaps keep an eye out on ads on craigslist.com? I just picked up a Yamaha HTR-5280 for 160 from a local, and it has all the features that you wanted/needed.
 
CORVETTEZ06 said:
My uncle who you may think is nuts at this point is just like you and I.
Click to expand...
Don't worry, I know your not getting a new receiver, but I was wondering.

Have you asked him what his prefrence is (seeing as how he seems to have an opinion on everything) for the money? I bet he has a lot of first hand experience with the models he carries........so what does he like? I would be very interested to hear what his opinion is in a nutshell.

~Thanks
 
towert7 said:
ccotenj, the first two links are the same.

" 'He decided to produce a very large 12 gauge wire and sell it. '

ok class... what doesn't make sense about that statement?"
Ide like to find out what your getting at with this, because I have my own views with monster cable as a company.
Click to expand...

oops... this should have been the first link... click

what i'm getting at is there is no such thing as "very large 12 gauge wire"... all 12 gauge wire would be the same size... 12 gauge... as far as monster as a company, they make some good products, they make some poor products, and as far as wire/interconnects go, they make grossly overpriced products... disclaimer: and this from someone who has both a monster htps7000 and avs2000... so i don't think all their products suck...

geez... "full of oxygen"... :rolleyes: really? you have it analyzed? or was this your uncle's "professional opinion"? who, it would seem, has been selling stuff for so long that he actually believes what he is telling people...

good quality speaker wire made from good quality components will do the job... anything more than that is straight voodoo and wishful thinking... believe what you like... but the physics don't lie...

<wondering when mister x is gonna amble along and ask "and what does all this have to do with computer audio? :) >
 
Denon or Harmon Kardon. :)

You know what gets me? The serious lack of stereo receivers these days. :mad:
I don't know about you, but most all my music is in stereo. Which sound like crap
on a multi-channel surround receiver.
The very reason I still use my 18yr old JVC receiver which can be switched back & forth.

Went with my friend cruising the local electronics stores to get a replacement receiver for the one in
his garage that burned up. To our amazement all we could find were two stereo receivers & both were junk off the wall brands.
So he ended up getting a good used 120w Pioneer from Good Will for $50.
 
Agree ... 12ga is 12ga. If it were bigger it would not be 12ga. Only possible difference is
some braided wire is larger diameter than solid core, but they should still have the same
properties. Then there is the insulation thickness too. Some brands add extra shielding & such.

Also ... I think towert7 may have been referring to the "low oxygen" wire. In the past many
cheap brands were made with "dirty" Copper.
IMhO that is mostly marketing fluff these days as any half decent brand should be made
from "110 Copper". If you don't know what that means look it up. ;)

Did someone say "Monster Cable"? Save yourself some money and get the Pacific Cables.
They look exactly like Monster except are blue. Even made from the same wire.

Much like buying generic Aspirin over name brand. They are made at the same plant from the
exact same ingredients, just a different brand stamp.
 
Susquehannock said:
Denon or Harmon Kardon. :)
You know what gets me? The serious lack of stereo receivers these days. :mad:
.
Click to expand...
Denon still makes a few http://www.usa.denon.com/catalog/products.asp?l=1&c=3
You are right though, there are very few stereo receivers now a days........ mostly because the general public wants things more geared to home entertainment which use things like digital audio or video I/O on the receivers.

I'm sure other companies out there still sell cheaply priced stereo receivers, but the problem like you said is that you can't see them in person because no one carries them ^_^.
 
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