Newbie looking to get a new receiver

[Corbon91]

Hey all. I want to get a new receiver to replace my OLD Marantz 1970's reveiver (no wise cracks please! lol). Anyways, I have doing some research and I am interested in two recievers:
The Yamaha HTR-5650 and the Kenwood VR-7070. Both of these fit my needs and price range. I noticed that the Kenwood is THX certified. Is THX such a big deal? I do admit it does sound pretty cool but is it worth it? Also the Kenwood is a 100W per channel while the Yamaha is 75W. How much of a difference will that make?

Also, I will need new speakers for this. What make/model do you guys recommend? I'm not looking for anything big and or fancy. A decent size with some speaker stands is what I'm looking for.

What other things should be considering when buying a HT system???

[Brian Shannon]

THX is a certification not a sound coding scheme. If your entire system including the room is not THX certified then no, it will not make a difference.

IMHO, shop for speakers FIRST! Then decide on the receiver. those extra 25 watts may or may not be important depending on the speakers, room size etc.

You should decide on a starting budget for the speakers, subwoofer(?) and receiver. Then go to as may stores as you can and LISTEN to speakers. Trust your ears, be observant, do some research!

Good luck and ask more questions!

[Joshic]

yeah, what he said. decide on a budget. go to a real B&M audio store (NOT Best Buy or Circuit City!) and actually listen to what the speakers sound like. then pick receiver to match your speakers. then come back here, go on the web, and do some more research on the models you are interested in. Then after you are fully informed thru online research AND have first-hand experience with the equipment, then go buy the stuff.

[NikePenguin]

You may want to browse the the speaker forum at www.avsforum.com to determine a list of speaker brands you will want to test