BRAISKI

Lately I have been wanting to get in the 7.1 set up. Here is what I am looking for.... Nothing too expensive. preferably around $500 if thats reasonable if nto max would be $1,000. Any suggestions?

3-4 HDMI 1.3 Inputs
DTS HD and Dolby TrueHD capable
75 watts or more per channel

If it helps I will be getting the Paradigm Speakers Millenia series.

Spiky

What do you mean by 75 watts? Since virtually every shitty receiver is hard-marketed with "100wpc" on the box, yet good receivers are usually marketed with about 2.5x the true wattage (so a 75w rating really means 30, more than enough for most people) on the box...well, it's hard to know what you mean.

Also, what do you have now?

gimmepilotwings

Onkyo 606 meets all of these criteria. Cheapest receiver that you will find that meets all 3. (4 HDMI, True HD, 90wpc)

It's cheaper than $500 on amazon right now (a lot). You can find it cheaper than that if you look.

BRAISKI

Oh ok well not that the wattage really matters much since most of them should be enough.

I currently have the Kenwood VR410

BRAISKI

Hmmm might check that out...

BRAISKI

What do you guys think of this Yamaha?

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...gon=&langid=EN

Sweet Baby James

I'm a Marantz man. The SR-7002 would nicely fit the bill. The list price is $1400, but you can find them for less than a grand street price. BTW, Marantz has traditionally mated very well with Paradigm speakers. Here's a link to more info(including a video)-


http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo...umber=MASR7002

Spiky

The video upconversion is pretty weak on that Marantz for the price, I think it says 480i is only converted to 480p, kinda 2001-ish. Yamaha is ok with the ABT, but is Onkyo's Faroudja better? (like in the 705 or 805) Not sure. The Marantz will definitely be the best for audio, but of course, it is priced quite a bit more than all these.

I always advise separates for those willing to pay for good sound. And the easy way to do that is step by step. If the Kenwood has multichannel in and/or outputs, you could look at one of the Emotiva preamps or amps to start. They're in the $700 range. The preamps aren't quite shipping, yet. These should match or beat any receiver from anyone in the sub-$1000 range. Nice that there are finally decent separates at "normal people" prices.
http://emotiva.com/news.html

Maybe Outlaw will join the crowd someday, too. But not holding my breath.

DVD Polizei

Amazon had the AVR-888 on sale. Not sure if it still is, however.

I'm a Denon dude.

BRAISKI

After a lot of searching, I might have to go with the Onkyo TX-SR606

Mordred

Did you look at the 806 at all? I've seen a lot of complaints from Onkyo fans that the x06 series aren't nearly the same value and bang for the buck as the x05 series.

gimmepilotwings

I have heard that too. I'm very happy with the 805 that I have.

You can still get an 805 at shoponkyo. You can get it for just above the $500 budget if it can be stretched a little.

drmoze

I would go with a Denon (788 or 888, on sale at CC and maybe elsewhere). Besides having great sound and high-current amps, the Denons have the Audyssey MultiEQ, which totally equalizes your speakers (sound level and freq response) for a much better soundfield. This latter feature is the one reason why I'm tempted to get a new receiver one of these days.

aktick

You can get the new Denon 1909 for $499 from JR.com - you have to call and ask for the special.

gimmepilotwings

The Onkyo's have this too.

GenPion

I hope that your wrong about the quality. I just ordered one from Amazon.com for $375 shipped. I'll be upgrading from my Sony STR-K790 (a very basic model). I hope it is a big improvement. I'm still going to be using the same speakers that came with that HTIB but I'm not looking for sound to be louder - just clearer than before. It will be interesting to hear what the High Definition audio sounds like from my HD-DVD and Blu-ray collection.

gimmepilotwings

I think that the 506 and the 606 is comparable. I also think that the comparison with the unhappy owners are mostly from the 805 to the 806 series.

Spiky

Most of them have Audyssey now. Or at least some form of auto room setup.

gimmepilotwings

The new 806 has a different audio setup than Audyssey. I don't remember what it is called.

Mercury&Solace

I have been looking into getting this one

http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR705...0001163&sr=1-1

Spiky

This claims it still has Audyssey, and it's the official marketing site. But I have seen comments about the 706/806 not being as good as the 705/805.
http://www.gspr.com/onkyo/txsr806.html

BRAISKI

I think I might end up with the Onkyo TX-SR606 but I saw the Sony STR-DG820? Which has very similar features.

durden007

Onkyo over Sony for sure. Any Sony receiver I have heard sounds...well..wimpy.

Spiky

Features are words on paper. What some of us are recommending is to buy for audio quality, build quality and longevity.

So (1) make a list of everything in your price range with the features you NEED. (2) Don't be swayed by features you don't need, cause they are useless, esp extra surround modes that people just don't end up using. Then, (3) I'd recommend you pick the one that is the best quality value on that list.

sremick

If sound quality is important to you, I'd recommend the Harman/Kardon AVR-354. It should meet all your requirements and HK sound quality is hard to beat. Also note that HK rates their power output more conservatively/honestly. So you can only compare really within the brand. 75 HK watts are not 75 Sony watts.