Here is the deal...

I currently have an Onkyo 474 in my dorm room (12'X14') powering two Infinity RS-3s fronts, an Infinity CC-1 center, a Velodyne CT-80 sub, and some KEF rears.

Now speaking strictly music and hi-fi, help me pick between these two receivers.

Harman-Kardon AVR-300 - ~$450
Pioneer Elite VSX-24TX - ~$620

I know both are dynamite, but the key lingering question is if, with these speakers, there will be a clear, audible difference between the two units.

I have not heard either of these units, and am going strictly on what the home theater press and audioreview.com have on them.

Options and reasons?

Thanks


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A free Tibet - Keep Hope alive...

Where did you find the AVR300 for that price?

www.ecost.com has the HK AVR 300 for $434.99 with free shipping (they do charge a handling fee though). If you do pointclick, you can use your money for this too.

Jon

there was also a 20 /50 ecost promo via pointclick the other day. not sure if it's still there. look around there could be an ecost coup around

I suggest the AVR300. I have the AVR500 for my surround and music and can not give a better recommendation.

Not having heard the HK models of late I can't comment on them. I am quite familiar with the Pioneer unit and cannot find a single weakness with it, except I have not been able to figure out the learning function of the remote properly yet. It's built like a tank, even though it appears the front panel is plastic, it's not, just covered in the plastic for their finish. Well, actually, the thing is too darn big for most audio racks, so that may be a fault. More power than you'll need for a long time, and the power is clean and musical, almost tube-like in sound. Has extremely high quality DAC's, 3 of them. Very expandable, so you're not going to have to throw it out. THX select to boot, and I know a lot of people aren't too keen on THX but it does come in handy on a lot of VHS movies I find. Doesn't have too many dsp options, but a few of them are handy, ie. 5-D theater, Jazz, Theater 2. It's alot of receiver for that price, and I don't think you can do much better without going into separates, and this can ease the transition with it's expandability. Hope some of this rambling is helpful.