AV Receivers ....Onkyo or Denon

[jaybird]

I'm putting together my first Home Theater and I need a AV receiver. I have $500 dollars to spend on the Receiver. I have been looking at the Onkyo tx-sr674 and the Denon avr 687. The room will be dedicate to watching movies. Room is 20' x 13'.

 

[Seth=L]

The Onkyo is the most functional.

 

[jaybird]

Thanks for your help.

 

[Nick250]

Denon, Yamaha and Onkyo all are pretty much the same at this price point .You can't go wrong with any of them. Since this is your first HT system I would suggest the Onkyo because it's user interface is pretty logical. The Denon is just the opposite with a poor manual to boot.

Consider how you are going to use it to make sure the one you pick has the features you need or want.

Nick

PS Pick your speakers first! The receiver has virtually nothing to do with sound quality while the speakers have everything to do with it.

 

[avaserfi]

I would have to agree with Nick on this one. I picked up my first "real" (not HTIB) receiver not too long ago, a denon 3806, and that thing is rather confusing plus the manual is well almost useless. I just started playing with it and figuring everything out. After seeing my friends Onkyo I realized how much easier it could have been. I spent a few days toying with it and am still learning.

If you are a technogeek then I would go denon just because then you will probably have fun learning the toy otherwise save yourself the trouble

 

[mtrycrafts]

I'm putting together my first Home Theater and I need a AV receiver. I have $500 dollars to spend on the Receiver. I have been looking at the Onkyo tx-sr674 and the Denon avr 687. The room will be dedicate to watching movies. Room is 20' x 13'.

Both solid contenders. Look for flexibility in a receiver to meet your current and foreseeable future. May want to wait for that HDMI 1.3 version.

 

[Davemcc]

I have to disagree with the posts on the complexity of the Denon AVR-687's menu. I have both the AVR-686 and the AVR-2307CI. The 686, and by extension it's replacement 687, has a way simpler and easier to use interface than the 2307, nevermind the larger more complex Denons. If one were to disqualify the 687, I wouldn't do it based on the setup menu. It's really very straight-forward.

 

[jaybird]

Thanks for your help. I think I'm going wth the Onkyo.