Cheap Stereo Receiver Question

[Mark of Cenla]

I am a public high school teacher, and I have done some extra work this summer. When I finally get paid for it in a month or two, I want to buy a cheap stereo receiver. I would like opinions. All of the prices quoted came from Amazon.com and are rounded up the the even dollar. I do not like surround sound at all; I much prefer all of the sound to come from in front of me. Does anyone have any experience with any of these?

Onkyo TX-8255 $165
Sony STRDH130 $147
TEAC AG-790A $150
Sherwood RX04105 $98

The only one I heard is the Sherwood because my son has one. Some of this "extra money" will come from a bonus I will get because my students did well on the state test. If I get enough, I may get an integrated amp instead. So which of these is the best, or is there something else out there in the $100-$250 range that I have missed? Thanks. Peace and goodwill.

 

[slipperybidness]

I am a public high school teacher, and I have done some extra work this summer. When I finally get paid for it in a month or two, I want to buy a cheap stereo receiver. I would like opinions. All of the prices quoted came from Amazon.com and are rounded up the the even dollar. I do not like surround sound at all; I much prefer all of the sound to come from in front of me. Does anyone have any experience with any of these?

Onkyo TX-8255 $165
Sony STRDH130 $147
TEAC AG-790A $150
Sherwood RX04105 $98

The only one I heard is the Sherwood because my son has one. Some of this "extra money" will come from a bonus I will get because my students did well on the state test. If I get enough, I may get an integrated amp instead. So which of these is the best, or is there something else out there in the $100-$250 range that I have missed? Thanks. Peace and goodwill.

Newegg.com - Denon AVR-E200 5.1 Channel AV Receiver with 3D Capability (Black)

 

[fmw]

I have a Teac 790 that I used to use to power my bedroom TV. It always performed admirably.

 

[anamorphic96]

The Onkyo would be my choice of the bunch. The price fluctuates on Amazon. I have seen it as low as 119.00 and it seems to be at 140.00 most of the time.

 

[NewHTbuyer]

I have the HK3490. It goes on sale sometimes at $299. I ordered mine from J&R Music world. You could call them to see if they will give you that sale price. Powerful, got a great review on this site, plus has 2 digital inputs if you want to hook up a BD player or cable box and have a TV. I have been very happy.

 

[Mark of Cenla]

Thanks for all of the responses. What is the advantage, if any, of buying a 5.1 receiver if I am never going to use a center or side speakers? Peace and goodwill.

 

[jcunwired]

^^ Wider range of codecs supported, better bass integration. There are also more AVRs that are network capable, which IMO is a game changer (the ability to control receiver via smartphone or tablet).

 

[NewHTbuyer]

^^ Wider range of codecs supported, better bass integration. There are also more AVRs that are network capable, which IMO is a game changer (the ability to control receiver via smartphone or tablet).

I debated these very points when I set up my 2ch room, before I bought the HK3490. I ended up going with a better amp section and using my BD player to access the Internet etc. I do not have room correction or bass management(although I have no sub) though.

 

[Mark of Cenla]

What does anyone think about the Yamaha RX-V375, $250 at Best Buy? My "extra check" came in today! I have always liked Yamaha gear but never owned any. Peace and goodwill.

 

[markw]

I wouldn't expec any sonic differences between your son's Sherwood and the others you mentioned. As for that Sherwood, it does offer a line-level subwoofer out and digital inputs so you could use it's internal DAC should you feed it any digital sources such as CD players etc.

 

[NewHTbuyer]

What does anyone think about the Yamaha RX-V375, $250 at Best Buy? My "extra check" came in today! I have always liked Yamaha gear but never owned any. Peace and goodwill.

Each brand of receiver has its fans and critics online. Yamaha is usually thought of pretty well. It gets dinged because it uses its own proprietary room correction program, YPAO, vs others that use Audyssey. But at that price range and you only having a 2ch setup, the V375 will probably serve you well. I have not used one personally, so my opinion is just based on looking at the specs.

 

[pureiso]

I got a couple questions first.

1. How big of a room?
2. Sensitivity and expected listening levels?
3. What kind of connections are needed?

To be honest, I have had very good luck with the cheapo Lepai amplifiers for that kind of stuff. Not a ton of watts, but a lot of speakers in a small room only need that much to be loud enough. $20 is very compelling in comparison to $200 in these situations.

 

[Mark of Cenla]

I ended up buying the Yamaha RX-V375 5.1 receiver, and boy am I glad. My living room speakers are old Boston Acoustics T1000 towers with major modifications. I removed all of the drivers and the crossover and covered all the speaker holes with a piece of wood, except for the bottom hole for an 8" woofer. In that I installed a Dayton Audio Reference woofer. This became the back of the speaker. On what was the back, I installed a Goldwood full-range 8" speaker with a whizzer cone. With the EQ in the Yamaha, I could smooth out the frequency response of the full-range 8", and with the subwoofer management I adjusted the back woofers to kick in at 100hz. It sounds amazing! I have our old receiver, an Insignia (Sherwood), driving the subs, so I can easily turn them up or down. All is good here. Peace and goodwill.