Noob here looking for help with a receiver choice !

[Tommy Turbo]

Hey guys,

i have a kind of a loaded question for you. I know some favour certain brand of receiver but i figured i would ask.

I am pretty clueless about sound quality difference in certain home stereo receivers.I know basic specs etc but knowing which receiver to choose from my list i need help with.
I put together a list of receivers in my price range down below.

I bought my speakers already cause i got a good deal on them or so i think.

-Towers are Polk 75t's
-Center is a Polk cs20
-Rear surrounds are Polk Tsi200
-Sub Polk psw10

Paid $1200 Canadian tax in brand new for everything. Reg price this sells for $2200 up here( prices are cheaper in the U.S)

I know from car audio that it's important to have good/descent speakers first over crappy speakers and a good power source.


I hope i did ok with the speaker choices vs the receiver budget i have.



Here is a small list of receivers i put together that are in my budget

Denon AVR-X2000 7.1

Buy Now Denon AVR-X2000 7.1 Networked Receiver with Airplay from gibbys
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Denon 630-Watt 7.1 Channel 3D-Ready Network Receiver with AirPlay (AVR-E400) bb

Denon 630-Watt 7.1 Channel 3D-Ready Network Receiver with AirPlay (AVR-E400) : Home Theatre Receivers - Best Buy Canada
---------


Onkyo 7.2 Channel 3D-Ready Network Receiver with WiFi and Bluetooth (TX-NR626) bb

Buy The Onkyo TX-NR626 7.2 Channel Network A/V Receiver Now
$499

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Harman Kardon 665-Watts 7.1 Channel 3D Home Theatre Receiver (AVR2650)

Harman Kardon 665-Watts 7.1 Channel 3D Home Theatre Receiver (AVR2650) : Home Theatre Receivers - Best Buy Canada

-------
yamaha RX-V675 7.2

Yamaha Receivers and Amplifiers RX-V675 (Home Theatre Receivers) from 2001 Audio Video



For some reason i'm leaning towards either of the Denon receivers or possibly the yamaha rxv675.
Not sure why but from what ive researched and understood i feel they would be the best bet? Which ever of these would make my speaker set up sound the best basically.

I need help please. My budget is up towards 600 dollars Canadian.Other suggestions than i mentioned are welcomed.
Going 5.1 for now but future upgrade to 7.1 , so a 7.1 or 7.2 receiver prefered. Dual zone not needed.

Comments on my speaker choices or future receiver purchase would be much appreciated .

Thanks
Tom

 

[ReUpRo]

Those receivers will be comparable in sound quality. Some concerns regarding Onkyo reliability have come up in the past. Pick the receiver that gives you most features you actually see yourself using rather than marketing gibberish. IMO, these are the standout features,
Denon X2000 - Audyssey XT32
Onkyo NR626 - WiFi
Yamahas - Notional reliability

 

[zieglj01]

I do not really listen to receivers - your Polk speakers will not really care what
you pick - however, pick the one that gives you the most frills - I fired all that
speaker auto calibration stuff a while back. Yamaha and Denon are nice, and
even some Pioneers - Onkyo, would be your call.

 

[Tommy Turbo]

Those receivers will be comparable in sound quality. Some concerns regarding Onkyo reliability have come up in the past. Pick the receiver that gives you most features you actually see yourself using rather than marketing gibberish. IMO, these are the standout features,
Denon X2000 - Audyssey XT32
Onkyo NR626 - WiFi
Yamahas - Notional reliability

Thanks for the reply, i am leaning towards the Denon but the Yamaha 675 is very close behind. Let's see which i can get the best deal on

 

[Tommy Turbo]

I do not really listen to receivers - your Polk speakers will not really care what
you pick - however, pick the one that gives you the most frills - I fired all that
speaker auto calibration stuff a while back. Yamaha and Denon are nice, and
even some Pioneers - Onkyo, would be your call.

Makes sense. I wont touch pioneer and now hearing about the onkyo i wont be looking at those no more.
Thanks

 

[Pyrrho]

I would go with Yamaha. Judging from online complaints, no one seems more reliable than Yamaha. However, Denon would be a reasonable choice

 

[bereal]

hi guys - i am going to join this thread with my questions since it fits in well here; hope it's ok. ~$600 (USD) budget, would like to have 2 independent zones (2nd room already prewired with two ceiling speakers), will be connecting a smart tv, dish box, blueray dvd player, apple tv/roku, possibly sonos down the road. After reading a bit, i have arrived at the following: Yamaha RX A730 (650 USD), Denon AVR-X2000 (650 USD), Pioneer Elite VSX-70 (520 USD) - all prices from amazon. What are the drawbacks of these for someone's first home theater set up? Any other choice?

 

[Adam]

Hi. I'll admit, I'm a Pioneer fan. I very much like their advanced MCACC auto calibration system because it can store multiple configurations (for multiple locations), whereas Audyssey can only store one right now. I've never used Yamaha's YPAO system, so I can't compare it to that. If you sit in more than one distinct location (like I do), Audyssey might not be a great choice. I have a Pioneer Elite VSX-23 (and before that, a Pioneer VSX-1015) and am overall really happy with it.

bereal, welcome to the forum! The AVR-X2000 is very similar to, but more feature rich than, a Denon AVR-E400 that I own. The Denon has plenty of power, but I'm not a fan of Audyssey (as mentioned above). It's a pretty nice unit, though.

 

[bereal]

hey thanks, Adam. I definitely need to do more reading into these things, but i just wanted to throw it out there when I came across this thread. In your opinion, does the pioneer vsx-70 have comparable features to the denon avr-x2000? If there aren't any major things missing, i guess a $120 price benefit won't hurt! Any other tips you may have will be appreciated.

 

[Adam]

Hi, bereal - as for features between the Pioneer and Denon (or Yamaha), how they compare will depend on your wants and needs. Be sure to check out the connections (does it have everything that you want/need), auto calibration (do you want more than one location to be saved?), features (can it do everything that you want?), power (which is very similar between those two), ease of use (probably pretty similar), and the remote control (which is universal on the Pioneer and will only control the reciever on the Denon).

One thing that caught my attention is that the Pioneer can handle DSD (from SACD) over HDMI, whereas the Denon cannot. That matters to me, but maybe not to you.

 

[Tommy Turbo]

I would go with Yamaha. Judging from online complaints, no one seems more reliable than Yamaha. However, Denon would be a reasonable choice

Yeah either choice seems good . I'm leaning towards denon vs yamaha because of the denon audyssey set up. From what i read, the yamaha is more difficult to set up vs the denon.

 

[bereal]

Hi, bereal - as for features between the Pioneer and Denon (or Yamaha), how they compare will depend on your wants and needs. Be sure to check out the connections (does it have everything that you want/need), auto calibration (do you want more than one location to be saved?), features (can it do everything that you want?), power (which is very similar between those two), ease of use (probably pretty similar), and the remote control (which is universal on the Pioneer and will only control the reciever on the Denon).

One thing that caught my attention is that the Pioneer can handle DSD (from SACD) over HDMI, whereas the Denon cannot. That matters to me, but maybe not to you.

Thanks, I will keep that in mind. I am planning to go to the store and take a closer look at these. It seems I am on a reasonable path here....hopefully i don't get sucked into any sales gimmicks!

 

[Tommy Turbo]

Well, i ended up going with the Yamaha rx-v575. Got it for $379 Canadian plux tax , for the price it can't be beat.