replacing Sony str-d665... but with what?

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ddjr

Audioholic
Hi all. New here and am looking for real world advice rather than a sales pitch from a salesman. My good old Sony is dying. I have a budget of $200, so I'm probably going to have to scour eBay for my replacement. I want a receiver with 4k capability, hdmi inputs, and that sounds great. My Sony sounded OK but not great. Guitar sounded kind of chimey or like springs. Other than that it was ok. But it is old and outputs are starting to stop working. What is a great, affordable receiver with 4k and hdmi?
 
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Latent

Full Audioholic
4k is a wide target. What kind of 4k do you need? Most 2012 and newer avr's advertise 4k pass through but they are limited by hdmi 1.4a spec to 4k/30p. Then in 2014 hdmi 2.0 became popular which supports 4k/60p which doesn't help movie watching but useful for gaming. And 2015 models had hdcp 2.2 added which allows 4k blu ray support for when this is released. All these avr's of the ages listed above will not be cheap yet and so $200 limits you to the entry level models from a few years ago so may have limited output power but if you have easy to drive speakers, a small room and don't want to listen at high SPL then a good brand should sound fine.
 
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ddjr

Audioholic
I was looking at either the Denon avr-s500bt, or the avr-s710w, whichever I get lucky with on ebay. The hdmi 2.2 looks good.
 
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ddjr

Audioholic
Apparently we are looking for a couple of speakers too. My wife suggested it, such surprised the heck out of me. Any great speakers for $300?
 
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ddjr

Audioholic
Well, I ended up getting the Denon avr- s500BT unit on ebay, brand new, for $156. I feel like I got a really good deal. Does anyone have any experience with these? Also, which speakers do you prefer to match up with these units? Does anyone have a preference?
 
IT Man

IT Man

Enthusiast
I think that's a good deal. How's your experience so far? Still satisfied?
 
D

ddjr

Audioholic
It hasn't arrived yet. I'm looking forward to it. Knowledge is dangerous... I've been reading up a lot about receivers. I certainly wish I had gotten this or that feature or more of this or higher output... But I'm sure it will be light years better than what I have now, so I will be happy. I am still curious about speakers though. Any suggestions?
 

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