All The Questions On A $200.00 Budget?

[BMXTRIX]

This just sprung up at me as I was flipping through some posts and it seriously qualifies as a rant... or complaint.

Why do people spend so much time doing a lot of research when they have a budget of $200.00 for an A/V receiver? I guess if you are 15 or 16 then coming up with 200 bucks is a lot of money, but when someone comes on asking a serious question about what type of receivers they should get on that kind of budget it makes my stomach churn.

As far as I can tell, at that price range there is a lot of very similar very bottom line receivers on the market. The big companies churn them out and pack what they can into them, but they all are under-powered, with minimal ins and outs and processing. They are never something someone who wants to seriously do a theater with would keep for more than a year or two - and by that time newer models will replace them.

It seems that instead of doing so much research about a $200.00 receiver - or a cheap surround package - it makes more sense to save up and get a system you will actually enjoy for years to come. I know when I bought my first surround package I just went to the store, looked at a couple of packages, dropped 300 bucks(ish) and took it home.

I knew it wasn't a serious package - it was a joke. 6 speakers and a receiver. Entry level sound. Just something to tide me over until I had some cash and could put it to use towards something that was worth doing some research on. Sure, nowadays I might research for a few hours at night different packages, but I don't understand why so many people ask the same questions over and over when they have no real budget.

Alright... rant over, I feel better.

 

[markw]

Sometimes the less money one has, the more imperative it it to wring as much value as you can out of it. For whatever reason, some people have a budget set and, for whatever reason, feel compelled to stay within that.

Not everyone is as "hung up" on sound as much as us and, even more important, they might not have the means or desire to upgrade frequently.

 

[Rob Babcock]

For some a $200 receiver will be the first step down the road to audiophilia; for some it may be the last purchase 'til it craps out on them. This is a great time to get into HT in one sense- never before has so little money been required to get good sound. On the other hand, long gone are the days when you could "drop out" of the hobby for a few years and return confident that you hadn't missed anything. Nowadays, you stop to blink & you'll miss a format or technology that wasn't there when last you checked. AV electronics is more complex & confusing now, and I can sympathize with the poor guy who just wants to watch his movies.

True anecdote: A few years back a good friend of mine's mom (a pretty well-to-do middle aged lady) dropped about $5k on an HT rig. Pretty nice stuff, too- Denon receiver & DVD carousel, 2 pairs of MA Silver 5i's + center, MA sub, nice Sony Trinitron tv. She had a local dealer install it for her; she actually had the guy make her a crib sheet of instructions for doing the most common things! Unfortunately, if she hit a wrong button or strayed far enough to require an understanding of the unit, she actually had to wait for her son to drop by or call his cell just to figure out how to watch tv!

So I can see why people get confused about this stuff, and it makes sense that in the Internet Age you avail yourself of others expertise. Even if you're not spending a fortune. If you shop wisely, you can even get decent sound for $200 now. Believe it or not, there's a fanatical following for one of the cheapo JVC digital receivers (available on Ebay for $179). One aquaintance over at AC even feeds his with a $4,500 digital front end! He claims it sounds better than pretty much anything he's ever had in his system. A $4.5k CD/DAC combo, with several thousand $ of ancillary gear, driven by a $200 receiver? The times they are a-changin'!

I can see why it's exasperating to see the same questions again and again, especially the "what's the best 5.1 rack system with amps, DVD & sub for $199" ones. People don't realize you can't buy a complete system of decent quality for the price of a VCR. And they don't seem to know how to use the 'search' feature. But I think it's a good sign overall. And if even one person asks for opinions here before buying a B(l)ose Lifestyle system, all of our headaches will have been worth it!

 

[Shinerman]

I don't mind questions like that at all. I was there once. Granted, most $200 are fairly similiar but there are differences and they can make a difference depending on your intended use. I think you might be eluding to the recent post about a few $200 receivers at best buy. The person did his research and compared similiar models and when he could not decide based on his knowledge, he asked our opinion. Sounds like a sound research process to me. I pointed our some differences that may be important to him like the number of digital coax inputs and video upconversion and even HD capable between the models and gave my opinion.

And like Markw and Rob mentioned, some people only have about $200 to spend and want to get the most for their money. They might have others things that demand their money and can't justify spending or saving more than that for a piece of audio equipment. I have a camera worth $5k but I don't think everyone who wants a camera should save up for a $5k camera. They don't need it.

I enjoy helping others when I can and I don't complain about. After all, that's why this site is hear.

Shinerman

 

[BMXTRIX]

That's why it's a rant... Perhaps my rant would be more accurate if people would just once start by saying:

"I've done a lot of research and I have searched the archives here, but there are a couple of $200.00 receivers that I was hoping some people might have opinions on."

It's never that though - it always seems to be "I am looking to get a really top notch A/V system. I want it to be 15.4 and have at least 2 billion watts of power. Bose makes some incredible stuff, but they are way to pricey for me. I have $200 to spend."

You know - it's just a rant to those who don't read the FAQ's, don't search, don't google, don't AudioReview, and while I am happy to help when I can, I wonder how many people WITH the knowledge of what sounds good, actually have demoed a bunch of 200 dollar receivers? I know I haven't.

 

[Rob Babcock]

I have, but not recently. It's good to know what's out there, especially as I tend to field a lot of noob questions. My main beef is more that the same friggin' question gets asked about 1,000,000 times per month.

 

[Unregistered]

How is this topic any different from the zillion threads like 'Which receiver should I buy' (with a different price range or none at all)? At avsforum, that has got to be the number one question.

Another pet peeve of mine is all the threads with non-informational titles, like 'Newbie here', 'Help a noob', etc. Come one people, put a title that at least hints at what the topic will be!

 

[Dweeb]

Just because someone isnt spending 1K on a receiver, doesent mean they shouldnt make a very informed decision.. It would be stupid not to.

 

[Leprkon]

turn it around

I can see researching a $ 200 receiver. I'm going to turn this around and ask why I can't get $ 200 features in a $ 1,000 receiver.... Why can;t I buy a unit that has 6.1 or 7.1 with 100 to 110 watts per channel with upgraded DAC's and digital SACD in without getting the trash features of "video upconvert" and "multi-source, multi-sound" and 27 DSP programs ??

Where's the rock-solid flagship receiver that is good for exactly one room ? If I'm buying a new one, odds are I got an old one I can move into the bedroom and guess what, then I don't have to walk back into the freakin leaving room to change the CD !!

Video upconvert in a higher end system !!! PUHLEEZE.... Anyone who has toys costing a grand or more runs the video right into the TV to avoid adding more noise into the signal. What's the use since the quality can't get any better than the original composite or S-video, anyway ?? It stuns me that people pitch a fit to have one cable, then they spend about $ 600 on that one cable....

DSP programs... 27 ??? some recent Yamaha receivers have 27 different DSP programs... I can understand maybe 3 to 5, but 27 ??? how the heck do you get through 27 programs on the same disk to decide which one is best without forgetting how the first 26 sounded ?? are you really gonna play that disk again after listening to it 27 times in a row...

I appreciate that there are a number of sensational products that do exactly what I'm talking about (you guys who use them know the brands, I'm not gonna start a brand war in here), but they are all $ 2500 and up, and probably worthy of the price. There just seems to be a gap from about $ 500 to $ 2000 where you get more trash than treasure.

I also gotta agree with the guys on some other posts floating around.. the last time I listened to a radio that wasn;t mounted on 4 wheels was.. was.. was...

I almost envy the guys at the $ 200 level. They get minimum features, but decent sound.

The WW II Japanese flagship Yamamoto had the largest guns in the history of the world... They were never fired against an enemy. The ship itself was destroyed by planes more than a hundred miles from US ships. Features are only features if they can be used....

HEY YOU GUYS MAKING RECEIVERS... CAN WE PLEASE PUT THE AUDIO BACK IN AUDIO GEAR ??

end of rant...

 

[markw]

Sometimes simple, realistic expectations are easy to meet and don't cost a fortune.

I got my stepson a $130 5.1 Sherwood HT for Xmas in 2000. He 's got it paired up with some small Panasonic speakers and he's happy as a clam at high tide. It does all he ever wanted. The grandkids like it too.

...and it was good brownie points 'cause his mom and I just recently got married.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I think there are excellent packages out there. I was very happy with my Kenwood system that I did no reseach on, but got anyway.

But, if a person is going to do research - do research first then ask some informed questions that aren't clearly answered already in these forums. It isn't that hard. It isn't hard to look at BestBuy.com and find some stuff. It isn't hard to Google a lot of information or look at AudioReview.com. It is just irritating (at ANY price level) when people immediately start asking questions because (at $200.00) they can't be bothered with doing research on their own, they just ask.

Always better when they don't give a budget, but then come back with a low budget after twenty people have recommended $1,000+ systems.

 

[Rob Babcock]

Obviously they should be trying to do some research before they start asking here- this should be one of the last steps before buying, not the first. Still, for a rank novice this stuff is pretty complicated. I can also say that I've been guilty in the past of doing the same thing but with computer stuff; I can build my own machines now, but I really only started tinkering with hardware a couple years ago. When I did, I looked at a few sites, but it was greek to me. Luckily I got some good pointers from a couple of patient geeks! Even now, if I get in over my head, there's a few fellow audiophools I know that are IT guys, and I'm not shy about picking their brains for answers. So I don't mind "giving something back" to the newbs.

 

[Unregistered]

I can understand your frustration. I am actually new to this site (came from audioreview.com) we get the same questions over and over again. But I see it like this:
When someone has only 200 bucks on a receiver this is a red flag that they are brand new to this. Which means they are either young, broke, or both. So like anyone going into the pool they are going in one toe at a time. While I will not tell them exactly what to buy, I think it is veterans responsibility to "figure out" what is important to them. Thats why your on this site isnt it? To gain and give knowledge. I'm not saying Im a vet by any means, there is still PLENTY I can learn. But, I have picked up a few things over the months and I know where they are coming from. HT is a scary endeavor for "Newbies".

 

[markw]

One (not the only) advantage this site has over AR

.. is the tremendous amount of "up front" reading available to the novice.

The people here have gone out of their way to put up some pretty durn good FAQ's and, IMNSHO, newbies should avail themselves of this before posting the ubiquitious "what's the best $200 receiver" question.

Helping a newbie is great, but to expect them to do a little lurking and background reading up front is not out of the question.