Boston Acoustics 7120 vs HK 635

[Guster24196]

Hey guys,

i'm looking to buy a receiver to keep for the next 20 years or so, so i'm looking to make a pretty big investment. I'm thinking of buying one mainly to listen to music (about 90 percent of its use, i would say) but i also want to have the abililty to set up a home theater at some time, and have the 5.1 or 7.1 encoding as well as dolby headphone. I've been looking through quite a bit of forums and reviews, and i've seen that the HK 635 is generally accepted as one of the better sub 1k receivers, but i've seen the BA 7120 for 1k, and i'm wondering if its worth the extra money to move up a notch. Again, i'm particularily interested in having dolby headphone, since i own a pair of senn 600s which would take advantage of the decent headphone amplification found in both. I'm also interested in the way the BA hooks up to the computer directly via usb. With the HK i would have to send an optical out from my soundcard directly to the receiver. Again, i'm mostly interested in music and will soon be purchasing a good set of bookshelf speakers. My budget for the receiver itself is ~1k cap.

If i'm missing anything - i've looked at the denon but the lack of dolby headphone and the fact that the 635 seems to be as good puts me off - please tell me.

Thanks!

 

[WndrBr3d]

20 years?? eegads!

I'm not sure any AV technology other than something general, like an amp would last for that long.

 

[korgoth]

if you want it for the next 20 years you should probobly get something that has hdmi capabilities if you plan on hooking up your tv. All tv's will use hd and hdmi in the next 5 years or so.

if youre only looking for music, and dont really need hdmi or anything, you can get an HK7300 from the authorized ebay bealer for under 1K.

 

[jcPanny]

To make it last 20 years . . .

I would consider a mid range receiver and seperate 2 channel or multichannel amp. The amp should have no problem lasting 20 years, and if you decide you need more channels, features, etc. you can replace the receiver / prepro portion.

Here are a couple good options.
1. Yamaha RX-V1500 or 2500 with 2-5 channel amp, monoblocks, etc.
2. AV123 UL pre/pro and 5 channel amp. $1,100

The HDMI 1.1 on the "latest and greatest" receiver is plagued with problems and already opsolete. v1.2 is out and HD-audio will use v1.3. A good amp, however, will never be obsolete.