Building my 1st. HT system

[bmninada]

I bought Paradigm Cinema 110CT today. Terrific deal from Amazon - hope moderators here allow the post in the Deals forum.

After putting in various threads, reading threads here I believe I have a fairly good idea of what I need.

Primarily - the receiver need to fit hand-in-glove with my speaker system - in terms of power output, frequency matching, etc.

Next - I came to understand it's best left to the player to do the codecs and video processing unless I am buying a really high-end AV receiver with terrific video processor. Since my AV budget is $350, I don't assume that's an option.

Multi-channel PCM output from player is required and which can be accepted "comfortably" by the A/V ; in case there are codecs which my A/V might not support.

Pure Direct/Direct/Stereo Modes - is absolutely must

A Zone-2 audio out, pre-amp output (pref. multi-channel), something like Audyssey auto-calibration, analog up-conversion might be useful but even if absent I'm sure the Panasonic G15 will be able to do it are great if available as bonus. For example - like having THD < 0.05%, a great S/N ratio.

Don't know - but is that something which is too big an ask? My primary focus is great AUDIO. Thus all advice welcome for AV receiver and a suitable BR player.

 

[Knucklehead90]

The Onkyo 607 or RC160 should work well with those speakers. These are nearly identical AVRs - the RC160 has no front panel connections and 10wpc less than the 607 - not a deal breaker by any stretch. Both can be found at A4L. You may want to take a look at the Marantz AVRs as well - very well built and tend to have very few problems.

 

[bmninada]

Thanks - yes A4L is a great site. I checked and found: Onkyo Ht-rc160, Marantz Sr5002, Marantz Sr6001 within budget. Any suggestions and things to note for against this models in particular? Also - is their any inherent flaw in my logic and priorities as I have written in my post above - will be great to know.

 

[bmninada]

SR6001 is what I have narrowed down to. What could be the possible drawbacks to this model, please?

 

[Knucklehead90]

The Marantz SR6001 has only 2 HDMI ports in - one out and are only v1.2. It could be a very limiting factor in future upgrades with DVD or gaming consoles.

The Audyssey in the Onkyos are probably a better setup program.

If that isn't important then by all means buy it.