Hi Everyone I have been reading through the forums trying to get to the bottom of the timeless debate on what's the best bang for the buck.
Currently I am running a 2010 V479 Yamaha which has a bad HDMI board. I have a 5.2 setup with Polk lsi speakers. They are difficult to push and never have really been challenged by the receiver I have. I had separates when I purchased them but when the processor died I had to go back to a receiver for budgetary reasons.
I went to my local Best Buy and listened to a couple suggestions from their magnolia rep. He was helpful but seemed to regurgitate the manufacture specs of 175 watts per channel...... Yes I know it can do that with one speaker, but I want to listen to all 5...... he seemed to like the Yamaha and said I should move up too the 1060 and get the sabre DAC. It's out of the budget. I have listened to the a760 from Yamaha ($649.00) at bestbuy open box and a pioneer SC 91 for 779.00 open box that I liked the sound of. I listened to marantz and Denon also but thought they weren't as bright as I like on the top end. Granted I wasn't listening to my speakers, but we listened to them on def tech & B&W speakers. They both sounded pretty great.
With the weird ratings driven by all the marketing BS these days I guess I have 3 main questions.
1. Are either Pioneer or Yamaha known for having HDMI issues/ which is likely to stand the test of time better? Is this a common problem, my processor died of the same fate (HDMI ) in 2010.
2. If Yamaha is chosen why is the Aventage series better than a comparable RX series with like RMS ratings. Or do they do "fuzzy math" on the lower series.
3. what suggestions below $750 should I look at? I have a couple weeks to look before I really need to purchase. Thanks for any advice and suggestions.
