for a present: decent, inexpensive reciever

C

cabe

Audiophyte
i'm a 19 year old college student, and really don't have a lot of money, yet would still like to buy my parents something nice! :D

we used to have an onkyo reciever for our surround sound system, but it broke a year or so ago! we haven't been able to use the surround sound since, so i thought it would be nice to buy my parents something so they could have their surround sound back.

i don't need anything fancy, all i'm looking for is:

-1 optical input for the dvd player
-1 digital coax input for digital cable
-1 analog input for normal cable
-decent sound quality (they aren't going to listen to it TOO loud, so audible distortion in the louder volume ranges wont be an issue)
-looking for something priced around ~$200

i am not even looking for any video inputs, as the tv is a HDTV and it seems component video switching capable recievers are a bit out of my price range. :eek:

i have done a bit of research myself and found that the harmon/kardon avr130 is a decent model and priced at $250, but i'd really appriciate a second opinion and preferably something a little easier on my (already too light) wallet!

thanks in advance!
 
B

Bullit67

Enthusiast
Well it depends is that 200 can or us $ if US look at Denon or Yamaha both of them make some decent lower doller receivers I just replaced a Yamaha that I paid over 1000 dollers for only 3-4 years ago and I seethe same basic receiver for around 250-300 can now and it still kicks I just wanted to upgrade my wife says I have to sell it but I raely dont want to as it still sounds good the nice thing about Yamaha or Denon most of there rec. are running discreat High current amps which means you can drive almost any speaker up to 4ohms

Good luck and merry Christmas
 
L

Leprkon

Audioholic General
here's decent for $ 220, especially if they have a Sony tv and/or dvd player (they also have less expensive 197 and 597 models). the sound isn;t going to knock your socks off, but Sony's normally run forever.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=316903&is=REG

you could get a decent Onkyo 501 for about the same. it's last year's model and not much cheaper than this year's, but the 502 model has been ripped all over the internet for quality problems...

http://www.bestpriceaudiovideo.com/products/product_detail.asp?Inventory=2447&Show=A

those two would seem to be the best bets.
 
C

cabe

Audiophyte
thanks guys! i'm probably going to go with the onkyo model as it seems to be decently priced and also has free shipping :). thanks for the help, i'll tell you how they like it after xmas ;) and merry xmas to you guys too!
 
M

MDS

Audioholic Spartan
Leprkon said:
you could get a decent Onkyo 501 for about the same. it's last year's model and not much cheaper than this year's, but the 502 model has been ripped all over the internet for quality problems...
I'm curious as to where 'all over the internet' the 502 has been ripped for quality problems. I've had one for a year now and not one single problem - like every other Onkyo I've owned in the last 10 years. There are quite a few user reviews of that model on various forums and every one I have seen has been positive.

Either the 501 or 502 would work great for the parents. Easy to use and reliable.
 
L

Leprkon

Audioholic General
Anonymous said:
I'm curious as to where 'all over the internet' the 502 has been ripped for quality problems.
here's one

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6070&highlight=onkyo

and another

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5400&highlight=onkyo

and another... do I really need to go on ?? there were factory refurbs showing up for sale on the internet less than a month after the x02 products went on sale.. somebody was having problems somewhere...

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5563&highlight=onkyo

just for the record, I'm not an Onkyo basher, as I consistantly recommend the Onkyo HTIB's to be as good a value as can be found and that the x01 series of receivers to anyone looking at an x02. it's just the most recent models are reported to be flakey.

if you got a good one, I guess you got lucky, but there's alot of people out there who don't share your views.
 

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