Good receiver options for $300 or less

[eilros]

My wife and I just bought our first house last month and want to put a modest home theater in the basement. This will be our first theater and we are on a pretty tight budget and can’t spend a lot of money. The previous owner had a room in the basement wired for 5.1 so we are obviously going to use that. The room is 11’x12’ so we don’t have much space. We have DISH and only plan on hooking up a DVD recorder at this time. We may upgrade to an upconverting DVD player in the future.

We are leaning towards buying a 42” Panasonic plasma (TH-42X75U) from Best Buy. We also bought the previous owners speaker system (Klipsch Quintet II) so we are set there.

We would like to spend $300 or less on the receiver. Here are a few that I’ve looked at. Any and all comments are appreciated. If there are other good options, please let me know. I’ll probably buy my gear at Best Buy, Circuit City and/or Crutchfield.

Thanks, Dave


Onkyo TX-SR504 $190
Onkyo TX-SR505 $270

Yamaha RX-461 $300

Harmon Kardon AVR-146 $300

Sony STR-DG510 $200
Sony STR-DG710 $300

 

[dotVIBE]

check the answers in the avsforum tread...

 

[rnatalli]

I wouldn't even look at the Sony in that price range. I personally would go with the H/K, maybe the Onkyo. Yamaha makes a great receiver, but I like warmer sound.

 

[dotVIBE]

question:

the Yamaha is rated 100wRMS/channel, and the onkyo @ 85wRMS/channel.

no big deal there, but the H/K only rates 60w/channel. surely this is a concern?

 

[avaserfi]

No it shouldn't be. The speakers they have are pretty easy to drive (90dB @ 1watt/1meter) and are rated for 50watts with a max of 100. Any of these receivers will probably push the speakers to high levels acceptable for movie use.

 

[dotVIBE]

No it shouldn't be. The speakers they have are pretty easy to drive (90dB @ 1watt/1meter) and are rated for 50watts with a max of 100. Any of these receivers will probably push the speakers to high levels acceptable for movie use.

Cool. Then I'd get the H/K if it was me. It looks the coolest too

 

[jcPanny]

Yamaha Receivers

Check out the Yamaha RX-V659 (or HTR-6060) for <$300. It does not include HDMI, but should have more power and features than most of the models on your list.

 

[dotVIBE]

Check out the Yamaha RX-V659 (or HTR-6060) for <$300. It does not include HDMI, but should have more power and features than most of the models on your list.

where do you get those prices from?

 

[jostenmeat]

Hey that Onkyo 505 has Audyssey 2EQ. I imagine that in itself would make it sound better than the other receivers listed, at least in most real world living rooms for mulitple viewers (not a single person sweet spot dealio).

 

[dotVIBE]

the Yamaha 461 has YPAO, same sort of auto set-up as the Audyssey

 

[abefroeman]

Yamaha RXV-659

 

[dotVIBE]

ooh, nice price!

 

[fmw]

I apologize for not being familiar with these models. My thoughts would be: don't worry about 7.1 surround. If you find a good receiver with 5.1 you will be fine and that can save some bucks. Don't worry about the power at all. To get an additional 3 db of overhead means doubling the output power of the amp. The difference between 60 watts or 120 watts with your efficient speakers would be very unimportant. You aren't likely to use more than 10 or 20 watts per channel even with loud movie exposions. So a lower powered unit with last year's technology should be fine and more affordable than the latest models.

What requires the most power in an audio system is the low frequencies and most subwoofers are self powered so they don't need any of the reciever's amplification at all. For the mids and highs it takes a lot less power than most people think.

One thing I have learned to appreciate in my own system is the HDMI signal path. It provides access to many of the features such as upscaling that I think are valuable. It does this with less clutter and more simplicity in the installation. So while having the 7.1 surround is trivial for me, I like having the full HDMI signal path. I have a fairly inexpensive receiver called the Onkyo 605. I think it is available for $400 or so. That may be a little beyond your budget but this receiver does the HDMI and upscaling thing well and that's a valuable feature for me. I would recommend having HDMI on the model you choose if possible.

Good luck. Hope you enjoy the system.

 

[Leprkon]

at that pricepoint, you can get some excellent deals on previous year's receivers. You might lose a couple of bells and whistles with debatable value (especially HDMI and YPAO), but you would get better overall quality and basic power than buying the latest and more expensive. A solid receiver will give you better sound than a piece of junk with HDMI.

http://www.accessories4less.com/cgi-bin/item/ONKTXSR603X

http://dakmart.com/itemdetails/30628/173/

 

[rnatalli]

Don't concern yourself with how many watts per channel each of these systems have. There's a lot of literature out there about this and how deceptive it can be. H/K is very conservative with their estimates and they rate their receivers with all channels driven across the entire frequency range (at least they used to). That said, if you want a warm/dark sound (emphasis on low-end and midrange) which tends to be more musical, the H/K is the better pick. If you want bright/detailed (emphasis on high-end) sound, go with the Yammy. You can always buy both and see what your ear likes better. Good Luck!

 

[tszhfung]

You may want to add Panasonic SA-XR57 as one of the candidates. I have the older SX-XR45 and I love the sound, very detailed.

 

[jcPanny]

Internet prices

where do you get those prices from?

Type a model number into pricegrabber.com, nextag.com, or similar sites. If you want a valid warranty, you will need to buy from an authorized dealer.

http://electronics.pricegrabber.com/home-audio-receivers/m/18611394/search=RX-V659