My 20 year old SONY receiver seems to have died, time to join the 21st century.
I'm 59 and my hearing is not what it used to be, have lost a lot of high end hearing but that's the price of loud music in my youth, I take care not to let it get any worse.
My need is for a new receiver, I did some searches here and elsewhere and got a bit confused by DAC amps, pre-amps, integrated amps and receivers.
- Due to my hearing loss, features will be more important than sound quality but at my budget, $2-400, I read that they pretty much will all deliver the same sound quality
- I do not listen to radio through my sound system so I guess a receiver is no longer necessary but it may be easier to find everything I want in a receiver than an amp, you tell me.
- I have taken my entire 900 CD collection and transferred it to iTunes, I will either stream it to the amp via Bluetooth from my iMac or direct from a laptop with USB or better, but at some point I may want to connect a CD drive so perhaps another USB input?.
- I would like to power 2 or more sets of speakers. I have a pair of PSB Alpha bookshelf speakers hardwired, and would also like the option to connect another pair of bookshelfs, Boston CR6's, as well as some old floorstanding Klipsch kG 4's from time to time. I would not need to drive more than 2 sets at a time though.
- I would like to have my televisions audio come through the sound system.
- I have no need for a turntable input.
- I will need an output for my Sennheiser headphones that I use for television as not to make others deaf.
- I would like a remote, I see that now some units come with built in software for apps to control from iPhone?
- Something that will allow me to take advantage of new conveniences, not something that's already obsolete.
So, from reading other requests for advice I think that may be everything needed, but if I have left something out please ask. I did do several searches here but being this equipment changes so often I thought some current advice on current offering would be preferable.
I did see some recommendations for Denon's and numbers such as 95x7, 90x7, 105x7 were being discussed, what do they mean? Specifically the AVRX2000 was mentioned for $320 last October but it's now discontinued and the price on leftover ones is close to $500.
Thank you for any advice.
