Happy Holidays!
I've decided to upgrade my AV receiver and have 2 of them sitting in my living room. I'm driving myself crazy trying to decide which one is going to stay. I have a 6.1 set-up in my main room (no heights or wides) and a simple stereo set-up in another room.
My system is simple but nice. Display: Panasonic P54G10 BluRay: LG BD390 Cable Box: Comcast/Motorola DCX3400
I'll be going with all HDMI connections except for a couple analog audio connections for the zone 2.
Other than upgrading my speakers at some point (I currently have Dahlquist QX5a/QX4a/QX20a), there is no gaming or other goodies that will be added.
The contestants are:
Onkyo TX-SR707 (paid $499.00)
Yamaha RX-V863 (paid $465.00)
I've read way to many reveiws and opinions and everytime I think I've decided, I get that quesy feeling I'm making the wrong choice.
My concerns with the Onkyo is:
1) I'd have to get a powered amp to connect my zone 2 speakers (the zone 2 speakers and center surrounds share the same connections. On the SR607 this isn't a problem. I would have to choose between heights and center surround, why they didn't format it the same on the SR707 drives me crazy)
2) The supposed "heat" issues that at some point might damage the HDMI ports
3) Handshake issues between my Panny and the SR707. Though, Panasonic can provide a firmware upgrade to fix it if it's an issue.
4) The less-than-friendly customer service support
Other than these things, the Onkyo seems to be an incredible value with wonderful sound and quality. Even winning Audioholics AV Reciever of the year.
My concerns with the Yamaha is:
1) I've never owned a Yamaha
2) Older/2008 model. Not as many bells and whistles as the Onkyo
3) Can't assign inputs
4) Clumsy remote
5) Supposed poor GUI interface - not really that important
6) No THX certification. Do I care? I don't know.....
Basically, I have no experience with Yamaha and am concerned that I would somehow be losing out on features going for a 2008 model. Though in all my reading Yamaha seems to use quality components, is well built and sounds great. It also would allow me to power my zone 2 without an amplifier.
Well, there you have it. My dilemma. Any advice from you AV doctors would be highly appreciated.
P.S. Can you get a powered amplifier for under $100.00 and if I used one, if listening to the same music source in my main room and zone 2, would there be a delay??
