Like the title says, I'm a newbie and my
maximum budget is about $280 for a new receiver. My current setup is 2.1 using ~10 year old Technics 2-channel receiver, Yamaha bookshelf speakers of the same age, tSc ASW-10 sub connected through the speaker outputs, a cheapie
Digix? DVD player, and a 32" Toshiba 720p LCD TV.
My goals are:
1) to hook up the sub using the LFE-out instead of using the speaker outputs
2) to hook up a center channel speaker in the near future
3) get better audio by connecting the DVD player via digital coax instead of the left and right (red and white) cables (am I losing the Dolby sound by using the DVD player's basic stereo outputs? Does the DVD player mix multiple channels into the L&R, or does it just cut the extra channels out?)
4) connect Blu-ray player in the future via HDMI
5) connect TV audio output to receiver via toslink
6) connect a 5-CD changer to receiver via toslink (maybe)
So based on my goals, I've come up with a list of requirements for the A/V receiver:
- 5.1 channel or more
- LFE out (purple)
- 1 HDMI input and 1 HDMI output
- 1 digital coax input
- 2 digital optical inputs
Wish list
:
- 3 or more HDMI inputs
- Component video upscaling then output through HDMI
I don't really have any power requirements. I think all modern A/V units have enough power per channel to drive my speakers and any bookshelf speakers I might get in the future (looking at Axiom and tSc mostly).
I've seen the Onkyo 5xx and 6xx units at accessories4less, and they look pretty good, but
I don't know what else is out there. I know next to nothing about the features that other brands have. I'm not against getting an Onkyo, I just want to make sure I'm not skipping over a better value unit. What's out there?
