I need some help from the Receiver gurus on the board...

[HollywoodV8]

So my parents came to me a few weeks ago and said that they wanted to upgrade their surround system. They currently have a little Panasonic HTIB system that was about $200. I decided to bump them up quite a bit with their new system, but I have constraints on what i can use for the system. They have a media hole in their living room that they have their 27" HDTV in and they have a few slots under and around the TV for books, pictures, and AV components. I had originally planned on their new system consisting of an Onkyo DV-CP702 Multi-disc DVD Player, Pioneer VSX-815-K Receiver, and Athena Micra 6 System. Here is where I ran into a problem. The receiver will not fit the current slots they have around the TV...the biggest slot having dimensions of WxHxD = 18"x5.5"x21". So my question is what would be a comparable receiver to the Pioneer that I could fit into that slot? Also I'd prefer to stay within the >$500 range for the receiver.
Thanks for your help!
Mike

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Stick with Panasonic. That's a small opening, so they're unfortunately limited. This unit is highly praised over at AVS forum. I think the thread on this reciever has almost 190,000 hits. It's all digital.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009E1YPW/sr=1-1/qid=1138130850/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-6421034-2769519?_encoding=UTF8

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=530504

 

[MDS]

The Panasonic digital receivers have been getting quite a bit of good press from what I've seen and being slightly smaller than a typical receiver, they are probably the only viable option.

One thing I find interesting (more like disconcerting) is that home builders are all adding 'media niches' to their plans and yet very few of them actually build something that will work! One trip to the store is all it would take for them to realize that standard receivers are 17" wide and 6.5" or so tall. A few extra inches for ventilation would be nice too. Yet they build totally unuseable 'niches'!

 

[HollywoodV8]

buckeyefan - thanks for the suggestion and info on the panny. looks like i will more than likely be going with that receiver unless someone posts something better between now and the time i order in about a week.

mds - if it were my system/room that i were doing then i'd just make a TV niche and a separate niche w/ rack for the HT system. however, my dad is more of the woodworking guy and didn't really think that far into the future. he just expanded the existing TV niche to include enough space for his existing "intro" system and didn't really plan on expanding to a better system.

thanks for everyone's help and input so far.
mike

 

[indianboy7]

I just picked up a sony ES receiver for about 400 bucks, it's 6.1 and has a 5 disc changer in it as well. I was extremely cramped for space, and it's the only one that would fit...it's about 5 inches tall.....great receiver.....I got it at magnolia audio, but i've seen it on the net for about the same price too.....good luck