Need a sub $500 receiver

[Abula]

Hi,

My Marantz SR6200 appears to be dying, when playing movies i start to get some static on the speakers (like when the tv doesnt have signal but it does have both static+audio). So im here to see if you guys can help me chose between some options that i have.

This is not my primary setup, i have a full HD + 7.1 setup + blueray on the living room, but the one that is dying on me is the my personal bedroom setup, where i dont have full hd tv, so most of the features of todays receivers are not that interesting to me, Component is good enough. Im powering a 5.1 JBL studio series bookshelves and a svs 25-31pci on 16x14' room. A setup that was originally intended for music (reason i picked the marantz) that over the years end up as mostly movies and games, so i want a more aggressive and detail sound than warm.

A big plus or what im also looking is a decent power section, i have a Pioneer VSX-912 on computer setup, while its decent it doesn't feel it has the power that i would like for a bigger setup. I'm kinda interested on new Pioneer VSX-1120-K, but the $750 tag is kinda pushing me away, another mostly becuase of price the VSX-820 seems decent.

I been reading some and the following interest me,

Onkyo TX-SR608 $464 - seems to be getting good reviews, like comments about it having good amp (thing that wasnt that common back when i bough my maratz with 600 having very low real ratings).
Denon AVR1910 $365 - weights a couple of pounds less than the onkyo but seems decent reciever and cheaper.
Denon AVR1610 $280 - mostly of its attractive price, but also cause im only driving 5 speakers.
Pioneer VSX-820-K $279 - also a 5.1 receiver, been reading some negative remarks about the amp not being that great, but still see weight similar to Denon above.

I dont want to spend that much this is not a plan upgraded, but more a replacement out of my marantz going bad, im not looking to upgrade anything else anytime soon, just want my setup to work again. The highest im willing to go is $500 for the reciever, but the cheaper the better as long as it has decent power amp section the rest of features are not very important as long as it can do Dolby Digital and DTS.

Thanks for any opinions or suggestions,

 

[sholling]

The Onkyo TX-SR608 is going to give you every feature you're likely to want in a bedroom receiver - one of the most important to me being Audyssey Dynamic Volume to keep commercial volume levels under control. It'll also support an upgrade path once you do plan bedroom upgrades. The only downside I'm aware of is that it is not certified for 4ohm speakers.

I would pass on the non-elite Pioneers. I've owned two older models and they aren't something I'd recommend to anybody I liked.

 

[GlocksRock]

The Denon AVR-1910 is a pretty good receiver, I own one and so far I have no complaints about it.

 

[rnatalli]

I like the Denon's myself as they give you MultEQ over 2EQ found in the Onkyo series 6xx and below. The 1910 also uses a better video chip (ABT).

 

[Abula]

Thanks for the replies,

I have narrowed it down to the Denon 1910 and Onkyo 608, both seems to decent recievers for the money, kinda like close to 25lbs. Still havent made my mind between the two. Leaning toward the denon mostly out of $100 cheaper , but the Onkyo seems to have strong points over the denon (1.4 hdmi to mention one although i really wont use it), more friendly on screen display. And probably better remote.... but this is not huge, the marantz had a horrible... but really horrible remote that overtime i learn to accept and use, still something that still has me swinging between the two....

I like the Denon's myself as they give you MultEQ over 2EQ found in the Onkyo series 6xx and below.

This seem like nice point for the denon, upon searching a little more, there are comments that the multi eq is much better but with a risk of making the sub sound a lot worst.... this really is making it worried.

The 1910 also uses a better video chip (ABT).

One question, will this matter on using only component? i mean i wont be using hdmi at all on my bedroom until i move on to full hd screen, and probably wont happen anytime soon.

Another question, will the osd of both (1910/608) work with Component connection to the TV? I dont plan on using the hdmi at all, at least for now. This would be a mayor mayor deciding factor if either cant display the osd thru component.

Thanks again for taking the time to help me out,

 

[sholling]

Thanks for the replies,

I have narrowed it down to the Denon 1910 and Onkyo 608, both seems to decent recievers for the money, kinda like close to 25lbs. Still havent made my mind between the two. Leaning toward the denon mostly out of $100 cheaper , but the Onkyo seems to have strong points over the denon (1.4 hdmi to mention one although i really wont use it), more friendly on screen display. And probably better remote.... but this is not huge, the marantz had a horrible... but really horrible remote that overtime i learn to accept and use, still something that still has me swinging between the two....

In either case I'd save up for a Harmony remote. No receiver's remote is going to be in the same league.

This seem like nice point for the denon, upon searching a little more, there are comments that the multi eq is much better but with a risk of making the sub sound a lot worst.... this really is making it worried.

Unless you have a huge bedroom with lots of seating positions I wouldn't worry too much about Multi EQ. It's nice to have but my guess is that for a bedroom most people perfectly happy taking a measurement or two from 6" over their pillows and calling it a day. Now if you were putting the receiver in a large room with lots of seating like a bedroom with a private sitting area or widely spaced twin beds then Multi EQ becomes much more desirable.

One question, will this matter on using only component? i mean i wont be using hdmi at all on my bedroom until i move on to full hd screen, and probably wont happen anytime soon.

While receiver scaling is nice to have keep in mind that there is a good chance that the upscaling capability in whatever TV you eventually choose will outperform the video scaling of either receiver. To me the important thing is future-proofing as much as possible. For example component to HDMI conversion and plenty of HDMI inputs.

I think before investing I'd sit down and plan out where you are going with your bedroom entertainment system and what support the other components will need from the receiver.

 

[Abula]

While receiver scaling is nice to have keep in mind that there is a good chance that the upscaling capability in whatever TV you eventually choose will outperform the video scaling of either receiver. To me the important thing is future-proofing as much as possible. For example component to HDMI conversion and plenty of HDMI inputs.

I think before investing I'd sit down and plan out where you are going with your bedroom entertainment system and what support the other components will need from the receiver.

I appriciate the time you have put into your posts and trying to help me.

There is an issue here though, in Guatemala we still with Analog cable and air signals, this wont change anytime soon, while i do have full hd screen on the living room for blueray movies... it looks horrible with cable... where my analog old xbr wega looks much better, main reason i dont care to much about HD at least on my bedroom. I work outside from town, so investing on heavy full directv setup for couple of days a week its not worth it to me yet, im fine with local cable for what i use it, but i do look at movies and games on the regular basis, where i find the tv still be good enough, while not sacrificing the analog signal by going into full hd lcd tv. This is kinda wierd and sounds semi stupid, but i wont change the this analog tv until i see the cable and local tv signals switching, and by that time probably there will be much better formats, amps, and so on.

 

[Abula]

So i was reading up more on the Onkyo SR608, and found the following

The issue that I have is that I only have component cables thru the walls and it is not possible to get an HDMI cable from the receiver to the display. I could get some kind of "converter' but that is an extra $300 I had asked the salesperson specifically about this issue before buying and he assured me it would work (OSD over component). The manual even says that the OSD will only work over HDMI.

So if this is true... the osd from the onkyo which was one of the aspects that was keeping in the final choices, is worthless to me as im going only with Component in and out. So i guess the Denons 1910/1610 are gona be probably my choice if its true, specially since its $100 cheaper ($200 for 1610).

 

[GlocksRock]

If you are only using component the Denon will be fine, but the 1910 doesn't upconvert composite video onto component, but it does upconvert analog and component onto HDMI.

 

[Abula]

If you are only using component the Denon will be fine, but the 1910 doesn't upconvert composite video onto component, but it does upconvert analog and component onto HDMI.

Well atm i have everything with Svideo (8 year old setup), i dont mind moving toward component, i would like to remain svideo, but i dont mind going component with the dvd and the playstation, as long as i get OSD/GUI with evrthing (in/out) on component (i wont use composite at all nor hdmi).

Just wondering about your comment that the 1910 doesnt upconvert composite to component, i see the 1910/1610 have Svideo input, even though ill probably move toward component all my sources, what does happen when you plug in this Svideo... no svdieo out, so im guessing it does send it thru the Component.... or maybe its just for it to be upconverted to hdmi... either way dont matter much as long as get GUI with all on component.

 

[GlocksRock]

the AVR-1910 doesn't have an S-Video inputs... well actually it has one, but that's strictly for use with the Denon ipod dock, and there are only 3 composite video inputs on the back, plus the one on the front, and only 2 or 3 component video inputs. Most of the newer receivers are doing away with s-video altogether as everything is going towards hdmi now.

 

[Abula]

So apparently the denon 1910 also has a restriction on component with the osd/gui

The OSD menus will overlay on top of a composite video source, it just can't do it on top of component video or HDMI.

if you want to see the on-screen channel level or other text information (e.g. volume display, radio stations, etc) you either need to (1) be viewing a composite video input and/or (2) run a composite video feed to the TV

I don't get it though.... my 8 year marantz has osd (i can see the volume overaly over the picture, and on the settings its over a black screen, not great, but at least i don't have to switch to composite to get something on screen) but new receivers... are like if it was intentional so they make you go into higher end just for this reason....

So the hunt continues.... any other receiver that you guys could suggest that will give me osd/gui thru component (not using hdmi nor composite) and has a decent 5 speaker amp under $500?

 

[AVRat]

For your purpose, you may need to look for receivers that are a generation or two old if possible. Onkyo #06/7, Denon #08/9 models.

 

[sholling]

For your purpose, you may need to look for receivers that are a generation or two old if possible. Onkyo #06/7, Denon #08/9 models.

+1. FWIW the TX-SR606 does not display volume on screen. I can't speak for the 607 and I've only used the 606 with HDMI. It may be worth just getting the old receiver fixed.

 

[Abula]

It may be worth just getting the old receiver fixed.

This is something im considering, not sure if they will be able to find it, its not 100% of the time problems, is more like its playing normal and suddenly (could be 2 mins or 2 hours inside) a static sound appears in the audio, while still having the audio of the movie together, its like if a FM turner (with no station tuned) was bieng mixed with the audio of the movie. Turning the receiver off and on again the noise goes away, but it returns after, just not predictable when.

For your purpose, you may need to look for receivers that are a generation or two old if possible. Onkyo #06/7, Denon #08/9 models.

Thanks for the suggestion, but i found a new one, the 2310 has gui over component and probably over svideo, i didn't feel the need to spend more as my bedroom is small, but if i wont have to trouble myself switching to check things over composite, and it has like 4 svideo usable inputs and output, this might be the last of this kind as new, so i might make the effort considering also i would get a stronger amp and better gui and analog switching, its now at $495+shipping, so its gonna end up like $30 out of what i wanted, but for what it offers for my specif needs, i think its worth it.

Thanks a lot to all that help me, appreciate the time you invested on it,

 

[GlocksRock]

good luck and let us know how it all works out for you when you get it.

 

[j_garcia]

The 608 is on sale for $494 w/free shipping: http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/209843

 

[Abula]

The 608 is on sale for $494 w/free shipping: http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/209843

Sup John (im assuming you are john garcia back from HTF), its nice to see you still around, you help me a lot with my first setup back in the day where phil iturralde was making huge deals about the JBL NSP1.... till today still had the same setup you help me out.... but now my marantz is dying.

Im almost dead set on the Denon 2310, most for what it offer on my situation, if i had were to have a full hd tv with good cable with 16:9 broadcasting, i would probably go with the onkyo sr608 and use the hdmi connection, maybe when guatemala changes the regulations and forces new settings like in the US, ill make the move, for now it seems so far away... probaby we will see 2k or 4k res before new formats are adopted here.

 

[sholling]

BTW if that receiver doesn't have enough component ports you can always by a component switch. I used to use one preHDMI. I even got the my Harmony remote to control it for me.

 

[LambMadras]

Great thread...just what I was looking for too.

Had you considered a used receiver for the same budget? What would be some of the options there?