New Member with a few questions...

[htfanatic]

Hey Everyone - Excited to be here. I've heard great things about this forum and look forward to learning many new things.

So I'm in the process of upgrading my system and let me tell you what I have thus far and what I need help with...

Here's what I have and what I am sticking with:
1. TV/Display: SONY KDS-R60XBR2 60" Grand Wega SXRD
2. Speakers: Paradigm Monitor 9 Fronts, Paradigm CC-290 Center, Paradigm Titan Rears.
3. DVD Player: OPPO DV-981HD (Had the new Toshiba HD-A20 for a week, but returned it. Wasn't impressed with the 1080p resolution.)

Here's what I need:
1. New A/V Receiver

I am coming from a Yamaha A/V 5.1 Receiver that has to be close to 5 or 6 years old. Obviously, it has no HDMI, but does put out Dolby Digital and DTS. It was great back in the day and ran me around $500-$600. I want to upgrade to a new, 7.1 receiver that has HDMI 1.3 inputs, can decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD and is a good overall bargain. I'd like to spend under $800, if possible. I couldn't help but notice that Onkyo has received many great reviews lately. I always liked Pioneer Elite, but their price tag is a little out of my league. I was also considering Denon, Sony and even Yamaha again.

So my question is, what is a great all around A/V receiver for under $800?

I look forward to hearing from you guys and look forward to being a member on this forum.

 

[avaserfi]

With the pricerange you are looking at it seems that the newer Denon line is out of your range and the newer Onkyos are a great choice. I would recommend looking into the Onkyo TX-Sr805. I am pretty sure if you look around online you will be able to find it for right around 800 dollars. It is a great receiver and has everything you will need for quiet a while. If you feel like you won't ever bother getting an external amplifier I would then look into the SR605 from onkyo as it is a bit less expensive than the 805 and does most everything very similarly, but does not have the connectivity for an amplifier.

 

[htfanatic]

If I did go with Denon and could expand my budget a little bit, which model would you suggest? Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[avaserfi]

Personally after looking at the specs for both I would still take the 805 over the Denon 2807 which costs about 300 more. While I haven't played with a 2807 yet and have only had a little time with the 805 I have a feeling that the two companies won't have huge departures from their normal quality. I just don't see a need to spend the extra money on the Denon. If anything take that extra money and get some acoustics treatments done as that will have a much much larger impact on sound quality than a properly working receiver every could.

 

[htfanatic]

Personally after looking at the specs for both I would still take the 805 over the Denon 2807 which costs about 300 more. While I haven't played with a 2807 yet and have only had a little time with the 805 I have a feeling that the two companies won't have huge departures from their normal quality. I just don't see a need to spend the extra money on the Denon. If anything take that extra money and get some acoustics treatments done as that will have a much much larger impact on sound quality than a properly working receiver every could.

Thanks! I think I'm going to go with the 805, although the 605 doesn't look like such a bad deal. However, I was considering doing a Rotel amp in the near future, so that would be a problem if I go with the 605. Well, at least I've narrowed it down to 2 models within the same company. Thanks for the suggestion. Appreciate it.