My buddy recently decided to scrap his bose system which had an acousticmass9 and 5 small surround speakers since the acousticmass failed on him. He said the bose system sounded amazing to him, I told him that he will get a lot more for his money by getting something other than bose plus you will not be stuck in buying bose only in the future if something fails.
So I am helping him put together a new system so looking for some help on a receiver
He will be using his PS3 for movies ect.
he will need it for a 5.1 speaker system which he has to buy as well.
he would also like to power two speakers for his outside patio area in the future as well.
His budget is $250 - $300 for the receiver.
Thanks for your help.
That Budget is too low, especially if you need zone 2.
I would avoid the low end and go to the mid price of any line.
This will likely be a reliable performer. I think you need to steer him to gear with a lower chance of going wrong. I think we have had enough issues with Onkyo, especially customer service, that I would avoid them.
Street price seems to be about $450 which is about as low as you want to pay. There are no pre outs, so if he would ever want to use an external amp, then you need to bump up a bit.
What is the speaker and sub budget?