Receiver Advice

[Jeff R.]

Guys - I am putting together a nice little budget system for a friend in his family room.

Here is what I think I am going to go with, just need a good mid level receiver. I would like to keep it as low cost as possible hopefully about $350.

5 inwall speakers from A4Less - Boston Acoustics - HSI-275. (1" tweet with 6.5 woofer)
1 Outlaw LFM1-EX

Just need a receiver....I am leaning toward a Denon 2310 off A4less. Just not real familiar with the Denon line.

What do you guys recommend.

Thanks

Jeff

 

[Jeff R.]

Wow....not much activity this weekend. On a separate question....how are the Monoprice inwall speakers? Any thought on those vs the Boston Accoustics I am leaning toward?

 

[fuzz092888]

If your friend plans on upgrading anytime in the near future I would go with the 2311 for $349.99. Little bit better of everything (although possibly not amp) and it has 2 subwoofer pre-outs compared to 1 on the 2310.

I don't know what your friend's needs are, but 2 sub outs and slightly improved up conversion and HDMI 1.4 might be appealing.

 

[Jeff R.]

How about the Onkyo 609....it seemed promising also for only $289.

I do not expect him to upgrade for years to come and likely will not add a second sub. This system will be the first system of any sort he has every had, so I am fully expecting him to be blown away with this system. He has never had any stereo system in his home nor has he had even a HTIB system in the past.

 

[afterlife2]

608/609 are great, but If he has a turntable I'd say a 708 like yours.

 

[fuzz092888]

The knock against the onkyo is that it's a step down in room correction from what the Denon offers, and I wouldn't buy one without adding the $50 5 year extended warranty.

Anything below the 80X series in the Onkyo lineup gives me a little pause. So that combined with the step down room correction are knocks against the onkyo.

On the other hand, as with all onkyo products, they've packed a ton of features in there. If this is his first HT setup of any kind I'd probably add the 5 year warranty and go with the onkyo. He probably won't even notice the lesser room correction and will appreciate all of the cool stickers on the onkyo that shows all the features he just got

 

[Jeff R.]

Thanks for the advice. I am leaning toward the Onkyo, I agree I do not think the room correction will matter much to him.

I will let him make the call on the warranty. I have run various Onkyo's over the years and all have perfomed very well for me this far.

Any advice on the inwall speakers. I need to keep the cost down in the $300-400 max range on 5 speakers in total.

I am actually leaning toward the Monoprice inwalls, they appear to be well contructed. And lots of glowing reviews from the owners on their site.

 

[fuzz092888]

I think those would be fine.

With that price range for 5 speakers I don't think you're going to get much better, even if you went with bookshelves the price would have to be pretty low on those since you'd have to then buy wall mounts to get them in the same positions as the in wall ones you're looking at.

 

[Jeff R.]

Well I decided to try 5 of these and see how they work out. I have seen a pair of the Ethereal ceiling speakers and they were very well made.

Ethereal-SPLCR1-Dual-6.5-Left/Center/Right-Inwall-Speaker from A4less. Could not pass up the great price tag.


I will let you guys know how they shake out.


Also went with the Onk 609 receiver and the HSU VTF 2 MK4.

So for about $1100, I was able to pull of a 5.1 system with reciever. I am anxious to see how well this budget system will perform.