I agree. At that price range your options are limited.
Unless Karnak the Magnificant chimes in from the great beyond any speculation on the reliability of your gear would be either sheer guesswork or wishful thinking.
What other choices are available to you in your price range? At least give us that much to work with. Maybe then some more specific answers might be possible.
Besides, your choice of speakers and sub will have more effect on the overall sound of the system anyway.
P.S... I see you're from Jersey. You poor bastard
So am I.
We all have our problems
Seriously, we live in a great market for audio. You can score some great stuff if you get the Sunday papers and have patience.
1) Have your cash ready or be prepared to charge your purchase.
2) Have a pretty good idea of what brands/features you want and/or need. Be somewhat flexible as far as exact make/models go.
2.5) If you can live with last years model, termendous savings can be had,
3) Scour the Sunday paper flyers for the Big Box ads. Circuit City, Best Buy but in particular those from 6th avenue and Expo.
(I much prefer 6th ave for a variety of reasons. Every week 6th Ave offers some spotlight sales, generally Yamaha and Pioneer but sometimes other brands where they will have some $200 and under units for sale, sometimes with limited quantities. Expo is pretty new and I find them to be a cheap imitation of 6th Ave but with a much, much smaller selection.)
4) This is where the patience comes in. The ads generally repeat every few weeks. If something catches your eye this week, jump on it. If not, put your money back in your pockets and check every week for something new.
It'll happen eventually. Trust me on this.
(For instance, 6th Ave has this week an Onkyo TXLR552 6 channel receiver for $198, a claimed savings of $201 they say. Personally, I'd go for that over that Kenwood any day ...and twice on Sunday)
Using this method, particularly # 2.5, I was able to score, NIB a Denon 2802 for half price when they came out with the 2803 and a Velodyne 1210 for $300. All it takes is patience and planning.
As far as that sixth speaker goes, think realisticly. Unless you can put a speaker directly behind you, 5.1 is a very satisfying option. I have a 6.1 receiver and can't properly place the sixth speaker so I'm running (quite happily, thank you) in a 5.1 configuration. And, there are not really a lot of 6.1 movies out there. So, to put it simply, effens I were you, I would have gone for the 5.1 Yammie. Yammies have a reputation for being pretty bulletproof and since reliability seems to be a concern, well.
YMMV
