Ok, I'm a Canadian, and I finally got my mom to redo the basement home theater. My parents have absolutely no knowledge about what is "good" and "bad" so they told me to set up the basement. My mom said that I could have $1000-$1200 to spend on a new receiver, rear surrounds, center, and digital cable box. Since she doesnt really care about the whole thing, and doesn't want to spend much more, I've decided to leave our 10 year old RCA 52" 4:3 tv and the two Quest audio (Canadian Company) tower speakers down there. QT880 is the model number I think, and they aren't all that bad, featuring 2 8" woofers and a soft dome tweeter. I also decided to leave the sub woofer, which sounds quite good down to about 24 Hz. (12" Acoustic Profiles, never even heard of them I bet). As I am in the market for new speakers (timber matching) I told her that I am going to put my Polk CSi25 and R15 center/rears down there, and she agreed, I also told her that because I'm upgrading my receiver, that I would put mine down there. They won't need anything more then my Kenwood VR-9050-s.
So Basically, I'm going to be putting my receiver, center speaker, rear speakers, and digital cable box down there, and I've gotta upgrade my room with the $1200. I went into town and asked my local retailer how much the matching speakers for my setup would cost, and since he is always trying to cut me a deal, he gave em to me for 250 all together because they are floor models. I called around to see what similar prices were and they were over double that, so I think I'm good to go. The models are SB160s, and SB250c. Since I know a few guys that work at my local cable company, I can get a High Def digi cable box for 50 bucks, so thats covered, and now I come to the receiver.
I had my heart set on getting separates, but I've since sorta changed my mind due to the budget shortcomes, and this oppertunity. My question for you guys is: "What is the best receiver I can get for around 800-900 CAD?" I would like to stick with Yamaha, Denon, Harmon/Kardon, possibly NAD or Arcam? But I'm not sure w hat kind of deal I can get on the later of the two. Thanks a lot guys for any input in advance. BTW, I do have the ability to order online, but I want to try to stick to my local retailer.
