help with receiver purchase

acstech

I am planning on purchasing a new receiver and I am looking for your help. I would like to stay around $500.00 but can probably spend a little more if I need to. I plan on adding a separate amp in the future to power my front speakers (any suggestions on an amp would also help). I would like your opinions on which receiver will give me the most power and best quality. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. My front speakers are Polk Monitor 50’s, center is a Polk CS2, and Polk Monitor 30’s for surround. I will be purchasing a SVS sub soon to replace my current JVC sub. I mostly watch movie but do listen to music occasionally. If there is a better choice that I have not listed please let me know. Thank you for you help.

Yamaha HTR-5860 $318.00
Denon Avr-2106 B-Stock $449.98
Pioneer VSX-1015 $449.00
Onkyo TXSR703 $538.00

aaharvel

Welcome to Club Polk.

For that amount of money, I would overwhelmingly vote the Harman Kardon avr-435. You can get it below for $530. Considering you're using the Monitor line, an efficient setup plus a subwoofer, I doubt you'll need an extra amplifier.

The H/K is much better than the receivers you listed imo.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=HAAVR435&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=353177

acstech

Does the HK 435 have as much power as the others? They will all satisfy my needs has far has features and audio/video connections. I have listened to most of them and to me they all sound good. I want the one that will really push my speakers. Thank you!

dave shepard

NAD makes some very nice units that put out clean and dynamic sound. They would be on my short list and they are also rated for 4ohms if you deside to try the Lsi line and they have enough dynamic power that goes down into 2ohms.

Dave

peteran

For under $500.00 I would consider the Pioneer, but for solid perfomance I would go with Onkyo-703.
By the way where are you getting that price from, Onkyo TXSR703 $538.00

shawn474

I know a lot of people here are anti-Sony, but I just sold my Yamaha RX-V995 (to beardog03) and purchased a used Sony STR-DA5ES receiver from BrentMcGhee on the forum. This is one kick **** receiver and has plenty of features. I bought into the anti-Sony for awhile until I heard an ES line receiver and it is awesome. You can get these used for well under $500.00 and depending on what you intend to do, you may not have to upgrade for a few years if at all.

EricBurg

I have the Pioneer 1015 in my theater setup and am very happy it. The power ratings are a little inflated on the reciever, though. You are not going to get a full 120 watts x 7 channels from it. However, you will have enough power to run the speakers you are looking at. If you shop around, you can sometimes find pretty good deals on the pioneer.

All the recievers listed and suggested so far would give you pretty similar performance. I would just look for the features that are important to you and listen to them in the setup that you are considering. Be somewhat skeptical of the power ratings and look at exactly how they came up with those numbers. I would guess that the H/K suggested probably has the most accurate power rating. In a $500 reciever you are going to get like 60-70 wpc, realistically.

Hope this helps.

Eric

*Seby*-Polk-

Mmmm..hard decision. Every one recommend to you a different receiver !!!

Well, my recommendation is the Yamaha RX-V657 or HTR-5860. I have a pair of Monitor 50 as fronts. For listening music, sounds GREAT. A little bright (ONLY LITTLE, NOT TOO BRIGHT ) (i like the bright sound) extremely CLEAN (IMHO, FAR better to Pioneer except Elite lines, better to Onkyos, and same quality as Denon) The sound can be very loud without distortion at higher volumes. The pure direct mode is awesome. Lot of features, good construction, good finish

The performance with movies is outstanding. Thanks to different DSP settings and YPAO future, you can hear things that will never hear in other receivers.

Listen all, compare and define your buy.

if you want the best sound quality in the whole world, FORGET ALL THIS BRANDS and take a MARANTZ.

acstech

I found the Onkyo TXSR703 for $538.00 at http://www.sixthave.com/cat_detail.jsp?a=audio&p=2&st=sx68875&d=86
The Yamaha htr-5860 does have pre outs.

Thank you for your info.

Drumingman

I have had an Onkyo and a Harman Kardon.
The H-K, IMHO, sounds a Lot better than the Onkyo.

*Seby*-Polk-

Yes...is other advantage of this model of Yamaha. This receiver has pre-outs...you can enjoy 5.1 SACD or DVD audio sound with the greatest quality for the price. Far superior to convencional CD's.

MattN03

If you watch Ebay closely, you can find a refurb H/K receiver for a great price directly from them. I won a H/K 635 for $501 + $34 shipping last week. It took a couple weeks of watching the auctions closely, but it can be done

acstech

Just curious how was your experience with purchasing The AVR 635. I know they are B-Stock items and I was just wondering what kind of condition they are in. If I decide to go with HK I will definitely give eBay a chance. I am going back and forth like a yoyo trying to make a decision.

Mike Sedai

I have an AVR 630, got it B-stock, and here is why:

Some slight wear on the paint on the left side of the flip down panel on the front.

Small scratch on the left side

Used Remote (scratched, some crud on it)

Got my box for $497

Very, very minor issues. The thing sounds insane totally outshines my previous Sony and Technics receivers. I listened to some Denon and Yamaha stuff at Tweeter on my speakers (Polk TB90s) and they all sounded a bit tinny and present. I didn't really like any of them.