My head is spinning over trying to pick a new AVR

Zeros

Ok, so here's the deal. I will be finishing my basement in a few months and part will be a modest home theater. 108" screen, 1080p projector, PS3 and a new receiver hopefully. I sold my old AVRs and made a little money towards a new receiver since I would like to get something that has HDMI and handles the new HD audio codecs. For speakers, I will be using R50's for L/R, CSR for a center, Tsi100's for side surround and R15s for rear surround. Like I said, modest. So I am trying to pick a new receiver from about five different models and could use some advise. I have $230 now towards the new AVR and could go up to about $400, but would like not to if possible. I'll list my options and see if you guys can help me make a decision. Keep in mind I could also just wait for a deal around the holidays since the basement will not be ready for the equipment to be installed for a while, 8 months at least.

1) New Denon AVR 1910 - $385 on sale
7.1, 1080p upscaling, 4 HDMI, Audyssey MultEQ, 2 year warranty

2) New Denon AVR 1610 - $279 on sale
5.1 + preouts for surr. backs, no upscaling, 3 HDMI, Audyssey MultEQ, 2 year warranty (I don't have an amp so I would be stuck at 5.1 till I buy one)

3) Refurb. Onkyo TX-SR607 - $310
7.2, 1080i upscaling, 6 HDMI, Audyssey 2EQ, 1 year warranty

4) Refurb Onkyo HT-RC160 - $290
Same as 607, but one less HDMI (5), 1 year warranty

5) Used Onkyo TX-SR606 - $240
7.1, 1080i upscaling, 4 HDMI, Audyssey 2EQ, NO WARRANTY


As you can see I am just looking for advise and opinions. Preouts are not important to me because this is a budget setup that will likely never see an external amp. Like I said above I'd rather not spend $400, but would still like to see everyone's thoughts.

Sorry for the long post.

Pycroft

Zeros -

I certainly won't comment specifically on these, and you know why. Just wanted to mention that some of those you have do not have the True HD codecs to get the True High Def sound. Not sure if that is important to you. I think the best AVR up there is the 1910, but where are you getting it for 385? I was looking at that for some time and couldn't find it for anywhere near that.

In the end it all depends on you, and what you're looking for. The 1910, 607, and 606 have the True HD codecs. A few have pre-outs, some don't (But you said that wasn't important). Some have more HDMI, but I've found that anything over 3 is overkill (For me at least...not sure what you're hooking into it).

Good luck, and I'm sure you'll get great advice!

James

Zeros

Electronics-expo .com was running a 30% off sale which brought the 1910 down to 385. 6ave.com was also running the "Name your price" sale about a week or two ago and was accepting a price of $375 for the 1910. They are both Denon authorized resellers. I'm sure one of the two will be running another sale soon.

As far as I know, all of the AVRs listed above do TrueHD and DD+.

Three HDMI's will be fine for now (PS3, computer and cable box) but I would like to have an extra one or two just in case.

SeannK

I just picked up the Denon AVR-790 which is pretty much the same as the 1910, I love it, a breeze to set up and sound is much better than the Yamaha I used to own

I am running
Rti 8
CSi A4
FXi A4
PSW 125
and adding 2 more speakers in the future for 7.1

thuffman03

You call a 108" screen a modest HT. That is a pretty big screen to me. What is your room size?

An avr might not be the way you want to go. It could sound week in a large room or damage your speakers if you overdrive the amp to fill a large room. If you are putting this together slowly, make sure the AVR has preamp outs so down the road you can get a larger 5 or 7 channel amp.

Other than that I don't know much about HT. I have a small one in my game room but it is not my main system.

Zeros

Damn, I knew I forgot something! The room will be 13x22. I meant to put that in the original topic. Thank you for reminding me.

NewHTguy

Don't buy anything that does not have pre-outs or your future expansion will be limited. The Onks 60Xs do not have pre-outs. I made that mistake and had to sell my first receiver, Onk 605, which was otherwise a great AVR.

danger boy

I like option 1. seems to me to be the best bang for the buck.. and being new.. you prob get a warrenty too.

wutadumsn23

I am with Al (Danger boy) on this one, although all the posts have had some good advice. You are the one who is going to have to be pleased with this purchase. Don't take this the wrong way, but I will still sleep the same whether you spend $4 or $4,000 on an AVR, lol. Get an AVR that does what you need it to do, and while I am not dismissing the importance of pre-outs, if you don't want an external amp then you don't need them, I will warn you though, this hobby is VERY addicting and in no time there is a very good chance you will be kicking yourself because you didn't pony up a little extra cash and buy an AVR that had pre-outs. Anything worth doing, is worth doing right the first time, and that is esp. true in this hobby. You may want to hurry up and get any old AVR just so can get to business, but take your time and make sure you are happy with your choice. It seems like you have been doing your research and have some pretty good info on what you want, so you are off to a good start. It took me about 5 months to figure out exactly what AVR I wanted , and I must have changed my mind 10 times. In the end though I am glad I decided to pony up the extra cash for the AVR I bought. Good luck and let us now how it goes.

-Jeff

dvran

I highly suggest going to a local store and listening to them. Also, I suggest buying from a local store for easy return, or an internet store that offers free return shipping. I actually bought 2 receivers from HHgregg, and tried them both out for a couple weeks, and returned the one back I liked the least.

obieone

I have the Denon AVR-1905, which IS a good model, sound wise. The newer version has all the bells and whistles so, I'd pick that one.

dorokusai

Out of those choices I would pick the Denon AVR-1910.

bevo

I've got the denon 1909 and it does a pretty good job. There is not a day goes by though that I wish I hadn't gotten it and had gotten one with pre outs instead. With that said, the 1909 does a decent job with my rti a5's and has plenty of features for a decent setup.
Again though, like everyone else says, once you start buying pieces for your system, and going to forums to research these purchases, it's really, really hard not to keep buying stuff. Pre outs may not seem big now, but I wish I had them, and all I wanted was a small decent system for my living room, that sounded better then my 299$ sony HTIB.

Zeros

Ok, I'm going to bump this thread to see if you all can help me make another decision. I have narrowed down the choices to a new Denon AVR-1910 or a refurbished Onkyo TX-SR706. I'll list my pros and cons and see what you guys think.

New Denon AVR 1910
$400ish
PROS:
2 year warranty
Anchor Bay video processing
Audyssey Dynamic Volume

CONS:
No preouts

Refurbished Onkyo 706
$400ish
PROS:
Preouts
THX Select2 Certified (whatever that means)

CONS:
Faroudja video scaler (worse than ABT in the denon)
1 year warrany (compared to denon 2 year)
may run hotter

Both have about the same power (Denon 90w / Onkyo 100w), about the same price, both have 4 hdmi in, both have Audyssey MultEQ.

dvran

Zeros, I wouldn't worry about the pre-outs since the speakers you have will never require serious power to drive them. Even if you step up to the Rti line, something like an Onkyo 607 will be fine.