Best sounding receiver <250$ ?

Dan2036

Any suggestions for a powerful receiver around 250$ ?

coolsax

Stereo or AVR?

for stereo you might look for a refurb HK 33XX series or 34XX series.

Dan2036

My bad, AVR

MrGlobe

and if HT is your desire, I would vote the H/K 254 refurbs can be found on ebay for ~$250

Dan2036

Thing is i'm looking for one that will be the great primarily for music, but also do 5.1, plus it's gotta be better then my current H/K AVR 120

MrGlobe

Hmm, well honestly it might be a little tricky to get a huge improvement over the AVR-120 for $250. I think your best option would be to buy a receiver with pre-outs (I don't believe the AVR-120 has them, correct?) and then get a 2 channel amp for your mains. This would provide you alot of clean power for 2 ch listening, but also the option to listen to HT and such.

Granted that option would cost you more than $250 altogether, but you could start by getting the receiver

Dan2036

Ok that would solve the problem, so any idea of a great 5.1 receiver with pre-outs ?
Just out of curiosity how much $ would it take to see a big improvement with just a 5.1 receiver.

concealer404

Might be able to get a used Pioneer Elite with pretty recent decoding features in your price range.

Where are you located?

Dan2036

Central New York, How are the Elite's for sound quality for stereo ?

kcoc321

IDK the difference, btwn a 247 (60wpc) & a 246, but here is a 247 in your area for $200.
http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/ele/1469163663.html

Personally, I would look for a B&K AVR101. I found the one I have for $285 on CL, so just a tad higher than you budget. 105wpc @ 8ohm, and doesn't do all the HDMI stuff, and newer codex, but sounds REALLY good, and has multiple preamp outputs for future upgrades. JMO.

bigaudiofanatic

OP I was sort of like you when I started out. My first setup was a Sony store receiver and a set of JBL towers, than I sold the head unit and got a Yamaha head unit and bought a bookshelf speakers and such from best buy. Bod move but whatever. Than sold that and went with nothing for a year. Than bought a cheap pioneer receiver than I sat down and figured out that i was sort of wasting money away. So after getting really lucky and talking to a few people I got a pioneer elite receiver that came today. Now I am going to start building up my speakers next. Moral is save your money for something good. And keep an eye out for really good deal on here, ebay, craigs list, and so on. Believe me I know what you are after and it took me 4 years to realize what I had to do to get it.

ben62670

Another vote for the HK refurbs.

Dan2036

thanks bigaudiofanatic i'm gonna check out those elite's cause people have mentioned those to me a few times already. If i'm buying used do i have to worry that they'll wear out soon, do receivers wear out ? Could be a stupid question you tell me

concealer404

Dan2036 wrote: »

Central New York, How are the Elite's for sound quality for stereo ?

Surprising to me.... It's not as good as my dedicated 2-channel setup, but very respectable. I certainly wouldn't hate listening to it all the time.

louhamilton

If you can bump your budget some, a Yamaha 663 is a very nice entry receiver, especially since it has pre-outs for an external amp down the road. Amazon has it for $330 right now.

Just a thought.

bigaudiofanatic

Dan2036 wrote: »

thanks bigaudiofanatic i'm gonna check out those elite's cause people have mentioned those to me a few times already. If i'm buying used do i have to worry that they'll wear out soon, do receivers wear out ? Could be a stupid question you tell me

If they where take care of I see no reason why any receiver would wear out. My neighbor has a 9 year old sony receiver still going but not that I recommend sony. But yes pioneer elite's from what I have experienced with them in the past 5 hours that I have had mine I have to say I like it. You will probably have to toy around with the setting for stereo mode but it will get to what you like.

Dan2036

Do the all the elites have preouts ? Random question, Im guessing mp3 music would be a bad measure of what any system can do ?

louhamilton

I would also try to go out and listen to as many as you can with the same or similar speakers. Different receivers can sound different with different speakers.

Let your ears make the final decision.

concealer404

Dan2036 wrote: »

Do the all the elites have preouts ? Random question, Im guessing mp3 music would be a bad measure of what any system can do ?

Ehhh.... MOST of them. I have one that doesn't, but you won't find that one anyways, it's rather rare.

MP3 music would be a bad measure. Listen to something straight from the source. Garbage in garbage out.

Dan2036

So would the entry level pioneer elite be a step up for me from my H/K AVR 120 ?

bigaudiofanatic

I would probably say yes it will be a upgrade. Cleaner power as well.

bigaudiofanatic

concealer404 wrote: »

Ehhh.... MOST of them. I have one that doesn't, but you won't find that one anyways, it's rather rare.

MP3 music would be a bad measure. Listen to something straight from the source. Garbage in garbage out.

X2 I never use any compressed music for listening junk IMO.

concealer404

Dan2036 wrote: »

So would the entry level pioneer elite be a step up for me from my H/K AVR 120 ?

Absolutely.

Dan2036

What about these Pioneer receivers VSX-819H-K / VSX-919AH-K ?

ben62670

A little side note HK receivers are listed at much lower power ratings, but they typically are the equivalent of AVR's rated at twice the power of HK's.

Dan2036

Ya i keep hearing that thats why i'm wondering if i should stick with the one i have or get something else

AsSiMiLaTeD

Unless you just don't like the HK sound or you find a steal on something higher end, I say either stick with what you have or go with the 254 for an upgrade.

KASR

H/K Avr254 gets my vote as well...the refurbs on the ebay store is practically theft!

tonyb

To me,powerfull and receiver under 250 don't belong in the same sentence. Either way,if your looking to go 5.1 then the suggestions here are valid for your price range. Better sound though may or may not be obtained through just swapping receivers. Everything else plays a role from the cables to the other gear,speakers,to your room size and how you have it set up. Don't mean to go too deep on ya off the bat but as someone else has said,"everything matters", and it does.

cnh

+1 tonyb,

250 for a good receiver...even used that's TOUGH!!...most good receivers new would be over 1000 dollars....even used they won't devalue to 250 that quickly?

So I'd also think about the HK254....OK its only a little more powerful than what you have but in reality you're not going to get much more power than what it can put out in the 500 and less new receiver market! And it has pre-outs.

Go cheap, then buy a 200 watt used power amp for around 300....and that will more than take care of your stereo power needs....HK makes a nice pre-amp...

That is your cheapest solutions..but it's a two step solution....save your pennies, check out this site and www.audiogon.com for used power amps....and you'll be golden.

cnh

TNTsTunes

cnh wrote: »

+1 tonyb,

250 for a good receiver...even used that's TOUGH!!...most good receivers new would be over 1000 dollars....even used they won't devalue to 250 that quickly?

So I'd also think about the HK254....OK its only a little more powerful than what you have but in reality you're not going to get much more power than what it can put out in the 500 and less new receiver market! And it has pre-outs.

Go cheap, then buy a 200 watt used power amp for around 300....and that will more than take care of your stereo power needs....HK makes a nice pre-amp...

That is your cheapest solutions..but it's a two step solution....save your pennies, check out this site and www.audiogon.com for used power amps....and you'll be golden.

cnh

I have a 8.1 Yamaha RS-V3000 I use and love it. It doesn't have HDMI ports but does have optical inputs. I love the 8 channel Stereo mode for music. It had a $1999.00 list price when new.

I also have a Yamaha 7.2 DSP-3090 that is a great reciever. It doesn't have HDMI ports but does have optical inputs. This has mono and stereo sub outputs. It had a $2499.00 list price when new.

I sold my Yamaha RS-V870 5.1 recently and miss it. It was an old analog 5.1 design but had such a great warm full sound. I should have kept it, but I wanted the optical inputs the other units use.

Good quality used units are a bargain and blow any new ones out of the water for way less money.

Either can be bought for less then $250.00 used.