What HT receiver should I buy?

At that price point it's going to be hard to get everything you want. I suggest Pioneer Elite only for polk speakers. I perfer the way they go together. But unfortunately for you the lowest end one is 850.00 on sale at Tweeter right now and it's the vsx91txh. I personally don't care for this receiver as I perfer to use only the 92 or 94 txh. This is where you might want to consider spending more money. It will help you stay current into the future and both the 92 and 94 have a wealth of usuable today and tomarrow features.

Yamaha receivers in my opnion are way to bright for polk speakers. So your at your own risk shopping there. I have no preference but all the ones I would suggest are way out of your budget.

Onkyo is ok but like Yamaha very bright. You might find a receiver in your price point with them but it will not yield all the benefits of todays needs and into tomarrow.

I suggest you at least get the following when shopping

1) min 3 HDMI inputs
2) Built in Dolby Digital True HD and DTS HD decoding
3) HDMI 1.3 a

This is a good start to what you would NEED to do what you want today and tomarrow.

Good luck and I'm sorry I can't suggest a 500.00 or under receiver. I don't believe in them and only had problems with to many limitations. Like your TV, this is a good place to spend more money.

Dan

Welcome to Club Polk.
You can also look for HK on Ebay. You should be able to get a nice AVR for about $300-$500.
Ben

you can try Sony STR-DG800 7.1-Channel HT,Panasonic SA-XR55S Home Theater Receiver if you like you can even go for Onkyo TX-SR605 Home Theater Receiver they all are good

Checkout ecost.com as well. They have a lot of recertified/refurbushed products. They are listed as an authorized dealer on Onkyo's site which is how I found them. I can't speake for any other models but the one I bought -its a factory recertified TX-SR805 for $569 with factory warranty (although shorter than a new warr-but i think I can buy an extended warranty from Onkyo for $70). When I pulled it out of the box I would've sworn it was brand new-pristine condition.

The 805 I got from eCost is the exact same one you would get if you bought it recertified from shoponkyo.com direct. It was a factory sealed box. Of course they seem to be out of stock more often than not.

I've been using it (the Onkyo) for a few weeks now (I think its been that long) and have had no problems with it and I expect to have it for a long time. I think its a nice AVR. Of course I did upgrade to an external amp (XPA-5), but even before I did that, it certainly did the job nicely (although better now with the amp, IMHO). There are a few features I wish it had, but nothing I can't live without (such as being able to change speaker settings/crossover points on the fly without the sound shutting off during the change-makes it hard to do comparisons)

One of the (several) factors that led me to the Onkyo SR805 (other than a general consensus in this and other forums that its a fairly decent unit) is that it has preamp outputs-this allows you to use the AVR as a preamp to an external amp (bypasses the avrs internal amps) if you choose to do so/upgrade in the future. I would add that to your list of must have features.
(note-other Onkyo models and many other brands as well also have models with preamp outs).

Good luck on your search. Be forewarned however: I started out with a very low budget as well (~$300) to upgrade my center channel speaker only in January, and since then ... well lets put it this way-everything in my sig (except the TV and xbox) is newly acquired. :eek:

apphd wrote: »

But a note to the above the V663 has 2 in and 1 out for HDMI the 863 would have 3 in 1 out. Not sure what djlogix is referring to with UPC, but the 863 will scale the video up to 1080P, the 663 does not have scaling ability but will convert and de interlace analog video in to digital HDMI out. Any 1080P input on the component in must be output on component out. A lot of these are being sold from authorized dealers $100 - $150 below MSRP. Most people feel the price difference between the 663 and 863 far exceeds the actual gain you would get from the 863. You would be better off with the 663 and putting the $400 savings towards a sub or speaker upgrade. Most feel the 663 is a direct competitor to the Onkyo 605 some even feel it is on par with the Onk 705.

My apologies, it is indeed 2 HDMI IN / 1 OUT. I meant that in terms to the 863. I have both in the home right now and have been using the 663 more due to it being the AVR I originally setup. Thanks for the correction.

I was also under the impression on Yamaha's site and the rep who I talked to that it did 1080p UC. It's a small indifference to me, as I'm not using HDMI into anything but my television currently.

wrote:

IMHO the biggest thing you get with the 663 is pre-outs for all channels (ability to upgrade to a sep. amp later if desired), HDMI 1.3, Dolby True HD / DTS Master Audio, and Burr-Brown DACs, in the sub $500 AVR market.

Agreed. The 2 sub outs sold me on the Yammies, of course after the sound. In the last week or so playing with the settings it's gotten better and better in terms of sound and I'm quite pleased.

wrote:

I picked up a V663 recently and so far am pleased with it, but still have a lot of setup to do and spend more time listening to it before I can say much more.

If I wouldn't of gotten a hell of a deal on the 863, I would've left it on the rack. Between the HD radio, HDMI extra and 10 wpc there wasn't much I saw that warranted the extra 4-500 dollars - depending where you buy at. My V663 which has gotten the majority of my setup time, sounded much better then the Onkyo 605 and 705 I had in the home. At initial they weren't as pleasant as the Yammies in my opinion. We'll see where it goes, but for right now the AVR is one of the better values on the market I feel.

B22, welcome. At the moment(these things can change from day-to-day)there's an even more outstanding deal on the excellent Onkyo 705 factory refurb than was mentioned above. If you register for "Club Onkyo" on the ShopOnkyo site there's a 705 special sale until the 10th. You get a $10 credit for registering, plus 10% off the $499 price and free shipping, which results in a net delivered cost of about $439. You'd also get a 5% credit(about $23)which could be used against future purchases.

The 705 has all the latest features that you're looking for, and as far as the "sound", it amplifies transparently without adding any audible sonic characteristic of its own, as is typical of all well-designed modern solid state amplifiers.