Posted: 2/28/2009 2:20:51 PM EDT
| Looking for a new receiver to run my surround sound/CD player/ record player. I would like to keep it around $500. I'm leaning towards Onkyo. Suggestions??? Thanks |
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Onkyo is a good call.
I work with the ultra high end of the home audio market and when people ask me for a good recommendation on an AVR that sounds good and is feature rich that won't bankrupt them, I always recommend Onkyo. My bedroom system has an older Onkyo AVR in it, love it. |
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Yamaha is another excellent option. Excellent DTS decoding chip along with all Dolby decoding, optical in and high bit rate D/A converters. Quality sound matters.
Interestingly enough, Onkyo made a good name for themselves years ago when they made high current amplifiers. Today, most Onkyo amps are not high current (regardless of what the salesman says). They won't run a 4 Ohm or 2 Ohm load. They are still excellent quality, but I feel they are resting on a past reputation. I like to purchase the best within my budget. Nearly any Yamaha will. I don't know what you are looking for, but if you want to "rock out", Yamaha will be up to the task. Make sure to get at least 120 watts per channel RMS. I run 4 Ohm speakers with my Yam, that means, it's pushing 240 watts per channel! And it ROCKS. Remember that a good amp will run a 4 Ohm load without any "switch" or change in settings. A poor amp will overheat or tax the power supply and distort. Franklin |
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Onkyo is GTG. So is Harman/Kardon, IMO. For $500, you've got several models to choose from. I'd make sure you a model that upconverts all video inputs to HDMI and will also display all on-screen menus over HDMI. There's no reason to have anything other than an HDMI cable from the AVR to the TV. |
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I have a number of Onkyo units, receivers, CD players, etc.
Onkyo is built like a tank. Well engineered. Heavy chassis, huge heatsinks on the output devices, lots of current capability in reserve (can handle low ohm speakers), lots of headroom. Onkyo receivers and amps sound more powerful than the RMS specs imply. Onkyo Integra line tuners are among the best. You can't go wrong with Onkyo. |
I like the TX-SR606. it offers DD TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio, the latest and greatest of high-resolution audio processing. I'm actually surprised by the price. Amazon is offering it for around $430, the least expensive out of the best retailers. I remember seeing this last week for below $400 
ETA: here's a review http://reviews.cnet.com/av-receivers/onkyo-tx-sr606-black/4505-6466_7-32956253.html |