$500 Home Theatre Receiver?

[JeremyD]

Any recommendations? I have a 8 year old Sony receiver so just about anything would be an upgrade. I have some decent Sony Stand up speakers that I bought 2 years ago.

My requirements are really only:

I would like to control outside speakers with it - so two room compatible.

I have a brighthouse digital recorder/HDTV box - and a decent samsung DVD-R and I have a Samsung DLP 50" TV.

Harmon Kardon? Yamaha? Bose? Nakamichi ?

Sorry, but have not been keeping up with this.

[Vipergrün]

I just got the Denon 1707, which is totally fine for my needs. Got mine brand new off evil-bay and saved 75-100 bucks over the big box places. I also got the Denon 1730 DVD player, since both my Sony receiver and DVD went out within 2 weeks of each other. Everywhere I shopped said Sony has gone down the toilet.

I am using all component for video and digital optical for audio. The Denon auto senses the signals and know which unit the signal is coming from and tells me on the display Even the RCA inputs for my old VCR run to the TV over component, so I no longer have to change video inputs on my tv, only the one component conenction.

[89911]

I got an Onkyo receiver from www.onecall.com a few years ago. I used them for my Television also. You don't need to go for the one with the most features and highest price. Go with what you need as long as it has good power. These have a separate system to power another area of you house.

[chuckw951]

Originally posted by JeremyD
I would like to control outside speakers with it - so two room compatible.

This is an interesting requirement. I bought a new receiver to control my outdoor speakers too.

After using the receiver for a week I decided to return it. I decided to have a home theater reeinver for home theater and then and use a separate stereo receiver to control the outdoor speakers. I've found that having two separate components is easier to operate, especially for the spouse. At the time I set up my system (2003?) it was less expensive to buy two units rather than get a receiver with dual room capability.

Since my living room is next to my deck with outdoor speakers...the two receivers are near each other. I connected a line from outputs of the home theater receiver to the inputs on the receiver for the outdoor speakers...so I can listen to TV outside....plus you can see the TV through the window.

[DW SD]

I bought two harman Kardon digital receivers within your budget. They have plenty of power and the sound quality is excellent. I use the second to power speakers in a separate room, which would accomplish what you want, I think.

They feature a toslink digital output monitor (it is optical that you see on the back of DVD players and CD players). I use the output of one and the input of another to tie them together, so they are in sych and drive music to both rooms. The AVR 110 and 130 are the ones I have and were about $250 ea. I use a powered sub in my TV room. Each drives 5 speakers with your choice of various surround sound configurations. They also accept other digital inputs (spdif). I use spdif to play MP3s, but this allows the digital to analog conversion to take place in the amplifiers rather than in the PC. It is cleaner this way.

Mine are old (2 to 3 years). If you check out harman kardon's website, you can actually buy the surplus products very cheap. I bought them from Fry's, but later found I could have bought them even cheaper.

Doug

[JeremyD]

That's a good thought Doug -

[DW SD]

It works for me. BTW - At the time, I did a search online and found a company that makes toslink cables for cheap. I paid $40 for a 50' one. Monster cable would have charged some ungodly amount.

It allowed me to put the amplifiers where I wanted them, as opposed to running very long speaker wire.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Check out Pioneers line of receivers - I do not own one but their Elite line gets good reviews. I believe they start at $500 or so.

[msk1986911]

NAD has always been a good value; solid sounding power with little distortion when really pushed.