What's New in AV Receivers?

wdfifteen · wdfifteen's Garage

Thanksgiving with grandkids in the house wanting to watch TV. Ugh.

I've got a 7 or 8 year old Onkyo receiver and Logitech universal remote. They still work as well as they ever did - which is not well. The whole system is very touchy. I cringe every time Mrs WD dusts the TV area because I'm almost guaranteed to have to spend half an hour resetting something. The AV receiver is old technology that passes the sound through the HDMI to the TV, and the TV sends it back via optical cable. The cable comes loose every time you move the TV. The buttons for various settings on the front of the AV box are too easy to push. Seems like every few days I have to deal with a no sound or no picture issue, which is usually just one of the settings being out of whack. I'm really tired of hearing "HELP! The TV's not working." Put my system together with a 10 and an 11 year old on Thanksgiving day and it's disaster. I'm thinking of upgrading.

So what should I look for? I am not an audiophile. In fact, some setting has gone haywire again and only 5 of the 7 speakers put out sound. Nothing comes out of the subwoofer and I don't really care. It's not worth the hassle of going through all the settings to make it work. Again.

The system is in a big open room with terrible lighting, we don't watch action movies, don't like a lot of noise, but we do like to rock out to youtube music videos. We have a cable box, DVD player, and Apple TV connected to it and sometimes hook my laptop up to it via HDMI.

What I would like is a system that puts out decent sound and is rock solid once you get it set up. One that works well with the universal remote. Maybe a lock on it so all you can do is turn it on and off and adjust the volume unless you enter some kind of administrator code. Is that too much to ask? Have systems improved in the last 7-8 years? What is out there?

HardDrive · 11-25-2016, 08:12 AM

Leave the receiver out of it. Use it only to power the speakers. Plug all AV sources directly into the TV.

scottmandue · 09:38 AM

I love my old Pioneer Elite receiver...
But I'm a tech and love messing with the settings, however once I got it all tweaked I haven't opened a menu on the receiver in years.
My wife is non-tech (except when it come to her phone) and has bumped it out of adjustment a few times but nothing serious... but as I said I'm a tech... my non-tech friends are somewhat intimidated by all the buttons.

I somewhat disagree with "just plug everything into the TV" might as well skip the receiver and just get a soundbar if you want something that simple.

I run everything via HDMI through the receiver and thus get full surround on every input.

I would think there is something out there the opposite of what I got with all the buttons/setting, it seems like there would be big market for a "set and forget" type system.

Do they have 'Best Buy' in Ohio? Maybe go look at some setups before buying?

Edit to add, might want to look at a Denon receiver/system.

have not looked too close but this is interesting:

https://www.amazon.com/Denon-DHT-1513BA-Channel-Theater-Acoustics/dp/B007R8U5RG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480098878&sr=8-1&keywords=denon+home+theater+system

masraum · 11-25-2016, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Leave the receiver out of it. Use it only to power the speakers. Plug all AV sources directly into the TV.

That's assuming that the TV has plenty of inputs.

Soren Lorenson · 11-25-2016, 02:25 PM

Don't buy another Onkyo, they have issues with chips and the hdmi gets bad, and when you switch inputs they pop loudly. I just got rid of the one that we got with this house (the repair was more than a new unit).

If you aren't a big audiophile get a Yamaha head. Sound is good, and handles lots of inputs, and you can get the one with built in wifi & stream Pandora, Sirius, stuff from your hard drive etc.

Also get one with pass thru so you can turn off the stereo & speakers and it'll just send the sound to the TV's speakers if you want.

scottmandue · 11-25-2016, 03:14 PM

I saw one of these in the Bose store at the mall several years ago (now discontinued) but much to my surprise it sounded great.

Bose unveils their first TV called VisionWave - FlatpanelsHD

HardDrive · 11-25-2016, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Do they have 'Best Buy' in Ohio? Maybe go look at some setups before buying?

lol. Look man, we do have newfangled things like 'teeth' and 'shoes' here in Ohio. My Neighbor even has one of those 'Internal Combustion Engines' everyone is talking about.

RKDinOKC · RKDinOKC's Garage

My Pioneer elite died a couple of years ago and had to replace it. Have a Sony Bravia 65in TV that has 4 HDMI inputs and a digital tuner. Have had surround sound since 1982 so wanted my setup to do that.

Decided to run all my sources into the TV using HDMI and use the TV to change sources. Have Cable, AppleTV, DVD player, and a Computer as a media server. The TV also has HDMI output.

Looked for an amp to drive the surround speakers that had a surround decoder but could not find one. Seems the quality on the Pioneer has tanked so got a 5.1 Sony Receiver to provide the surround decoding and the amps to drive all the speakers. The HDMI from the TV is all that is plugged into the receiver and once set up it basically only use the volume whick all my remotes support. With HDMI the sound quality is great.

Because the TV is an internet TV I just use it's remote when doing the Sony Movies and other tv content availale on the TV. Everything else I use the programmable Cable remote.

gprsh924 · 11-26-2016, 10:51 AM

I have a Denon receiver (about 18 months old) paired with a Logitech remote. I've set it up once. I have the tv, / blu ray player, cable box and PS4 hooked up. The remote has picture buttons at the top for the device you want to use. One push turns everything on, 1 push to switch devices, 1 push power off. Once every 5 months I have to get up and turn the system off and on because the remote isn't responding.

Setup is super easy for the receiver and the remote is done through a smart phone. My wife hasn't been thrown off by it once.

Harmony Companion- Smart Home Control-Logitech

scottmandue · 11-26-2016, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardDrive

lol. Look man, we do have newfangled things like 'teeth' and 'shoes' here in Ohio. My Neighbor even has one of those 'Internal Combustion Engines' everyone is talking about.

You have shoes!?! Next you are going to tell me you have silverware!

But seriously, some chains are east/west or north/south only and I was too lazy too look up Best Buy to see if they covered all of the USA.

RE: Logitech Harmony, I went through two in less than two years and I don't consider myself to be too hard on remotes. I guess that is why I just use my receiver to do all my A/V switching (through the dish network remote)