Av Receiver Recommendation For ~$1k-$1500

[Eth Nick]

Looking to upgrade the AVR in tag (which i'm very impressed with for movies, but not so much for music) with something that'll bring all the latest audio formats into play & future-proof it for much longer than the two years i've had the TX-SR603 for.

I have a PS3 now, which will replace the DVD player in my tag, so i'm hoping the AVR will pass its' HDMI signal with no decrease in quality (blacks ect.).

Hooking things up will be as follows....

[PS3]---HDMI---[AVR]---HDMI---[Plasma]

[HDTuner/PVR]---HDMI---[Plasma]

[HDTuner/PVR]---Optical---[AVR]

I won't be hooking the HDTuner/PVR straight to the AVR because i'll want the option to use it without the AVR & besides; HDTV is broadcast in DD at best, so I won't need to hook it up via HDMI for the better audio formats.

So, in point summary, i'm after an AVR with the following characteristics;

• *Decent quality for movies, music & games (should be noticibly better in all aspects than my 603).
  *At least 3 HDMI INs & 1 OUT.
  *At least 3 Optical INs.
  *Learning remote (after using the brilliant 603 remote, this has become a must have for me).
  

After a bit of looking around tonight, i've noticed the Yamaha 663 recommended, but i'm put off by the lack of black-black HDMI pass-through. Plus it's got no learning remote.

So i'm eyeing off the Onkyo TX-SR706, since the 606 doesn't have the learning remote.

Anything else I should be looking at?

Edited November 12, 2008 by Ralfi

[Juicester]

good luck with a 706 at 1k.....

How about the 1909 from denon?

[Mitcon1503562253]

Hmmm, thats a tall order for the 1K. Maybe with a few more bucks you might do better, but your kinda in no-mans-land between the lower end and the higher end.

[Eth Nick]

good luck with a 706 at 1k.....

How about the 1909 from denon?

Really? Damn. That's one thing I haven't really checked on here - prices of the 706. What are people getting them for? ~$1500?

I'll take a look at the Denon. Cheers.

But just forgetting my budget for the moment, is the 706 ideal for what i'm after? Does it have much competition in its price range?

Edited November 11, 2008 by Ralfi

[petetherock]

Have a look at the new Denon 2309, and why I rejected the 706, see my review in the review section

Cheers

[Juicester]

at around the $1500 i would be considering the yamaha RXv1900 as well - hard to beat for the moolah.

[Eth Nick]

I've upped the budget range from $1000-$1500 in the thread title.

Both the Denon 1909 & 2309 look good, but neither have a learning remote as far as I can tell.

Looking into the Yamaha RXV1900.

[matt200sr]

Looking to upgrade the AVR in tag (which i'm very impressed with for movies, but not so much for music) with something that'll bring all the latest audio formats into play & future-proof it for much longer than the two years i've had the TX-SR603 for.

I have a PS3 now, which will replace the DVD player in my tag, so i'm hoping the AVR will pass its' HDMI signal with no decrease in quality (blacks ect.).

Hooking things up will be as follows....

[PS3]---HDMI---[AVR]---HDMI---[Plasma]

[HDTuner/PVR]---HDMI---[Plasma]

[HDTuner/PVR]---Optical---[AVR]

I won't be hooking the HDTuner/PVR straight to the AVR because i'll want the option to use it without the AVR & besides; HDTV is broadcast in DD at best, si I won't need to hook it up via HDMI for the better audio formats.

So, in point summary, i'm after an AVR with the following characteristics;

• *Decent quality for movies, music & games (should be noticibly better in all aspects than my 603).
  *At least 3 HDMI INs & 1 OUT.
  *At least 3 Optical INs.
  *Learning remote (after using the brilliant 603 remote, this has become a must have for me).
  

After a bit of looking around tonight, i've noticed the Yamaha 663 recommended, but i'm put off by the lack of black-black HDMI pass-through. Plus it's got no learning remote.

So i'm eyeing off the Onkyo TX-SR706, since the 606 doesn't have the learning remote.

Anything else I should be looking at?

I would get the Onkyo 706 only because I have a 705 which I have found to be extremley good value for money.

Get yourself a Harmony 785 Universal Remote like I did off eBay for $120 delivered.

[Juicester]

+1 for the harmony 785. dont buy an avr based on how good the remote is.

[Mitcon1503562253]

+1 for the harmony 785. dont buy an avr based on how good the remote is.

+2... I totally agree. Universal AVR remotes suck at the best of time IMHO. Once you get a decent quality universal remote you will not know how you got my with anything else. I'd suggest one of the better URC remotes, I think there was a thread around on best remotes which has links in it. If not the Harmony 785 or Harmony One would be another good bet, stay clear of the cheaper Hamony's remote and the 1000i (IMO is junk, I've had three and had other people who have had problems with them also. but ETTO I guess)

[Nevyn72]

I would get the Onkyo 706 only because I have a 705 which I have found to be extremley good value for money.

Get yourself a Harmony 785 Universal Remote like I did off eBay for $120 delivered.

If you like the sound of the Onkyo with your speakers then go the 706, I also have a 705 but use a Harmony One rather than the 785.

I tried using the Onkyo (programable/semi-universal) remote but the Harmony just does it all so much better!

I beleive some people are getting the Harmony One for under $200 these days.....

[Eth Nick]

Just started getting quotes today....Onkyo 706 can be had for $1500 @ Harvey Norman (Hardly shop @ HN, so I need to keep looking), but their price was $2000 for it, so $500 off didn't sound to shabby...just gotto work out a street price, as I only grabbed one other quoted from JB for ~$1800.

Also got recommended the Yamaha RX-V1800B for $1499, which looks to have everything i'm after.....

Edited November 12, 2008 by Ralfi

[Juicester]

people have been getting 1900's for that money, so dont buy the 1800 for $1500.

[Eth Nick]

Ok, might see how the prices of the 1900 go, but i've just noticed one thing on the Yamaha site.....its' specs read as "20-20,000Hz @ 8 OHMS". I know my Jamos are 6 Ohms.

Will things be ok if I pair these together?

edit...

Found out the 1900 has an impendance selector feature.

Edited November 12, 2008 by Ralfi

[Juicester]

yeah, a LOT of yamaha speakers are 6 ohms, so it makes sense that their avrs can handle that.

[Eth Nick]

Ok picked the 1900 up today.

Are there any known problems with hooking up a LG LST-5402P STB via HDMI to an AMP? I ask because nothing is coming through in Dolby Digital - whenever I select "Straight" on the 1900, all I get is sound out of the front L-R. Even my recordings, which were in "DD" on my Onkyo, are only showing as PCM on the 1900....?

I fixed a similar problem when I forst hooked up my PS3 & played a movie - I just changed the output signal to "bitstream", but i've got no idea how to do that with my 5402P....

[tonymy01]

Wow, how many threads did you ask the same question on?

Although this thread you mention you only see PCM... hmm, could be the LG only negotiates this with your amp for some reason (LG=lucky goldstar). The Beyonwiz does this sometimes with my Yamaha 3800 and so I have to cycle the Wiz thru the TV-OUT settings on the remote back to HDMI and it re-negotiates Dolby Digital (assuming you have setup the STB to passthru/bitstream rather than decode).

I have now given up on this, as the icons for PCM/DD are tiny on the Yamaha, and sometimes I don't notice I am missing out on 5.1 source (as the THX-Neural 7.1 processing is great.. enabled this the other week in the service menu), so now just have the amp setup to take the audio from the Beyonwiz SPDIF instead, no silly HDMI negotiation junk, and no need for HDMI for DVB-T audio anyway.

Regards

[asc68]

if you could stretch your budget by a couple of hundred the Onkyo 875 can be got at eastwood. I bought one and couldn't be happier.

[Huge Metal Fan]

marantz sr5003/6003

1399 & 1899 RRP respectively.

could quite easily pick up the 6003 for 1500-1600

[petetherock]

Marantz 6003 is SING 820 from Singapore, even with shipping, you will find it cheaper than anywhere in Oz... you can refer to the buying overseas thread.

[Thornton Melon]

Just started getting quotes today....Onkyo 706 can be had for $1500 @ Harvey Norman (Hardly shop @ HN, so I need to keep looking), but their price was $2000 for it, so $500 off didn't sound to shabby...just gotto work out a street price, as I only grabbed one other quoted from JB for ~$1800.

Also got recommended the Yamaha RX-V1800B for $1499, which looks to have everything i'm after.....

How about an Onkyo 606 for $1000 or a Denon 789 for $1100.

Opinions please.

Cheers.

Thornton.

[pietro1503559499]

Do any of these receivers have the ability to set levels for individual inputs? With my current Marantz that I am thinking of updating to the SR5003, I need a different volume setting for radio, CD and HTPC. It would be great if there was no need to change volume each time.

[tonymy01]

The Yamaha 3800 does (and thus, presumably, the 1800/1900/3900). I think it is about a +/- 6dB max in about 0.2 dBsteps adjustment going by memory.

Regards

[pietro1503559499]

The Yamaha 3800 does (and thus, presumably, the 1800/1900/3900). I think it is about a +/- 6dB max in about 0.2 dBsteps adjustment going by memory.

Regards

Thanks. Must check this out.

[pietro1503559499]

Yamahas seem to be the main ones to offer variable input levels. However they don't seem to be rated highly for listening to CD/radio via 2 channel. Nor do Onkyo at this price level.

All the receivers mentioned in this thread seem to be great for home theatre sound but I also listen to a lot of classical music via analogue. Does anyone have any opinion about the "musicality" of these AVRs?