AV Receivers

[Blzer]

So the receiver for my Samsung HTiB is now suffering from component failure in the right channel. I'm thinking of doing a receiver upgrade now, somewhere around the $500 range. Would that be an appropriate price for someone delving into potential 5.1 / 7.2 HT goodness? I mean I don't want to spend $2000 right now, that's for sure.

So, here are some starter suggestions courtesy of CNET:

http://reviews.cnet.com/best-av-receivers/

The Yamaha RX-V667 stands out as the best to me, but one thing that struck my eye when looking on Amazon is it only outputs 90 watts per channel, when my Samsung did 100 WPC and the high-end ones will generally do 150+. Now I know what wattage is and I understand that increasing it by a factor of 10 is generally what is necessary to double the volume (essentially a logarithmic function there). I know wattage isn't everything, but would this be a warning sign for me? Should I explore receivers which output 100+ WPC, or will 90 suffice? I'm sure it's fine, but I wouldn't really want to look toward upgrading again unless I found myself building an actual home theater in my house.

What do you guys think for an upgrade? What do some of you have, at least when it comes to those who watch Blu-ray movies and want to be able to perceive something as "reference" quality, etc.?



Also, is there a certain time of the year one might find good sales on receivers? Like have the 2011 models came out yet, and would the 2010 models drop in price if so? How much would they drop on Black Friday? I can't wait that long with not having a properly functioning right channel, but I just wanted to know for the sake of knowing.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: AV Receivers

Usually by now all stores should have their 2011 models out already, just in time for the super bowl. A lot of people buy tvs and home theatre systems right before the super bowl.

For $500 you have a pretty good variety of receivers you can get that are of quality. One thing is for sure, receivers are like computers, they drop in price pretty damn fast.

What ever you see costing $500 today, 2 to 3 months from now it will be half that price. That is something I noticed. New stuff is always coming out.

When it comes to receivers I always like to see it in person, for I can feel it, size it up and stuff of that nature. See how many jacks it has, the location of the jacks.....

I had one receiver, forgot who made it, but their jacks were placed way too close together to the point that the only cables that fit in there were the cheap thin ones.

[Blzer]

Re: AV Receivers

Yeah, I'm going to Best Buy tonight to pick up Saw VII so I'll see if it's on the floor. It's the same price as Amazon (but with tax I suppose), so I might add to my RZ points with that. I'll really have to do some browsing though, but on impulse I really feel like I need that front right channel to watch/play anything. Things seriously sound much quieter and less balance when I don't have it plugged in, otherwise I'll get a snap crackle and pop.

The other good thing is I could price match within 45 days at Best Buy, so if I noticed a price drop within that time period I'd be taken care of.

But yeah, does the 90 WPC raise an eyebrow for anyone or is that okay for a midrange receiver?

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: AV Receivers

I think it is ok........unless you are the type to have your stuff blasting......Your average speaker, especially if you bought it part of a home theatre package don't even use 90, they use 10.

Now if you bought all your speakers seperate, even then 90 is good enough. Only thing that would be of concern is if you had a 500 watt sub woofer. But other then that, for the rest of the speakers, 90 is plenty.

[Blzer]

Re: AV Receivers

Sounds good, thank you very much!

Yeah, speakers et. al will need upgrades as well, but I don't think I can venture into the thousands of dollars for quite a while. I'm only looking to upgrade the receiver because mine, well, doesn't fully work.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: AV Receivers

Blzer, I've become a huge fan of Denon which I bought about 1.5 years ago. Their receivers get a lot of good reviews from tech sites and the AVS boards have had good impressions from people. Good luck man.

[RockinDaMike]

Re: AV Receivers

blzer, i have the yamaha that you're looking at and its amazing. I love the on screen display and it sounds amazing. Amazon still has that great deal going on that you buy the harmon kardon speakers 5.1 system for 699 you get the yamaha v677 for free!

I have them setup in my 12x15 living room and man the bass is deep and everything is so crisp. The speakers are amazing , deep bass and the highs and lows are up there with expensive systems and they look really great too. With the great reviews this receiver got it was a no brainer to get it.

Big plus was that there is 6 hdmi ports, ready for 3d and there is one in the front which is very convenient.

[Husker_OS]

Re: AV Receivers

Sounds good, thank you very much!

Yeah, speakers et. al will need upgrades as well, but I don't think I can venture into the thousands of dollars for quite a while. I'm only looking to upgrade the receiver because mine, well, doesn't fully work.

Everyone here knows my stance on speakers.


As for receivers, I LOVE the new Denon my parents just got this past November. Link provided..

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-3311...dp_ob_title_ce


They didn't have an HDMI receiver yet so they upgraded. 3:10 to Yuma has never sounded so incredible. Also watched a Clapton set on blu-ray. Incredible. I used to think Denon was overrated(much like Bose is) but I'm convinced now.

[J-Unit40]

Re: AV Receivers

Everyone here knows my stance on speakers.


As for receivers, I LOVE the new Denon my parents just got this past November. Link provided..

http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-3311...dp_ob_title_ce


They didn't have an HDMI receiver yet so they upgraded. 3:10 to Yuma has never sounded so incredible. Also watched a Clapton set on blu-ray. Incredible. I used to think Denon was overrated(much like Bose is) but I'm convinced now.

I have the Denon-AVR-3310CI and love it. Great receiver.

[Blzer]

Re: AV Receivers

I'll get to your responses in a second but I just have to remember some of these model names and paste a link that I copied.

Anyway, I guess my HTiB suffers from the issue I have according to this reviewer:

http://reviews.cnet.com/home-theater-systems/samsung-ht-as720/4864-6740_7-32557499-2.html?ord=creationDate+desc&tag=uoBody

Summary: After a year & a half, started getting hissing noise from the front, right speaker. After looking online (and other owners on this site) this is a common problem. Samsung will not cover the $160 repair. Very frustrated. Was planning on considering Samsung for my upcoming LCD TV purchase, but they are out of the game after their lack of accountability on this issue.

So it looks like the receiver issue is inevitable.


Anyway, I went to Best Buy today and just briefed over some of the receivers I had my eye on with two Best Buy employees (at independent times). I started off looking for my Yamaha, but then both of them [independently] started swaying me over toward the Denon AVR-791 on sale this week for $399. But then I saw a Denon AVR-591 for $349 plus a $50 BB gift certificate, and really the only difference is that it's a 5.1 system and not 7.1. I'm sitting here asking myself... will I see myself getting 7.1 down the line? This is where you guys come in. Exactly what value is 7.1 to ya'll who have the luxury of owning that many speakers?

And just as a caveat, the Yamaha is a 7.2 system, so I would ask the same question here. Of how much value would two subwoofers be to the overall home theater experience?

But so anyway I just asked about other brands such as Sony and Onkyo, and then I glanced over to Pioneer knowing that they like working well with high-end equipment. I started talking about this with the second employee, and the Pioneer VSX-1020-K was retailing for $549. That's not exactly how much I want to spend, so I saw a 5.1 version of the same system for $299. As that price is identical to the Denon AVR-591 (if you include the gift certificate), I asked him which one he thinks would be better and he said he would go with the Pioneer.

Seems like a winner, right? But then I go back to my own age-old question... is 5.1 going to be enough for me for the next ten years? Twenty? Should I invest in a 7.1? I'm just really unsure at this point in time. There's the cheap and easy way, but then it might have to force me to upgrade later on down the line.

The Yamaha is still in view, but it's also kind of the most expensive one that I'm looking at and it apparently has the worst mid-range quality of the three different brand types I was looking at... although it was a sexy looking beast and allows for two subwoofers if I wanted that down the line.

Decisions, decisions...

[Blzer]

Re: AV Receivers

RockinDaMike, that deal is looking legit. I'll definitely be exploring that! I think that was a detractor for me with the Yamaha though, that they upped the price because of 6 HDMI ports. IMO I will only ever need three, four tops. I guess there's no harm in having that many, but I wouldn't like that I'm paying for those features if that makes sense. Although I don't think this deal can be beat.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: AV Receivers

Really all depends on how much you willing to spend and what your over all goal is for your living room. I mean you can go all out and put speakers inside of walls and inside of the ceilings. But then again you better be a serious movie buff who watches a ton of movies and entertain a lot of people on a regular basis.

One of my relatives did it. But then again they entertain a lot of people and always have movie nights with 5 to 8 of their friends 2 days out of the week, every week. I am not trying to have a house full of people like that and nor do I watch that many movies like that.

So it kind of comes down to how many speakers you and your wife want. Not really an improvement in sound from 5.1 to 7.1 IMO. At the end of the day it isn't the number of speakers, it is the quality of the speakers you use.

You definitely don't need 2 subs......Just need one good sub. The easiest way to determine the quality of speakers is to pick them up. Seriously........

IF they don't have any weight to them, then they aren't good. especially when it comes to the sub.

[Blzer]

Re: AV Receivers

Really all depends on how much you willing to spend and what your over all goal is for your living room. I mean you can go all out and put speakers inside of walls and inside of the ceilings. But then again you better be a serious movie buff who watches a ton of movies and entertain a lot of people on a regular basis.

One of my relatives did it. But then again they entertain a lot of people and always have movie nights with 5 to 8 of their friends 2 days out of the week, every week. I am not trying to have a house full of people like that and nor do I watch that many movies like that.

So it kind of comes down to how many speakers you and your wife want. Not really an improvement in sound from 5.1 to 7.1 IMO. At the end of the day it isn't the number of speakers, it is the quality of the speakers you use.

You definitely don't need 2 subs......Just need one good sub. The easiest way to determine the quality of speakers is to pick them up. Seriously........

IF they don't have any weight to them, then they aren't good. especially when it comes to the sub.

Alright, thanks. But that deal that RDM posted is almost too good to pass up. I think I might go for it despite what everyone else is saying heh.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: AV Receivers

Alright, thanks. But that deal that RDM posted is almost too good to pass up. I think I might go for it despite what everyone else is saying heh.

Agreed. That's what I would go with. Amazing deal. Just a good mid-level receiver is going to run you $350-400 alone. A decent sub would then be another $250-350, before you even talk about the other speakers.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...cId=1000579581

Leaves you room to grow....can go back and add the other 2 speakers or additional sub for 7.2

Only HK product I own is the AVR 247. Been very very happy with the purchase. I'm willing to bet the speakers will be of the same quality.

[Blzer]

Re: AV Receivers

Alright, sounds convincing enough at least. I would probably just get another identical sub and for the time being I have these Sammy speakers I can hook up for 7.1 for now. Probably wouldn't be right as they might sound different.

My dad is a "will stop at nothing" kind of negotiator so he's looking at what kinds of recall offer Samsung might be able to line up with this receiver issue, considering it appears to be a problem for more than one folk. Stupidly I have no idea where the receipt for this bad boy is, but I almost guarantee if I had the receipt in hand with me he would find a way to strike something with Samsung and make it happen. But damn I'm now so excited about this deal I'm almost saying "screw it."

We'll see what comes of it, because it's a decent low-end receiver anyway and I would like to still give it use around the house somehow if it wasn't broken. Upgrading will be my next step though, but I always assumed it would range me up to $4,000 or so if I really wanted to go the next step. Turns out it's going to cost about as much as my first system did 2 1/2 years ago.