Quote:

Greg,

I’ve got a headache that just won’t go away from researching this very question you ask for the past couple of weeks. I’ve read more stinking manuals, called more “tech support” technicians (that don’t know shee-it), read more friggin internet forum posts and exchanged more PM’s with folks than I have in the past five years since I first discovered this internet forum world.

Nothing is definite. Nothing is without problems. Nothing works exactly as it is advertised to work.

Even the few HDMI equipped AVR’s that have the least amount of reported issues and are considered the most reliable…..have problems.

All that being said, these are the units I’ve narrowed my search down to.

The current line of Denon’s appear to be the most reliable considering HDMI audio (2807 and up). They will post process 5.1 PCM streams to extract 6 / 7 channels. I can not confirm if they do this by down mixing the 96/24 data streams to 48/24 or not. If they do downmix, you might as well stick to optical or coax and not worry about HDMI if you insist on 7.1.

Yamaha 1700 and 2700 are in the same boat as the Denons. They are also considered reliable and perform post processing. It is confirmed that these units down mix 96/24 data streams.

All the new line of Marantz AVR’s are doing well (user comments) but they are so new that there just isn’t that many owners around to test them out and report back. I can not confirm if they do any 5.1 post processing or not.

There are NO separates on the market that offer HDMI audio processing and only switch, with the exception of the Anthem D2 and AMV 40/50.

What you need to do if figure out what extra functions you want in an AVR first. This is just me making a suggestion based off my research, but I would stick to the three brands I listed above and pick one of their units with the features you want or need.

I would not wait for any 07 new models because you will just end up being a beta tester for that manufacture. The others have been out long enough to where others have already reported issues and firmware fixes are already being developed to address them.

…….good luck.



Did you investigate the pioneer elite 84 at all yet?

2xM80 VP180 2xQS8 2xM3 HSU STF3 LG 60PS11 Denon 3808 ATI 1506 LCR 2xATI 1502 Oppo BDP-83