Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Whats the best for $500?

I have a pair of 80's the rest of the stuff fro Axiom for my home theater. Need a new receiver but cannot spend more than $500.00
What are the suggestions?
Thanks for all your help!

I'm guessing you're looking for an HT receiver. First thing to do, start thinking refurb--you'll get a better reciever that way. One to look for would be the H/K 435. You could also look for recent models, such as the Yamaha 1400, the H/K 430 or 525, etc.

For the 80's you want something that will be able to drive a 4-ohm speaker. Denon's and HK will have no problem. For that price range you might be able to get a Denon 2105, which is basically like my 2805 but with a few less bells and whistles. HK also has some affordable stuff. I bought my 2805 at American Electronics when they had an employee pricing day. I picked it up for a little under $700, so the 2105 might be in reach.

good luck

ps So you bought the speakers before you had a receiver to drive them?

Paul, any of the receivers of the major manufacturers in that price range should be adequate for your M80s unless you're going to be listening at extremely high volume in a very large room. Some examples would be the Denon 2105(2106 coming next month), HK435, Pioneer 1015 and Yamaha 1500. Get the features that you want at a price within your budget.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5789915610&category=39794&rd=1

Directly from harman kardon with warranty. Go for it!

Oh hell yeah! That's the one to do, if you can nab it for less than $500.

Definately.

I got their HK3480 stereo receiver - 23 lbs, 120x2 @ 8 ohms for about $190 after shipping and taxes on ebay.

harmanaudio on ebay > harmanaudio on harmanaudio.com. they sell the same refurbs for cheaper on ebay - good thing I noticed, or I'd have gotten the lower model 3380 for the same price as I just got the 3480!

In reply to:

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You could also look for recent models, such as the Yamaha 1400

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Probably a bad idea. The 2500 from yamaha is newer and a model above the 1*00 series, and it is horrible into 4 ohm loads. See here - the fact that the damping factor goes down to SET tubeish levels at that impedance says a lot for how the 2500(probably much worse for the 1400) can handle a 4 ohm load.

Yeah, I forgot about the 4 ohm thing when I wrote that. Ignore me!

So you bought the speakers before you had a receiver to drive them?

Well the story is long but the short of it is this, I bought smaller axioms for the liveing room ( REALLY FOR THE WIFE) and built a sound room in basement. I thought I use an old denon 2500 for the room trying to keep the expense of my "play room" down. But when I hooked it up it does not sound good at all in surround sound. So I had to budjet in for a new ht reciever. When I figue out how to add picks I will post them.

If you know anyone on the west coast they may be able to get you good deals on Hk from Fry's. I have heard that Frys sells some HK receivers, new, at remanufactured prices.....