Receiver recommendations
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 12,077 Likes: 7
Founder, Axiom Upgrade Club shareholder in the making
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OP
Founder, Axiom Upgrade Club shareholder in the making
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 12,077 Likes: 7 |
My sister and brother-in-law are looking at getting into surround sound and also just need more HDMI inputs. The TV I gave them (one of the bulky 32" Sony CRT HDTVs) only has one DVI-HDCP input, so right now they have the PS3 hooked up to it. Rather than just get an HDMI switch, they want to take the opportunity to get a new receiver. They're looking at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882115197What would your recommendations be in that price range? Because I'm a bit more extreme (stupid?), receivers in that range are rarely on my radar. Does that seem like it would be fine, or is there something more compelling out there? I'd appreciate the input, and I'm sure they would, too. I'm not sure what they're going to do about speakers. I mean, he has some, but I think they're just some small JBLs. They don't have much money to blow, so I may buy some for them. We'll see.
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Re: Receiver recommendations
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,654
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,654 |
Charles, my suggestion in the $400 price range would be the Onkyo 706 factory refurb from Accessories4less. That Yamaha would certainly be fine as an amplifier, but I'd prefer the 706 features, particularly Audyssey MultEQ.
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Enjoy the music, not the equipment.
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Re: Receiver recommendations
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 12,077 Likes: 7
Founder, Axiom Upgrade Club shareholder in the making
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OP
Founder, Axiom Upgrade Club shareholder in the making
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 12,077 Likes: 7 |
Thanks, John. That does seem like a good deal. I think they would get a lot out of Dynamic EQ since they live in an apartment and wouldn't want to be blasting their system. It's nice to know they can get a receiver in their price range that has it.
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Re: Receiver recommendations
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 12,077 Likes: 7
Founder, Axiom Upgrade Club shareholder in the making
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OP
Founder, Axiom Upgrade Club shareholder in the making
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 12,077 Likes: 7 |
Anyone have an opinion on the Denon AVR-1910? That might be stretching their budget, but my brother-in-law isn't too comfortable with the idea of a refurb.
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Re: Receiver recommendations
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,654
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,654 |
My view, which you might suggest to him, is that a unit rechecked by the factory is even more likely to be trouble-free than a brand-new one.
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Enjoy the music, not the equipment.
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Re: Receiver recommendations
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 12,077 Likes: 7
Founder, Axiom Upgrade Club shareholder in the making
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OP
Founder, Axiom Upgrade Club shareholder in the making
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 12,077 Likes: 7 |
I did try telling them that, but he still seems uneasy.
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Re: Receiver recommendations
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 1,789
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 1,789 |
I hate to say this, because what John is saying actually makes a lot of sense logically speaking... however in practice I've bought three refurb items, and have had problems with all three.
The 1st item was a mini DV video recorder I bought in the late 90's/early 2000's... I purchased it online for $500 bucks refurbished, it was a $2000 dollar video camera new, so I couldn't pass up $1500 in savings! It worked great for about 9 months and then it just up & quit one day. It only came with a 3 month warrantee, and nobody locally could work on the thing. So anyway, that $500 went up in smoke.
The 2nd item was a full screen, double din, Kenwood car stereo DVD/CD player. I got it for a cool $750, and it too cost around $2000 brand new!!! A little over a year after I bought it the DVD/CD player stopped working. Same story with the warrantee/shops willing to work on it. So now I have an excellent $750 dollar radio in my car.
And lastly when my Maxtor R.A.I.D. Memory back-up storage unit went out last summer we had to get a recovery team to get our pictures off of the disks, which cost us $1800 clams. Then as a replacement they ended up sending us a refurbished unit to back our files up on. We didn't ask for a refurb unit, nor did I ok them to send us a refurbished unit, they just sent it to me anyway. So it lasted about 4 months, then at the end of December it completely crapped out on us. And when I say completely I mean my computer can't even see it as an external drive anymore, it's completely fucked!!! Thank God we had all our pictures backed up on yet another hard drive (we learned from that first debacle), so we didn't have to pay for another recovery. But that hard drive is completely gone.
So that's 3 for 3 we struck out on. I'm sure there are those with the exact opposite results when buying refurb equipment without an problems out of it what-so-ever. And if that's you, then more power to ya, I'm happy for you. But my experience with refurbished merchandise hasn't been good up to this date and time.
And although you can save TONS of money with refurb stuff, I won't spend my money on anything that isn't brand new and in the original box anymore. I've simply been burned too many times. I hate to have a negative attitude about something like that, but we can't always chose the hand we're dealt in life....
And no I'm not preaching to anyone else about what they should or should not do, I'm simply stating my own opinion about refurbished stuff.
My Stuff :
M80's QS8's VP150 EP800 Denon 4802 Emotiva XPA-3 Samsung BD-P3600 Sharp 65 Inch Aquos LCD
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Re: Receiver recommendations
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 6,015
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 6,015 |
Your problem with refurbs sounds like my problems with Sears. Some people don't have any problems with them. But (to make a long story short) I bought a lawn mower, oven, garage door opener, clothes, and some tool. And that's all I bought in that 4 year period. And all 5 of them were faulty products that quit working, or were very inferrior in some way. I'll never buy from Sears again.
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Re: Receiver recommendations
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 110
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 110 |
I would generally avoid the current model year of Yamaha AVRs. The previous year of models were higher quality. The only AVRs that seem to be decent this year are the Denons.
M22 VP100 QS8 RX-V665 DMP-BD55 SMS-1 LFM-1+ LG47SL90
Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
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Re: Receiver recommendations
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 6,833
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 6,833 |
My view, which you might suggest to him, is that a unit rechecked by the factory is even more likely to be trouble-free than a brand-new one. My brother-in-law wasn't quite that lucky. He got sent a bad unit. It had a bad rear channel. If you do go this route make certain you keep all the original packing. He got a full refill minus the cost of packaging as he didn't keep the original box. It took two weeks to get a new unit sent to him.
Rick
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity." Sigmund Freud
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