Like the title says, what are people's opinions on refurb'd receivers? Of course, this would be an authorized dealer. I have never gone down the refurb road, so I'm concerned w/ buying such an important component that's not new.

I've got a refurb H/K 525, no problems yet.... My thoughts are that the refurbs (assuming authorized reseller) have been checked over personally by techs, and therefore may well be more reliable than new units.

Ken said it first. Also, the price is usually better than excellent. If your authorized dealer is reputable, this isn't a bad route. I picked up a Denon DVM-4800 5-disc CD/DVD for about 1/3 of MSRP from ecost. Lots of other folks here have similar stories.

TD, I'll go with yea. Electronic components that are going to develop a problem often have it at a relatively early point. Once that's fixed and given a thorough check there often won't be another problem for a long time, although that isn't certain, of course. As Ken and Ray indicate, you'll probably do very well and save quite a bit of money.

Picked up a used Denon 3803 and it sound great to me. Make sure that they are an authorized dealer.

I bought a refurb Marantz 5200 about 2 years ago from an authorized dealer. Saved a lot of money, and it has worked absolutely flawlessly for me. If its authorized, I would highly recommend this route.

i got a refurb Onkyo 701 in march for $429, w/full factory warrenty. at the time, it was selling for $649 at most discount online retailers. i think it was well worth the $220 savings. havent had a single problem, and it is still rockin' like a champ!

so , i saw Yay..

bigjohn

I would not be to concerned about it, I friend of mine bought his refurbed Denon from a Denon authorized etailer. They are looked over to make sure they perform as new, in most cases people return receivers because they just change their mind, and there is nothing wrong with the unit. Denon can't sell a return as new...

Thanks for everyone's input. I believe you have put my fears to rest concerning refurb'd receivers. You're opinions are as I hoped/expected. I just wanted to make sure.

The only hindrance to me now is that frugal side of me telling me to suck it up and buy this Pioneer 1014, which is about $200 cheaper than the Marantz that I'm looking at. I know that the Marantz will probably sound better, but this Pioneer has every feature that I'd be looking for at a price that cannot be beat. I've spent a ton of $ finishing my basement, so I'm finding that I'm becoming a tightwad as I near the end. But, nowhere else can you find that feature-set for under $400. It's no wonder every post over at the AVS receiver forum seems to be about this thing and it's on backorder everywhere.

Anyone happen to have done any A/B comparisons between this pioneer and it's counterparts?....Yamaha, Marantz, Harmon Kardon or Denon? I'd love to hear whether or not there is an audible difference in quality.

I have no experience with the 1014. But, as you point out, there sure as heck is a lot of buzz about it. I see it mentioned just about everywhere.

Just to add another vote for column A, I would definitely trust an authorized refurb. I bought my brother a refurbed HD TV a year ago for Christmas - for about half price of retail. WOrks flawlessly, no issues.

I agree with the theory that whatever problems that they might have had have expressed themselves and been corrected. Smooth sailing after that.

Dog - take a look here for pricing.vailability on the 1014. Added advantage of giving you some input on the resellers - just be sure thy are authorized. BTW - plug in your zip code for accurate shipping/tax info.

Also, before you run off and order the thing, HK has their own online refurb outlet . Keep in mind they tend to understate their power output.

I am actually narrowed down to the two choices....the Marantz SR7400 or the Pioneer 1014TX. I am fairly confident that the Marantz is a superior receiver, but the stingy side of me is trying to reconcile whether or not that difference in quality is worth the $200 extra. I looked at H/Ks, but there was something they didn't offer in my price range.... perhaps the component video switching, which I need for feeding my projector.

I must be the most unlucky person in this forum. I bought a factory direct refurbished HK 525. Had to take it to get fixed at a HK authorized dealer as soon as the warranty expired. I think i had a 30 or 90 day warranty. Anyway when I got them back they had another problem. I took them back and there fixing it, no charge the second time atleast. Each time I have had to pay someone to connect everything for me, unfortunately Im not very handy...anyway I just bought a new receiver because I didnt want to risk it again. If you would add all the money Ive spent on this I could imagine the receiver I could have had if I wouldnt have tried to save $200 or whatever I was trying to save. Yes I'm frustrated and pissed off about it obviously but I just try to look at it as a lesson learned.

Update: I'm back out of the refurb arena. Last night, I was digging around the Internet and found out that the SR7400 does not have any audio delay/lip synch functionality. Since this receiver will be feeding a DLP projector, I really want to be sure that the receiver has that feature.

Incidently, this knocked the Pioneer 1014TX out of the race, as well.

So, I'm now back to a choice between the Marantz SR5500 and the Yamaha RX-V1500. They are generally the same price and the features are similar. The only hesitation I am having with the 5500 is that it only has 4 digital inputs, which would only cover my existing hardware. However, because of my experiences hearing Marantz and Yamaha, I have a preference towards Marantz. Ughhhh....

Oh well....I'll keep churning and eventually come up with a decision.