Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Decision made on speakers! Now the receiver??!!

Due to a nice tax return coming soon into our bank account, and most importantly due to my wife's acceptance, I am ready to finally complete my Home Theater!!! The upcoming price increase on Feb 28th played an important part in our decision. Please see my sig. for my current setup. I have made up my mind for the following:

QS8 times 2. VP 100, and FMS QS stands time 2. I will get them from factory "B" and also save another 5% since I am buying five items.

Now I need you help guys in making my decision on receivers, as I am struggling between three options:

1 - Rotel RSX-1057 Was my first choice for a while. However, it only does HDMI switching.

2 - A new, coming soon, HDMI 1.3 receiver to take advantage of my ps3's BD and new sound formats. However, is it worth the wait? It will be tough to have speakers waiting for the receiver in my home. Besides, I can only do 5.1 due to the sofa being directly against the wall, and I have read that one cannot take a full advantage of HDMI 1.3 audio without a 7.1 system. Also, isn't audio processing better done by the player and not the receiver?

3 - Buy a "cheappo", temporary receiver until the HDMI issues is sorted out.

Any advise is greatly appreciated!! Feel free to "change my mind" on my Axiom speaker selection as well. A blessing in disguise is that there is wait for factory "B" outlet items, and I don't plan to place the order until next week. Please note that I still plan to use my Rotel RB-1080 amp with the new receiver for stereo in bypass mode.

Re the tax return, JohnK will be along shortly to slap you with a not-quite dead, still twitching trout.

Lump sums still feel much better than a bi-monthly trickle, though, don't they?

I wouldn't worry about HDMI 1.3 at this point, you should be able to get the HD sound from the PS3 through HDMI 1.1 as long as the receiver is compatible with LPCM through its HDMI.

Are you looking to get one those "last" of the HG cherry models?

I can't remember what color you have.

Skerdi, as Peter indicated, the first thing you get is a slap for giving the federal government an interest-free loan instead of owing a little with your return.

On the speakers, looks good, but I'd suggest that you consider a vertical M2 or M22 center for smoother and wider horizontal dispersion than a horizontal MTM configuration.

As to the receiver, as the previously cited material indicated, HDMI 1.3 shouldn't be a major consideration. I'd suggest a less expensive receiver such as the Onkyo 604 or Yamaha 659, which you might find to be more than just a temporary solution.

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Any example?

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I know the Denons are compatible with LPCM through HDMI, that's why I'm upgrading my 3805 to a Denon receiver with HDMI outs. I didn't do alot of research other than the Denons, but I'm sure most the mid to high end receivers with HDMI should work, there has been much disscusion on other forums about this and many receivers that will work have been mentioned.

Just registered today, so forgive me as the 1.3 issue has probably been beaten to death, like everywhere else. Just fyi for the poster. Looks like BD discs are 5.1 uncompressed pcm from DD. 1.3 will allow TrueHD and DTS-MA. I dont think you need 1.3 for DTS-HD. Also, even just having 1.1, the dts formats are still supposed to sound better, if not to full capability. I believe there is only one TrueHD BD out, Legends of Jazz, but that its supposedly compressed? I do NOT (edit) own any hi-def disc player.

I agree with the other posters, that its not a big concern. I think it will take a long time for it to matter. Among my 480i dvd collection, I can count all the DTS-ES soundtracks on one hand.

It is amazing for me to see how much things have changed and developed in 1-2 years I haven't been reading and kept in touch with Home Theater audio formats! I guess I neeed to re-do my homework for a while. I have no idea what these sound formats you guys are mentioning are.

Doug, I will get the black center to match my black M60s and probably Mansfield Beech for rears to match our sofa and our standing lamp shade for the rears.

John, I am really limited in terms of placement for the center. I have to place it on the top shelf of my DLP TV stand (underneath the tv) where M2 or 22 would not fit. I talked to Brent at Axiom who assured me that VP100 would be more than enough for my small living room and sitting distance.

Do you guys suggest a particular HDMI 1.1 receiver? I am certenly having a look at Mike's new receiver (mdrew). My upper spending limit for the receiver is USD 1,500.00

I believe mdrew's Marantz has HDMI 1.2, there are many good receivers in that price range and below, I prefer Denon's so ther would be many good choices there, 2807, 3806, 4306.