Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Thinking about an AVR upgrade and Blu-Ray player..

I'm contemplating an upgrade from my old(ish) HK 635 to a similar but more updated AVR with HDMI inputs and whatever else the newer units have now without busting the bank ... probably in the neighborhood of $1500(ish) is about what I'd spend, a little more if the upgrades are worth the cost. I'm using the Rotel RB-1080 to drive the 80s up front so needing to have gobs of power is not an issue.

Also, what Blu-Ray player is about the best reasonably priced unit out right now? As y'all can probably tell, I haven't been keeping up with what's new regarding the A/V as of late.

I welcome any and all advice.

I've been awaiting the Sherwood Newcastle R-972, and from what I can tell the Sony PS3 is still the best bargain out there for Blu-Ray when you consider all the other features you get with it.

Rick,

I've been pleased with my Denon 3808 and Panasonic BD 30 combo. Combined, you'll be looking at around fifteen hundred. The 3808 will play nicely with the 1080 driving the M80's. I'm using a 5 X 200 / 8 Ohm NHT rig right now, but the 3808 didn't have much trouble on its own.

After you hear a BR concert disk, you’ll wonder why it took you so long to hear these new codecs…. I just got the John Mayer BR and it’s unbelievably good. I thought the Dave Mathews BR was terrific, but this one tops it.

Rick, you shouldn't need to go anywhere near as high as $1500 for a receiver that'll do what you want. The Onkyo 705 and Denon 2808 can often be had in factory refurbs around $500. For around $1000 the Onkyo 875(with the superior Reon video processing)and the Denon 3808 are good choices.

The Panny BD30 has worked for me quite well. Sends all the new codecs via HDMI to the AVR.

Thanks guys, the 3808 and the Panny are what I *thought* might be the choices but with me being sort of out of the loop as of late I didn't know if there was anything newer out or not.

Craig, the PS3 did cross my mind but being an old fella and all, I'm not really into gaming and the old school in me would rather have a component in the rack that pretty much matches the other A/V equipment that's already there. It's not fun getting old!

We hardly ever use our PS3 for gaming (other than the occasional Rock Band party with friends). As a cd/dvd/blu-ray player it's terrific. It's WiFi networking also makes is a great MP3 playback device (if they'd only improve the GUI!)

I've heard rumors that the 2nd gen PS3's may be much more "component looking"...though if you don't need to stack anything atop it, it's a pretty good looking piece of equipment itself as-is.

The PS3 has a very nice look and doesn't take up much space in my rack because of its low profile.
I also needed a player that did all the decoding since my receiver won't, I've been very happy with it.

Rick,

Please take a second look at the PS3. I love mine and echo the comments above. Plus, I'm a little long in the tooth myself (though not as old as Jack) and the thing is just a powerful little solution at a (relatively) great price in relation to BD players.

It has the added advantage of being able to plug in USB. I have an 8 port powered USB hub that has a 750 GB and 320 GB hard drives. On them, I have my music, pics and am transferring my DVDs. Pretty cool actually.

But one thing to keep in mind is the noise factor. My XA2, Samsung 1400 are nearly silent. PS3 can be quite loud. I 40GB version used to be pretty quite, but lately, it has been pretty loud (it's not the weather as I keep my house at a pretty constant temp). If you don't mind that and that you need a small device to make it work with IR, it's a decent BD player.

I use it mostly for gaming leaving the BD duties to my 1400.