Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Advice regarding Rears in a 7.1 setup

I would look at brands such as Denon, Harman Kardon and Pioneer for receivers. What's your price range and the features you need?

Good luck!

The M60s are an easy load on a receiver, and one can be chosen based upon the features you like.

Reputable brands include Denon, Onkyo, Yamaha, Pioneer, Sherwood-Newcastle, Outlaw, Marantz and Harman Kardon. Sony doesn't seem to be as popular with HT enthusiasts, though they're popular at the box stores.

Denons are popular here, based to some degree that they have no problems driving 4 Ohm speakers. Onkyo seems to be the better value of late in terms of feature set. Yamaha always has its fans, and a new model was just top-rated at Audioholics. Sherwood-Newcastle is a high quality option, and sold right here through Axiom (anyone know if the "5 piece discount" applies to S-N?).

Idealy it would be around $1000 but could go a bit higher the payoff is worth it.

I am not concerned with upconversion(I think the upconversion on the Pana 800U will be similar in quality to the Faroudja chipset) but do want the reciever to be able to take a component imput and output via HDMI (One of my media streaming devices only outputs component)

- Component in to HDMI out
-Passthrough is important to avoid HDCP errors.
-7.1 support
- The ability to run two separate sets of speakers
- a GUI is appreciated but not the deciding factor
- A phono input would be nice(I could survive without it and keep my old 70's Marantz in service or get a pre-amp for the receiver)
- The main thing is sound quality > features

Denon 2809.

How about spending a few hundred less on the receiver and then you can get the 7.1 setup? Or another sub... The difference between the $350 Onkyo 606 and the $1000 Onkyo 806 is not that great (for sound). It is worth it only when you jump to the $1500 876, IMHO. I am powering my M60's, VP150, and 4 QS8's with an Onkyo 705 in a room just slightly larger than yours. I can achieve ear splitting levels with this combo.

Check out the Onkyo line and see what you think....

Here are a few to consider. AVR The Onkyo series (at least the 806) does not have a pure pass through of the HMDI signal. Probably not a problem on 99% of setups, but worth knowing if video is a big deal for you. It stopped me from pulling trigger. The higher end Onkyos (875 and up) use an ISF video section and are near your price if you like Onkyo. And I would add Marantz to the short list. Very high quality product. I own a Denon 3300 and love it, except it for its lack of HDMI switching and HD audio codecs.

Regarding the original topic, here is a photo of what I'm using for rears. I had to construct a custom mounting plate for them:



This might have been funnier if we weren't currently discussing receivers and were still discussing rears instead....

I don't want to know who's rear was used to cast that!

Lol, Considering the subject line remains the same, I think the laughter coefficient is undiminished :-)

I DO NOT want to see Mark's fronts!!!