Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Good receiver for $300-$400?

Could anyone point me in the right direction for any good receivers in this price range. I will be making a purchase this week so if anyone has some input would be greatly appreciated.

thx

my set up
M22ti front
M2i rear
VP100 center
Velodyne CHT-10

I'm a fan of the Yamaha RX-V series... nothing lower than the 540 though, in my opinion - you give up too many features.

Bren R.

I was also looking at the HK AVR230

warehouse,

the $300-$400 dollar range is just barely gonna get you an entry level receiver, unless you can find a great deal. to start, you need to ask yourself what you want the receiver to do, or what you will need it to do in the near future. as far as, inputs/outputs, watts, pre/pro amp capability, etc. at that price range, some of your better options will probably be the DENON 1604(or a 2803 on clearance), Onkyo 501 or 601, and a few yamaha's.. i am not sure if HK even has a receiver starting in that range, but you can always find good b-stock/refurb stuff on clearance.. dont be afraid of buying refurb.. they usually always still have warranty.. make sure to check for that. here are a few good websites.

www.dakmart.com
www.ecost.com
www.macmall.com

those should help start your search..good luck

bigjohn

I have a Denon 1804 and am very happy with it. The only thing it does not have is pre-outs, so when I need to, um, make a change someday, I'll have to get separates. But honestly, it plays plenty loud and I doubt I'll need more features in the foreseeable future. The remote does suck, though.

The Denon refurbs from Ecost are usually really good deals.

I agree with Craig, the ecost deals at this link are excellent. I picked up a unit there last year I am very pleased with and a couple of the folks here (mhorgel for one) just scored some DVD Players.

Right niow they have the 1803 @ 299 and the 2803 @ $459. The 1803 is very good, but the 2803 is a steal at that price and will be all of the reciever you will need for some time to come. You can use it as a pre/pro. If you decide to go this way, don't dawdle - these things don't usually last long.

Ray

Harman Kardon makes excellent receivers. I have had three already. They have a new line. Most can be bought on E-Bay for alot less than any of the E-tailers. Just make sure it's new and has a US warantee. The differences are in the amount of watts driven to the speakers. They are all 7.1 or 5.1 with multi-room.

Enjoy.
Jim

Harman Kardon AVR-330/630
Good Luck

how bout one of those new panasonic Digital amps. they have been getting rave reviews.

Check the Onkyo TX-SR601. I bought mine (new) for $399.00 dlvd at http://www.bestpriceaudiovideo.com. They are an authorized Onkyo dealer.

Haoleb, for $300, I'd give the new Panasonic SAXR 45 a try, for sure! For something more conventional, I'd go with the Panasonic SAHE 200 - for the money, I think it may be the best receiver out there. BTW, I currently do not own any Panasonic product.

I second the Denon 1604. My dad has it and loves it.

oK I have broke it down to these two:
Harmon Kardon AVR 230
Denon 1804

Funny what decisions some people have to make...

Why does everybody say the Denon remote sucks? If it's the same as the remote for my 2802 it is pretty cool. I've programmed mine to run everything. It won't allow me to operate EVERY feature of EVERY component, but w/ some creativity I've got most of them covered.

Remember, w/ the two selector switches you have 8 possible components to operate. Use the unused component settings to store specific operational commands that the remote otherwise would not perform.

Bigwill - Try explaining what you just said to my wife, and she'll tell you that the Denon remote sucks. But that probably holds true for most remotes.

get a denon

i have one powering the epic80 system and it plays very loud and handles the lown ohmage very well as well.

well, i have said enough

Mark, I agree with you AND Adrien.

*I* thought the remote was fine and understood how to work it. Flexible and robust enough to "take care of business".

But all that switching between components made my lovely bride swear like a sailor. So, Ray made me buy a MX-700 and I'm still programming the bugger a week later. But I do think it will help me achieve home theatre feng shui.

If the MX-700 proves to be too difficult to tweak properly, I go the Harmony "family remote" and found it both easy to set up, fully programmable, fully customizable, and my wife agrees. She loves the new remote - got rid of 5 other remotes - even works my TiVo.

Hijack!

So, what do you think about the position of the transport controls on the Harmony? I was seriously thinking about one, but they put all the important buttons on the bottom instead of in the middle, like the TiVo.

Yeah - the transport buttons definitely suck where they are placed. They do offer an lcd screen up top where you can place these functions if you so desire. I use this space for other functions.

If I could change three things about the remote - I would only change one (because I think that otherwise, it is perfect) - the position these buttons.

But, you know what - I use the buttons failry rarely, even with my TiVo - and you get used to it fairly quickly.

My brother got the Sony LCD touchscreen remote, which really LOOKS cool, but the Harmony actually IS cool. I can't say it enough times how much my wife really digs this purchase. To her (and to me) this remote made our system which was fairly complicated (3 separate components need to be turned on just to watch TV - and don't even start on switching between channel and volume - talk about a pain) into a real ease. And it's kind of fun to press an activity button, like "watch a movie" and see the tv turn on, the dvd player start up, the stereo go to DVD, the tv change to DVD, and then access the menu and go to 16:9 enhanced, all with the touch of one button. Easy and simple.

Adrien, is your brother's Sony a RMA-3100? Big 4"-5" square thing that requires 2 hands, has low ligth & contrast and collects finger grease from the enire family on the touch screen so you know where to find it if you want to do some french fries? Yeah, I had on of those and got the MX-700 instead. I considered the Harmony as well (nice unit), but I liked the way the 700 felt and it's combo of hard buttons and LCD screen. I absolutely love the thing.

MX-700 or Harmony? SVS or HSU? Denon or Yammy or Onkyo or HK? Nice set of problems all with the same answer!

Yes - it's the big, sexy looking one that does more impressing sitting on his coffee table than running his components. I'm not sure of the model #