Recommendations

I have a coworker who asked for a recommendation on a good
newly made 2 channel receiver that has a phono input for around 300?
(Although, we could most likely for go the phono input and get her a AT-PEQ3 instead)

It does not have to be a "giant killer" because she would never really notice the
difference, just something that sounds great.

Any suggestions are much appreciated!

I did a little research and found that most companies that make a stereo only receiver at the price point that she is looking at do not have a phono input but I did see that the newest Onkyo stereo receivers in her price class do offer phono inputs. While Onkyo is a good brand it is no giant killer but it does have above par current abilities in comparison to the run of the mill sony and pioneer receivers you will see at best buy and will certainly give her better sound than the run of the mill receiver and they do have them at the $299 price point msrp. I figure if you shopped around you could find one under that price and while it might not be a super power house it will power a good set of speakers and have a good reliability and sound quality for a budget stereo buyers needs. I looked a Marantz and Denon and none of their receivers have phono inputs in this price class. I have a Yamaha myself for theater use but it is a little bit older and I feel that the budget priced yamaha receivers built today do not meet the standards of build quality and sound that Yamaha had years ago so I would myself look more closer at Onkyo and while I did not research for very long to see what all is out there you might do some research and find something someone else makes that will work as well.

Does she need radio? If not, some of the NAD integrated amps are in her price. Not sure if phono stage built in and most likely low power. If needing radio then I 2nd the Onkyo rec. Yamaha does have a statement stereo receiver but it's around $499.00.

I like the Onkyo receivers, too, and refurbs are sold at deep discounts here:

Onkyo TX-8555

Onkyo TX-8255

BestBuy sells a decent Insignia stereo receiver with a phono stage. Nice thing is you can buy it and take it back within two weeks for a full refund if not satisfied.

I would go for a Harmon Kardon 3390. It's warmer sounding than the Onkyo's and has more features.

http://www.harmankardon.com/EN-GB/Pr...ls.aspx?PID=HK 3390/230

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...sl_5s4y0jfr6_b