marantz, hk?

[musicismypassion]

If music is your main priority would you go with the Marantz SR4200(refurbished from authorized dealer) or the HK AVR230(open box from Circuit City). I can get both of them for around the same price. It will be used for a 5.1 sytem, but remember music is the main priority here.

[kexodusc]

In all honesty you won't find much difference between these two receivers. I have a slight bias towards Marantz having owned 2 great units in the past few years. That being said, my own personal experience is that H/K uses slightlier beefier power supplies and works a bit better for music, but this comes at the expense of HT features. That's just a broad generalization on my part based on my own shopping experiences. I'm not 100% familiar with these two models and haven't done a feature by feature comparison. Again, sound wise, you won't notice much difference between them.

[nightflier]

I concur with Kexo, but I wouldn't buy an open-box buy either. Who knows what customers have mucked with on that receiver. I've seen people plug and unplug things all the time in the store, and that's just a recipe for ongoing problems. Pay the extra $40(?) for the peace-of-mind. If you decide on the Marantz, try to find out why it was returned. You don't want something major to be wrong with it. I've seen a receiver circuit board that was incorrectly soldered by the manufacturer, and we had to send it back requesting a brand new unit. It was a battle that took a year to resolve.

You're better off going with a used component from someone you know or at least someone you have time to get to know before making the purchase.