Looking at used Marantz SR-8000 for $500

[bwithers]

I am looking for a 5.1 home theater receiver for music and movies. I only need it to do 5.1 so I figured I would pick up a decent brand used. My original research lead me to Marantz 7000 series and NAD T760 series (61, 62).

I'm willing to wait until after christmas (probably a lot of happy new receiver owns will want to unload their old units). I did see a Marantz SR-8000 for sale locally for $500. It's a bit more receiver than I need and I'm willing to guess I can do better after christmas. Any thoughts?

[woodman]

I am looking for a 5.1 home theater receiver for music and movies. I only need it to do 5.1 so I figured I would pick up a decent brand used. My original research lead me to Marantz 7000 series and NAD T760 series (61, 62).

I'm willing to wait until after christmas (probably a lot of happy new receiver owns will want to unload their old units). I did see a Marantz SR-8000 for sale locally for $500. It's a bit more receiver than I need and I'm willing to guess I can do better after christmas. Any thoughts?

I'd say that you can "do better" than this at any time of the year - not just after Christmas. In fact IMO, to spend $500 on a used receiver would only make sense if it was really somethng special. In other words, a spectacular bargain - a really, really good "deal". This receiver does not live up to that criteria. For one thing, it's now 5 years old - introduced in the 2000 model year, so it sports 5 year old technology. With the rapid technological advances that have been occurring, this is a meaningful negative factor against a 5 year old used product Further, it only carried an MSRP of $1200 when new, and based upon "street pricing" probably sold openly for around $895 (or less). So, this is not much of a seriously good deal, especially when really good new receivers can be had for that price.

If you value reliability, look no further than Yamaha - the industry leader in that important criteria. Ignore those that try to tell you that Brand X "sounds better" ... any differences in sonic quality between various brands of receivers is minimal, and subtle, and in the final analysis not meaningful. Certainly not something to base a buying decision upon.

Hope this helps you