First H/T Receiver and DVD purchase???

[Cumminspuller]

This is my first post and hopefully you all can shed some light. But I have a confession, all you guys make me so mad. With all your knowledge and experience you just make it that much harder to decide. Just kidding.....but I am haveing a hard time weeding through it all. What I am looking for is a H/T receiver and a DVD/CD player. At this point I am looking at the HK 330 or 525, and the HK DVD25 or DVD101. With my lack of experience I am sure 'anything' will sound better than the 'nothing' we have at this time. Any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Jason

[recoveryone]

This is my first post and hopefully you all can shed some light. But I have a confession, all you guys make me so mad. With all your knowledge and experience you just make it that much harder to decide. Just kidding.....but I am haveing a hard time weeding through it all. What I am looking for is a H/T receiver and a DVD/CD player. At this point I am looking at the HK 330 or 525, and the HK DVD25 or DVD101. With my lack of experience I am sure 'anything' will sound better than the 'nothing' we have at this time. Any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Jason
To really get the help you seek we would need more info about your needs and desires= budget, room size, speakers etc....... I don't know much on the HK line, but I'm sure it would be a good start.

[Cumminspuller]

Well $600.00, and that is including shipping, at the most on the Receiver and a couple of hundred on the DVD. Room size is approximately 20x30. Speakers are to come later. As of now we just have an old set of BOSE someone gave to us and a couple of bookshelf JBL's. We are not loud music listeners. I like good clean sound quality, hearing every note. Types of music range from country, bluegrass, some Dave Mathews, Jewell, Gratefull Dead, etc. Not the big rock n' roll people, but do like older rock 50's, 60's, 70's. Never had the H/T before so not sure how to key you in on our surround sound desires there. Hope this helps. By the way, our TV is a 36" Toshiba.

Jason

[Cumminspuller]

OH........I know what you mean. My opinion of them....Junk. I have thought that from day one when the company first came out. But like I said, they were free. And they are just small. But like I said, 'real' speakers will come later. So no hurt feelings there if I get harrased. But anyway. Hope I can get some other opinions, and I appreciate you takeing the time to help me out.

Jason

[recoveryone]

Well $600.00, and that is including shipping, at the most on the Receiver and a couple of hundred on the DVD. Room size is approximately 20x30. Speakers are to come later. As of now we just have an old set of BOSE someone gave to us and a couple of bookshelf JBL's. We are not loud music listeners. I like good clean sound quality, hearing every note. Types of music range from country, bluegrass, some Dave Mathews, Jewell, Gratefull Dead, etc. Not the big rock n' roll people, but do like older rock 50's, 60's, 70's. Never had the H/T before so not sure how to key you in on our surround sound desires there. Hope this helps. By the way, our TV is a 36" Toshiba.

Jason
Don't take it personally, but you may catch hell for those BOSE....lol, The only thing AI would add is a sub if you plan on getting into HT

[Cumminspuller]

Well I got up Saturday morning here and started looking around again. Now I am looking at the Marantz SR6300........So what should I do. Marantz SR6300, H/K 330 or 525??? I do not have any place local for me to check either of these units out. Your help is much appreciated.

Jason

[Cumminspuller]

Ok, now I just found the Marantz SR6300 & Marantz DV4300 for $699.99+49.95 for shipping...........Good deal?

Jason

[TinHere]

Ok, now I just found the Marantz SR6300 & Marantz DV4300 for $699.99+49.95 for shipping...........Good deal?

Jason

I saw the HK 525 the other day at OneCall.com around $550ish.

For the DVD I would get the Pioneer 563A and have the capabilities of a universal player.

Happy hunting.

[uncooked]

i would do the same thing i did.

yamaha 5650

athena surround package.

mid range cheap and it sounds good.

and when you save up some money upgrade the fronts to the asf1's or asf2's like im going to do shortly,

you even go with the yamaha 5630 if you only want 5.1 and save about 200 bucks right there to. but i left the 6.1 option open in the future.

[psonic]

you seem to be mostly concerned with music, maybe 75/25? if this is the case, for $600 you can get a good integrated amp that will last you for years and give musical performance far beyond what the receiver can do. I know, I replaced a HK receiver recently with a Rotel integrated...Also, instead of buying 6 speakers, buy one quality pair...sounds better every time for music and will sound very good for movies; have you gone to any hifi dealers? if not, go out and listen to some amplifiers and receivers to give yourself some point of reference, this will also warm you up to some good speakers...

my point..if you are absolutely set on a HT receiver and multichannel surround shop carefully as most of these have many many features and lack in one area...sound quality, though HK is of the better Japanese you should also look at NAD B&K Rotel, and Creek if looking at integrateds

[headknocker]

I agree with Tin on the Pioneer DV-563A universal disc player. I should be getting mine tomorrow(via UPS from Crutchfield) and we paid around $170 for it. It also has progressive scan on the video side.It offers quite a bit of bang for the buck...a great deal on a unit that'll get you into the DVD-A/SACD ballgame on the cheap.

[Digital-G]

I'll chime in on the Pioneer DV-563A DVD player. I recommended that model to a friend over some of the Sony's he was considering. He loves it and said the picture quality and feature list are much more than what he expected.

As far as receivers go, you might also consider Denon and Yamaha along with the H/K and Marantz. I think all are good brands that will give you solid, dependable performance.

Here are some features you should consider for your receiver:
a. the remote - don't under-estimate the importance of an ergonomic remote control.
b. Dolby Digital AND DTS.
c. 6 channel analog input for use with SACD and DVD-Audio.
d. Bass management (large / small speaker settings and crossover control for a subwoofer).

Hope this helps...

[Cumminspuller]

Well here it is January 8th, and I still haven't bought anything. A couple more questions.

Digital-G suggested 6 channel analog input for SACD and DVD-audio, can someone eplain this a bit more?

And I hadn't thought about seperates:

1. Besides an amp and a tuner what else would I need?
2. Where are the 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 channels processed at? Is it all done in the amp?
3. Why do seperates sound better? Atleast that is what has been mentioned.


Jason

[Bumpin_on_Sunset]

I don't necessarily have any specific product recommendations, just a caveat -- research as much as you can, and try to "future-proof" whatever you buy.

Every other year it seems that I'm buying to keep up with new advents. This year I bought a DVD burner (computer-based) only to find out that I had to replace my not-quite-1.5-years-old JVC DVD player, because it didn't play either DVD RW, DVD-R or DVD+R discs. Videodiscs, yes, but not any of the other recordable DVD formats. Fortunately DVD players cost next to nothing these days thanks to market saturation, so the JVC was easily replaced -- but you get the point.

On another note, a few years ago I recall being in the same predicament (a blessed predicament, but a predicament all the same) of deciding on what receiver to get. I bought a Denon 3802 and never looked back. The thing performs so well that I've not experienced any of the usual pains of "upgrade-itis" that I read about on this and other websites. It does just about everything that I needed, and anything that it doesn't do is an unwarranted luxury.

I would agree with most, however, that your receiver should be partnered with speakers that are "better than average". I went with Silverline Audio speakers, but there are dozens of brands out there equally accomplished in performance and presentation, such as B&W, Aerial Acoustics, Totem, Proac, Triangle, Audio Physic, Vienna Acoustics and others .

Good luck!

[Digital-G]

I'm sure others can explain this better than me but here goes:

Q: Digital-G suggested 6 channel analog input for SACD and DVD-audio, can someone eplain this a bit more?

A: To take advantage of SACD and DVD-Audio you MUST use analog connections (unlike Dolby Digital and DTS, which take advantage of a single digital connection for 5.1) - I think it's a copy-protection-paranoia thing. Because the connections are analog you will have one for each speaker: Front Right, Front Left, Center, Subwoofer, Surround Right, Surround Left. Six wires from your DVD player into your Receiver, plus your digital connection. All of this is just for sound and does not include the connections to your TV for your picture.


And I hadn't thought about seperates:

Q: Besides an amp and a tuner what else would I need?

A: With seperates you will typically have: source, pre-amp, amplifier, speakers. Source will be any of the following: turntable, cd player, dvd player, tape deck, tuner, etc. Pre-amp controls your signals: volume, speaker switching, balance, processing (Dolby Digital, DTS, Pro Logic, surrounds modes), etc. The amplifier will simply amplify the signals and send the signal directly to the speakers; amplifiers are typically 2 amplified channels (stereo) or 5 amplified channels (home theater).

Q: Where are the 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 channels processed at? Is it all done in the amp?

A: With seperates the 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1 processing will be done in the pre-amp (for digital sources like Dolby Digital and DTS). If you have a receiver (a receiver basically combines a pre-amp and the amplifer) the processing is done there. SACD and DVD-Audio are decoded in the DVD player and output thru the 6 analog cables.

Q: Why do seperates sound better? Atleast that is what has been mentioned.

A: Because they cost more. Ha ha ha. I jest, but there is actually a lot of truth to that. Generally speaking, seperates are built to a higher degree of quality, because as many comprimises aren't being made to fit everything into a single $300 box (i.e. a receiver). That's not to say there aren't good receivers out there. There are. There's many good ones. There are also many bad ones. You'll be fairly safe with the brand names mentioned above.

With a good receiver you actually get a lot of bang for the buck. I would personally recommend that you stick with a decent receiver if this is your first venture into home theater. Here's why:

a. It will be less expensive - if you really want to spend more money now, put it into better speakers (or a better subwoofer) - Or a better receiver for that matter. Speakers should last 20 years or more and won't become outdated like most other elecronic components. Plus they will make the biggest difference in the quality of sound (at least IMO).
b. You will get more features. Receivers typically have more features than seperates, although you probably won't want or use all of them.
c. You can upgrade later and replace your receiver.
d. It will be simpler (this is relative of course) to hook up and configure than seperate components.
e. Lastly, once you have a system and live with it for a while, you may have a better feel for what seperates will bring to the mix and you will be better able to make educated buying decisions. I wouldn't recommend that a first time system (stereo or home theater) buyer go with seperates, unless you have the extra coin and you have some idea of what you want.

Clear as mud, eh? Seriously, I hope this helps. I'm sure if I'm mistaken on any of my facts some other helpful members will chime in.

Good luck.

[poneal]

Ya its tough. For that price range and H/T in mind, I think your best bet is to get a receiver. Personally, I have a H/K 320. I've had it for about 2 years with no problems. The best thing to do is to listen to them if you can. Hard to buy without first listening because you don't know what to expect. A lot of people here also recommend Yamaha receivers. I and others hate to recommend anything because of biases and differences in opinions. But $600 can get you a decent mid-fi H/T receiver. Just remember that whatever you buy you will be living with for a decade or more (unless your a true audiophile that can never stop upgrading). Hope this helps. Paul.

[Cumminspuller]

You guys are going to make my head explode. I just had an aquiantance of mine tell me he personally would choose Denon over H/K or Marantz. He felt that over the last few years H/K quality and sound quality has gone done and that Marantz he said was pretty high end equipment and probably doesn't even produce the SR6300 I have been looking at. Probably just slap their name on it.

So I jumped over and looked at the Denon 2803 and noticed it had 7 seperate amplifiers, one for each channel. Do the AVR525 or the SR6300 have that? I haven't seen anywhere if they have? Is it better, worse, just as good?

HELP!!!!!!!!!!

Jason

[F1]

..........
So I jumped over and looked at the Denon 2803 and noticed it had 7 seperate amplifiers, one for each channel. Do the AVR525 or the SR6300 have that? I haven't seen anywhere if they have? Is it better, worse, just as good?
HELP!!!!!!!!!!
Jason

SR6300 have 6 channel power amplifier, but trust me you don't really need 7 channel amplifier. 5 channel amplifier is actually enough. If you can fork out a bit more, SR7300 give you more ample power supply and better DAC and probably other extra features. I think it's worth the extra price. Both share the same learning remote control, which is cool. In case you care where they are made, SR6300 is made in China and SR7300 is made in Japan. Both models were recently discontinued so you should be able to get some discount. Btw, I'm happy with my SR7300 for both music and movie. Good luck.

[Cumminspuller]

F1,

Did you mean to say the SR6300 has 6 amplifiers, one for each channel?

Jason

I did find it interesting that refurbished HK and Marantz receivers have a full factory warranty afterwards. Buat when I looked at the Denon refurbs, they only had a 90 day parts and labor warranty. Am I missing something here? Or does Denon not have to much faith in their technicians or maybe their equipment?

Jason

[F1]

F1,
Did you mean to say the SR6300 has 6 amplifiers, one for each channel?
........

Yes, just like the Denon you mentioned. Afaik, all HT receivers have discrete 5 or 6 or 7 amplifiers (one for each channel) onboard, however, all channels share the same power supply.