Putting together a budget (as in frugally cheap) 2 channel system, help!

[harley .guy07]

I am not sure about the HK quality control either but I do know that they sell some units at Best Buy and I talked to one of the managers there and they said they aren't bad but the quality does not seem to be what Denon, Onkyo, And some Yamaha are doing now but I used to be an avid Yamaha fan and I will say that in new units it seems to me that Denon and Onkyo have one upped Yamaha in the last couple years when it comes to quality. Its all up to you on whether you go new or used but for your purpose I think a used unit that is more dedicated to 2 channel stereo would serve you better. Possibly a used integrated amp since almost every integrated amplifier I have seen put better preamp and amplifier components in them than their receiver counterparts. Plus a used av receiver would have a lot of extra stuff on it that you will probably never use for music playback. I have plenty of used integrated amps from Denon and Yamaha among others that are cheaply priced and offer in my opinion better overall sound quality than most of the receivers going in the under 1000 dollar mark in todays world. Just my two cents

[IRG]

I am not sure about the HK quality control either but I do know that they sell some units at Best Buy and I talked to one of the managers there and they said they aren't bad but the quality does not seem to be what Denon, Onkyo, And some Yamaha are doing now but I used to be an avid Yamaha fan and I will say that in new units it seems to me that Denon and Onkyo have one upped Yamaha in the last couple years when it comes to quality. Its all up to you on whether you go new or used but for your purpose I think a used unit that is more dedicated to 2 channel stereo would serve you better. Possibly a used integrated amp since almost every integrated amplifier I have seen put better preamp and amplifier components in them than their receiver counterparts. Plus a used av receiver would have a lot of extra stuff on it that you will probably never use for music playback. I have plenty of used integrated amps from Denon and Yamaha among others that are cheaply priced and offer in my opinion better overall sound quality than most of the receivers going in the under 1000 dollar mark in todays world. Just my two cents

I hear what you're saying. But the Yamaha's RX line is a 2 channel stereo only, no ht stuff on it, which I like. So it's basically no frills, sort of like a decent integrated amp, but with the am/fm added. The Denon and Onkyo still interest me too. I had a 2 channel Onkyo way back, and it was a great little receiver. I also had an Onkyo power/pre amp that was good too, although pretty basic.