Too many receivers, please help me pick the best ones.

[Dusty77]

People are starting to buy newer receivers with HDMI connections, and they are discarding their "old" receivers. In the last couple of weeks, I have purchased several Dolby Digital 5.1 or 6.1 receivers for about 10% of their MSRP when new. I now have the following receivers:

JVC RX-884
JVC RX-7020
Yamaha HTR-5730
Sony STR-DE597
Sony STR-DE885

I have never owned a Sony receiver before, and picked up those two in the past week. The 597 is newer than the 885, but the 885 is higher end, I think.

Any thought on these receivers? In particular, which is the better Sony for home theater?

[elapsed]

Hi Dusty, welcome to AR!

For 10% of MSRP, I hope you didn't pay more than $20-$30 for any of these receivers.. If I had to pick one it would probably be the Sony STR-DE885. Enjoy your new system!

cheers,
elapsed

[thekid]

First of all you can never have too many recievers-except if you ask my wife......
I would second the Sony out of that group listed.

[Dusty77]

I paid $20 for the JVC RX-884 w/o remote, $35 for the Sony STR-DE597 with remote, $30 for the Sony STR-DE885 with remote, and $5 for the Yamaha w/o remote (the owner said the Yamaha "didn't work right" in 5.1 mode, but I think the owner couldn't figure it out - it seems fine to me. But why are these things so complicated?)

All of these receivers go for quite a bit more than that on flea, er, ebay, when you include shipping (the JVC in particular is very heavy). Hard to pass up when you see them at these prices.

The STR-DE597 is the newest of the bunch, and it's capable of Dolby 6.1 sound, which the 885 won't do. The JVC will drive both A and B speakers at the same time, which some of the new receivers won't. The Sony 885 looks like it has adjustments far more complicated than any mere mortal could ever understand in one lifetime. Guess I'll just have to make a decision. Thanks for the input. Any other opinions?

I might keep the Sony 885 and sell the JVC...

And use the others as decorations or paperweights or....

[Charlie04SiR]

If it were me, I'd pick the JVC's

I think They have lower THD than the Sonys, iirc

[Mr Peabody]

Without knowing the feature comparison my choice would be Yamaha and any one who knows me also knows I don't give Yamaha the nod often so that says something of my opinion on the other two. Sony is terribly over rated, over priced, and not very reliable. JVC seems to be reliable but lacks in quality but they are usually cheaper than other receivers as well. If you snag a Denon, Marantz or Onkyo then you have one you might want to keep. Or, dig a bit deeper and look for a Rotel, Cambridge or NAD.

[shokhead]

People are starting to buy newer receivers with HDMI connections, and they are discarding their "old" receivers. In the last couple of weeks, I have purchased several Dolby Digital 5.1 or 6.1 receivers for about 10% of their MSRP when new. I now have the following receivers:

JVC RX-884
JVC RX-7020
Yamaha HTR-5730
Sony STR-DE597
Sony STR-DE885

I have never owned a Sony receiver before, and picked up those two in the past week. The 597 is newer than the 885, but the 885 is higher end, I think.

Any thought on these receivers? In particular, which is the better Sony for home theater?

You can have all of them.

[Dusty77]

Sony is terribly over rated, over priced, and not very reliable. .

I've never purchased a major Sony product (TV, receiver, anything bigger than a Walkman) because I always thought you were paying too much for the name. Plus, they like to be different way too often (such as the "memory stick" that's not compatible with any other digital camera, the betamax, etc.) That's really why I started this thread - to ask about the Sony receivers.

I guess I could even ask about speakers, but really it's just a matter of taste, I suppose. I picked up some Bose 901's, and a nice pair of Polk Audio RTA 8T's.

I'm comparing them to my main speakers, which are an old pair of Speakerlab 4 speakers that probably nobody has ever heard of unless you grew up in Seattle. The Polk's sound similar to the Speakerlab's. The Bose 901's sound like crap without their equalizer hooked up.

[Mr Peabody]

But really for no more than what you paid for those receivers if you got some use out of them you did alright.

I feel Polk makes a decent speaker. When you get up to the higher priced models there are better options though. But in the mass market they are pretty much leader of the pack. I'd take them over Klipsch, Bose or whatever else the "big box" retailers handle. In the same price range there are some options from more boutique names like B&W or Paradigm, etc.

[Mr Peabody]

But really for no more than what you paid for those receivers if you got some use out of them you did alright.

I feel Polk makes a decent speaker. When you get up to the higher priced models there are better options though. But in the mass market they are pretty much leader of the pack. I'd take them over Klipsch, Bose or whatever else the "big box" retailers handle. In the same price range there are some options from more boutique names like B&W or Paradigm, etc.

[Mr Peabody]

But really for no more than what you paid for those receivers if you got some use out of them you did alright.

I feel Polk makes a decent speaker. When you get up to the higher priced models there are better options though. But in the mass market they are pretty much leader of the pack. I'd take them over Klipsch, Bose or whatever else the "big box" retailers handle. In the same price range there are some options from more boutique names like B&W or Paradigm, etc.

[pixelthis]

You can have all of them.

AINT IT THE TRUTH
I throw out garbage all the time that you can have for free.
The Yamaha might be decent, emphasize the might, the others are total garbage,
cheap amps on a "chip", etc
They weren't worth having when new, being old dosnt make them any better.
You did'nt get a "bargain" with any of these, really, the people selling them made money off of you.
A paperweight is a lot cheaper.
On the bright side, pour the concrete in and you will have a nice set of boat anchors.

[Dusty77]

This might be the wrong thread, but I've already started to shift toward speakers...

I also bought a pair of JBL LX500 speakers at a garage sale, cheap. They're technically "bookshelf" speakers, though they are definitely on the large end. From what I can tell, they are from the early 90's, and were something like $400 a pair. Got them for what a dinner for 3 at McDonalds would cost; owner was switching exclusively to an iPod dock speaker system! The bass seems a bit lacking, and I think the Polk's probably sound better, though I haven't had a chance to compare them side by side yet.

"Someone" told me JBL was generally the best among the consumer brands (JBL, Polk, Boston Acoustics, Infinity, Advent, etc.) Of course, the top-o-the-line model from any brand is usually better than the entry-level model from any other brand.

Thoughts on the above mentioned speaker brands?

[Dusty77]

AINT IT THE TRUTH
I throw out garbage all the time that you can have for free.
The Yamaha might be decent, emphasize the might, the others are total garbage,
cheap amps on a "chip", etc
They weren't worth having when new, being old dosnt make them any better.
You did'nt get a "bargain" with any of these, really, the people selling them made money off of you.
A paperweight is a lot cheaper.
On the bright side, pour the concrete in and you will have a nice set of boat anchors.

Ouch , they're not THAT bad.

I have a daughter in college; she just got her own place. Bought a small but nice TV, is out of money now, and is watching DVD's with the sound coming out of the 2 inch TV speakers. Any of these receivers will be an extreme upgrade to that if I add some speakers, too. And well worth the cost to her (when Dad sends something out there for free.)

However, it will cost me more than I paid for almost any of these receivers to ship one across the country to her, which is really why I'm asking here - which one is most worth the cost of shipping a 35 pound box across the country?

[Mr Peabody]

Like I believe you mentioned before, speakers are a preference, I have never been a JBL fan. However, there is a guy here who owns several pair and loves them. I feel Infinity has let their line go down hill from the 90's. I heard some Boston not long back and they sure didn't sound as good as I remembered but it would take a side by side listen to really compare to a Polk model for me.

One thing to keep in mind, none of the receivers you currently have are going to do good bass. It takes an amp with a little current to give a punchy bass. Also there are a lot of settings on an HT receiver that could effect the bass you receive. I'd suggest when listening to music see if any provide a "bypass" or "direct" mode that sends the analog signal past any processing. The Yamaha should have this.