HT A/V Recievers on a tight budget.

[markw]

If you don't mind last year's model you can get a lot of features and performance for somewhat less bucks. Remember, in another 6 months even the newest of the new will be "obsolete", at least by marketing standards.

I wound up with last year's Denon 2802 for $399 last April. That's right about when the 2803's came out. I can live with it's obsolesence. It doesn't hurt the sound one bit. I haven't had any problems with it nor any complaints about it's sound and features. Well, the remote is a little weird but nothing's perfect.

P.S. If you're still hot for a Marantz, http://www.yawaonline.com/ is authorized to sell Marantz refurbs, with manufactures warranties.

[Lord Nikon]

Anyone else have some advice/opinions?

[bacchanal]

I'm kind of in the same situation you are in looking for a reciever around the $500 price point. I'm mostly looking at Yamaha and Denon. The Denon 1804 seems nice but I haven't had much time with it. I think the Yamaha rx-v740 is pretty nice and it can be found online for under $500...good sound, power, and room for upgrades. Also there are some new lower end Yamaha models with some nice features coming out that look pretty nice, but there aren't many details yet. Check out the following links for info on the new HTR models...

http://www.jandr.com/JRFreeShipping....leManufacturer

http://www.yamaha.com/YECDealerMedia/AD_HTR_recs.htm

[Lord Nikon]

Welp it has been narrowed down to 3 receivers to push what will be an entire Ascend Acoustic HT System. The choices are: HK AVR-330, HK DPR-1001, and Marantz SR5400.

The room is medium size, and it would be mainly used for HT listening, with music in mind of course. What I am looking for is a lot of features, good power, and most of all... extreme clarity. Let the voting begin!

[This Guy]

well, me owning the Marantz SR-5200 I vote for the Marantz. Mine excels in music listening cause the power gets increased when only two channels are driven. You might want to even look for the 5300 for lower prices, the 5400 only added like two additional features, one being the virtual surround mode for headphones.

-Joey