What's a good, inexpensive receiver?

[Jim85IROC]

I'm sure you've heard it a hundred times, but let's make it 101. I may be in the market for a new receiver. I have two considerations that outweigh all others (assuming I can achieve both while staying in my very limited budget):

1. Sound quality
2. Reliability

I've owned HK and denon, and sold those as well as jvc, onkyo, and sony, but this was a few years ago and things change so fast.

Anyway, I had an HK AVR-300 and liked the sound quality. The reliability was garbage and after my replacement receiver was DOA out of the box, I moved on. I bought a Denon AVR-1801. Sound quality was good, but the sq from the sub pre-out didn't seem to be quite right. No problem, I never used it other than just fooling around at the beginning. It worked nice for a couple years, but last year one of the surround channels went out, and the other day all of the pre-outs weren't working, then suddenly they started working again.

I want something that sounds good, but I don't want unreliable junk anymore. I'm also on a budget, and want (need) to stay under $500. Here's what I'm looking at:


Sony STR-DA1000ES. I've never been a huge sony fan, but frankly the 5 year warranty looks pretty damned appealing.

Marantz SR4400. I don't know much about the marantz, but those who have it seem to like it. How does it stack up against the mainstream stuff like Denon, Onkyo, etc? From what I've seen, Marantz seems to have an awful lot in common with Denon. Marantz lists a bunch of the denon stuff on their own website under the pro line. Is it just a denon with a different appearance?

Nad T743. People seem to rave about the amplifier quality, low ohm stability and overall sound quality, but people also seem to have major complaints of reliability. Plus, to get this into my budget, I'm looking at refurbished stuff or used.

Onkyo something or other. I haven't heard onkyo since I sold it back in 2001, but back then their amps didn't sound good at all. The midrange was a bit off.

Yamaha, denon, Sony ES, Nad, Marantz. Opinions? what else should I be looking at? I don't need massive amounts of power. My denon has had MORE than enough power to satisfy my listening tastes, and once I add a powered sub, I'll be using even less of the available power. Bells and whistles don't really matter. If it would do video switching between various video input formats and output all of it through the same format (i.e. take rca, s-video, composite, blah blah blah and feed it all to my tv through the s-video cable) that would be nice, but not essential. Beyond that I don't really have any other requirements. I just want it to sound good and not to break.

One final possibility is to buy a really cheap ($200) receiver for my home theater, and use the rest of the money on a nice used vintage 2 channel integrated amp for my 2 channel, but I would really prefer the convenience of 1 amp.

[uncooked]

personally i like yamaha products, there new htr line is coming out. so keep an eye on stores that carry them, i know there are some sites out there that let you pre order them now. like the htr-5760, and others.

thoughs would be good to look into becuase they include YPAO, which was previously only found in the more expensive yamaha products "rx-v1400" and up.




for a really cheap amp, the panasonic sa-he75 is quite good, but the yamaha would easily kick its ass. no question lol, but if you, or anyone is looking for a cheap amp for a second system or something it is very good for throwing a bit of sound around.

hopefully someone responds to this with a link to a site carrying the new yammy's. or you can just look im sure you could find them.

i think www.partsexpress.com had them??????

[F1]

...
Marantz SR4400. I don't know much about the marantz, but those who have it seem to like it. How does it stack up against the mainstream stuff like Denon, Onkyo, etc? From what I've seen, Marantz seems to have an awful lot in common with Denon. Marantz lists a bunch of the denon stuff on their own website under the pro line. Is it just a denon with a different appearance?
.....

Denon and Marantz merged under one holding company some time ago though they still maintain their own brand. Marantz had a major reliability issue with their earlier batch of SR x200 a couple years ago and it seems there's no major reliability problem after that. However, there's always a lemon from every brands so it also depends on your luck, so Good Luck!

[Jim85IROC]

I've been doing some more digging, and I've come full circle, right back to where I started. Sony.

The marantz 4400 has a non-adjustable crossover frequency of 100hz. I don't like that. I was reading a european publication "Home Cinema" and they did some interresting testing. Onkyo, JVC, Denon, Yamaha, pioneer, sony. The only amps that made anywhere their rated power with ALL CHANNELS DRIVEN were the Marantz, Pioneer, and Sony. The sony tested was the STR-DB790, which is the european version of the STR-DA1000ES. It mentioned that it's got a much larger power supply than its predicessor. Other reviewers like the sound quality.

For me to get a marantz with better subwoofer capabilities, I've got to move up to the 5400, which gets pretty damned expensive. This sony is all over the place for $400, and it's got a 5 year warranty, which after my last two unreliable purchases (HK and Denon) is starting to mean something to me.

[spacedeckman]

Dump Sony, Pioneer, JVC, Kenwood, firmly off of your list. You can put Onkyo and Marantz on the "maybe list" and work with Yamaha (my safe bet for reliability sound quality, ease of use, and flexiblity), h/k (getting back on track), or Denon (been spared the Marantz foibles at this time). NAD, is a maybe, but I've heard some grumblings the past couple of years.

I've told a few people this one. It will blow your budget slightly, but find a hold-over Yamaha RXV1300. Should run about $600 and maybe a bit of change. You will have what you want.

[F1]

..... The marantz 4400 has a non-adjustable crossover frequency of 100hz. I don't like that. ......
For me to get a marantz with better subwoofer capabilities, I've got to move up to the 5400, which gets pretty damned expensive. ....

There's a way around. You can set the front to Large and connect your subwoofer from front pre-out on the receiver. Then set the crossover frequency on the subwoofer at freq where the front speakers start to give up. If you like the sound of Marantz and like its interface (important for daily operation), then go for it.

[Jim85IROC]

I thought about that, but I don't want my sub playing the same thing that my mains are playing. My mains have solid output down to 50hz, and because they're a sealed enclosure, it's only a 2nd-order acoustical rolloff below that. I've always found that blending bass from 2 different drivers smears the sound.

[Silent Warrior]

i guess i would prolly suggest HK AVR 8000....i dont know much you want to spend...i just said cause its one of the best around

[Jim85IROC]

If I had that kind of money I wouldn't be considering the Marantz 4400. My budget is WAY below where that HK falls. I'm capping my purchase to $500.