Quote Originally Posted by Mr Peabody
HK used to rate their receivers hilariously low. If this one holds to that tradition that 80 watts will definitely rock and you won't tell the difference from the Onkyo 100 which will also be a respectable 100 watts. Either would be a good way to go. If you can look at the Onkyo before buying that would be a big strong point in my book.

Blackraven wasn't there a sonic character you didn't like about that Yamaha and going to relegate it to your kid's room? Aside from that it sounds like he needs a USB input for the computer. I didn't offer anything on that as I don't know of any cheap.
Mr. P. That yamaha player sounds great in SACD and average on CD play on my reference system. Eventually it will go to my son when I buy the Oppo BD-SE later this year.
But as a budget player I think it would do well. I found the std Cd play a little grainy and lacking a little depth. But its in my revealing system and in a less revealing system it should be fine.

What Mr. P was talking about with the HK being rated low, its that many companies under or over rate the stated watts per channel. Harman Kardon is one company that tended to way under rate the actual wpc. They may list the power as 80wpc when in actuality it may be 100-110 wpc. In any event, the HK has a high current power supply and is rated at 45 peak amps which is nothing to sneeze at.