Receiver Suggestions

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Fairly economical as I'm kinda poor. Only caveat is it must be sold at Future Shop. Any suggestions?

For the lazy here is a link to FS receivers page:

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/category/home-theatre-receivers/10551.aspx?path=3de7b8174e453159f7dbfa99c6d8b1e1en 01

Mainly for PS3, 360, Sat. All in HD. I have ability to do 7.1. All hookups using HDMI or component/optical.

Probably something off that first page. Anything with a sticker price above $749 is out of my price range.

Why FS? I know someone who works there so I'll get cost+.

So far I'm thinking this will meet my needs:

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/pioneer-pioneer-7-1-channel-hdmi-3d-home-theatre-receiver-vsx-925-k-vsx-925-k/10150044.aspx?path=7fd0ffaf70fc30998c6141af8e69466 7en02

How is Pioneer?

[DownhillGoat]

My last 3 have been Yamaha or Denon. Quite happy with both. If you're looking for a good bang for your buck, I'd suggest Yamaha.

[MickMcGeough]

+1 for Yamaha. I've had a mid-range Yamaha receiver in daily use for 11 (yes, eleven) years, and it's still going strong.

[Icon]

+1 for Denon.

I love mine. I know you mentioned Futureshop but if you can hold off until the Soundsaround sale you can get some crazy deals, sometimes below cost (overstock / old model clearout).... I don't remember when that sale is tho... summer sometime.

[OilKiller]

The Yamaha for $299 looks pretty decent. Maybe time for me to grab a new receiver:

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/yamaha-yamaha-5-channel-3d-ready-home-theatre-receiver-htr4063-htr4063-b/10145321.aspx?path=ed29ffcf5626536abab9cef67d97023 2en02

[TorqueDog]

The Yamaha for $299 looks pretty decent. Maybe time for me to grab a new receiver:

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/yamaha-yamaha-5-channel-3d-ready-home-theatre-receiver-htr4063-htr4063-b/10145321.aspx?path=ed29ffcf5626536abab9cef67d97023 2en02 I have one of these:
Yamaha HTR-6260b (http://cgi.ebay.ca/Yamaha-HTR6260B-7-1-HD-Surround-HDMI-Receiver-HTR6260-B-/280612622168?pt=Receivers_Tuners&hash=item4155d0cf58)

Love it. Great unit.

[OilKiller]

Wow...$249 huh? Bookmarked...thanks.

[Mightyfire89]

Receivers are generally all about the same at each price point. There's not a whole lot of difference quality or feature wise. People will tell you different, but that's just because people tend to become brand loyal. The "sound" of a $750 Pioneer won't be significantly different, better or worse than that of a $750 Yamaha or Denon or Onkyo or Harmon Kardan or...well, I think you get the picture.

Speakers are by far the most important component in any audio system as far as sound quality goes.

So, pick a price point and buy the one within that price point that has the most features you like/need and don't worry about name brand.

[3 Justin 3]

I have a Pioneer and I love it.

Built like a tank. I got the 4 year extended warranty as well, but I paid $1 for the 4 years so I don't think you could get the same deal haha.

[OBCT]

In your price range, I'd suggest Pioneer or Yamaha.

Also, when on a tight budget, it's (almost) always preferable to go with a "better" 5.1 speaker setup than a "worse" 7.1 array. Having a receiver that is 7.1-capable is nice for potential future changes, but a well configured 5.1 surround setup will be ample, IMO.

That Yamaha for $250 +$25 S&H on eBay that TorqueDog linked to is a pretty great deal. The 60 day warranty is short for an open box item, but the seller has a good track record. I suppose this comment isn't directed at Cecil, however.

[Kipper is King]

I have a mid range Pioneer I bought last year, and it's awesome!

[Kjesse]

I like Yamaha, but they tend to have lots of adjustments you can make to the point it can be hard to control to get really clean sound. Too many fancy sound effects such that unless you really spend time to learn it you could be disappointed. I steered my brother toward a Yamaha, and I'm the one who always has to fix the sound fields because someone messed with the controls.

[TorqueDog]

One thing that I guess applies to any receiver you end up going with: I've owned this receiver for the better part of four months and I'm still learning all the features it has and what sounds good to me and what doesn't.

My personal preference was originally to use the Yamaha CinemaDSP settings, particularly the regular 7ch Stereo, for nearly everything.

However this past week I've changed my opinion of that. For most things, I'm using Straight (bypasses all circuitry except bass management and room/speaker levels) or Direct (bypasses ALL circuitry, period).

Stereo music sources, like CDs or MP3s, I'm using Dolby Pro Logic IIx - Music and DTS:Neo 6. Certain songs sound better with DPLIIx and some of them sound better with Neo 6, it comes down to preference (and I'm not a fan of listening to music only in two channel).


Went off a bit there, but my original point was do not be discouraged if the receiver you buy doesn't sound 110% awesome at first. Play around relentlessly with it. Search out your specific receiver and see what guys on the AV and audiophile forums are recommending for it. It paid off big for me, this receiver now blows me away far more than it did when I first bought it.

I had problems getting my 7.2 to sound clean, especially since the receiver only supports one subwoofer and I'm running two with a splitter. That took a bit more futzing around, your mileage may vary.


^EDIT: LOL yeah, that. I find your best bet is to try and use as few of the 'fancy' sound fields as possible unless the speakers you're running need the help to sound their best.