What drew you to your AV Receiver?

[mpdhrd]

I wanted to start a thread asking what drew you to your particular Receiver. With all the different brands/models/features/price ranges, why did you pick the receiver that you picked. I'll start with mine, Onkyo TX-SR875s. First, I owned an Onkyo before (TX-DS575x) and I found it to be reliable, solid, loud and clean. It was a 70wpc 5.1 system and as I was upgrading my HT piece by piece, I decided I wanted to go bigger and more powerful. I stuck with Onkyo and the 875 was 140wpc, 7.1 and this (being 2 models ago from the current line) was among the first to offer Dolby HD and DTS HD. Looks-wise I chose the silver model to go along with my silver Onkyo DV-SP405 dvd player because I thought silver was a more mature look and cleaner and the other manufacturers simply dont have silver. At the time this model was $1600 msrp and I was able to get a local store to match an online sale for $1100 and that sealed the deal for me. I didnt really consider any other brand (Denon, Yamaha, Pioneer, Sony) because I liked Onkyo's sound and when comparing specs it seemed I could get more for the buck (especially after the sale).

So what drew you to your receiver? If I get a good response from this thread I might start a similar one for speakers, dvd/BR players, etc. Thanks.

Matt

[Linksys2.4]

Hey, Matt!

Good thread! Indeed, I too am an Onkyo supporter/fan; I owned a TX-SR600 and now a '605, and I am also smitten with this company's build quality and no-nonsense look to their amps and gear. For years, I was a Kenwood fan (remember when they were in home audio?) and owned a few integrated amps from them...I had a Yamaha stereo receiver, too, but a friend of mine got me into Onkyo after I sampled a two channel power amp he had in his bedroom system. He recommended the brand, and I ended up going with a 'SR600 on his recommendation when I was putting my first HT system together. He ended up actually downsizing his system and putting an Onkyo stereo receiver in it, and that thing kicked ass -- I mean, cranked up, it sounded like a good power amp was driving his Infinitys.

Since then, I have been pretty much hooked on Onk for receivers -- their '605 was the ultimate must-have affordable toy when it came out because of the lossless decoding. Their aluminum faceplates, the feel of their knobs and buttons...there's just something that says "quality" to me about this brand, even though they're often laughed at by the audiophile community for being "budget only" components (which I do NOT agree with). I never heard their premium Integra line, but as much as the Onkyo receivers get crapped on for their two channel musical performance (they're often referred to as "weak" or "tinny" or ridiculously cheap sounding when it comes to music playback), I do NOT find that in my system -- in STEREO mode, when I play CDs through my '605, the sound is crisp, clean and can get ridiculously loud if called upon.

The only brands of receiver I would consider -- in the "affordable" category -- would be Denon or Onkyo, for I have heard for years that these two companies are doing the best things in receivers. Yes, there is also Marantz, Yamaha, Pioneer Elite (don't bother with the non-Elite line) and high-end from Adcom, Rotel, Integra (Onkyo), NAD and such, but the top choices for affordable, quality receivers should be Onkyo and Denon IMO.

As for SONY, I would stay far away from their non-ES line.

[tacomaprime]

I had a HTIB receiver, and when I got an hd dvd player (yeah yeah, don't laugh) I wanted one that would decode the new HD codecs. I happened upon a silver onkyo 705 at circuit city for 450, brand new and I had a 10% off coupon.

That was the reason I have my onkyo.

[mjbethancourt]

What drew me to my current receiver? (Marantz sr6003)

Consistently glowing reviews from every source in the media.

I previously had an entry-level Sony receiver. I did some months of research choosing its replacement, and all the sources indicated that the sr6003 had electronic workmanship and features that you would typically only see in very expensive units or high-end pre/pros, and that it actually produced its rated output, as opposed to most competitors only achieving 40%-60% of claimed output. Two weekends of auditioning several units sealed the deal.

[HAMP]

I in no way call myself an audiophile, but I enjoy the sound of blu-ray with the HD sound. Being un-educated in this HD sound with HD picture, I searched for a half-way decent HTiB and I bought a Panasonic which was nice, so I thought.

I found this website blu-ray.com for mainly reading the reviews on blu-ray movies and gotten into the forum(right now I feel like I’m in a AA meeting …lol). Started reading about the PCM and TrueHD and how HD is so much better. When I first joined everyone was talking about the Onkyo 605. I read some reviews on the 605 and 805, but a friend of mine father bought the 705, but the 805 reviews stuck in my head.

I came across a fantastic price for the Onkyo 605, brought it home and loved the new sound. I felt I was missing something even at the price I paid and wanted more, so I ended up with the 805 and have been loving it ever since.

• I absolutely love the power the 805 has
• I love the multiple selection of Listening modes
• The weight of this thing, help me know my money really went into something

I do plan to add two Emotiva XPA-5, but that’s when I move out of my apt and into a house.

I did add a Denon 789 to my bedroom and only gotten that receiver because of the reviews and hearsay concerning Denon and wanted to hear for myself.

[solarrdadd]

my choice for receiver is my 805. at the time when it came out, it got rave reviews from all sources. No one gave it bad reviews and i liked the feature set it had with it. full support for lossless, lots of inputs and outputs at the time a slew of HDMI inputs & Onkyo was a big name in the game. so i went with it and i liked it very much. it's been a couple of years now and i'm makeing my move to seperates now. when the UMC-1 is released (from the web site webcast it looks like we are closer than ever, dare i say less than 2 months) i'll get that as my pre-pro and then the UPA-2 for my surround back two channels.

the only thing about the Onkyo 805 was it gets really hot so you have to give it lots of space for ventilation and it's probably not good for it to play for hours and hours at lout volumes unless your in an airconditioned area or in your basement! also, if you got one of the earlier releases you'll have the "DTS BOMB" to worry about but you can get a firmware update to take care of that.

Knowing all of this, if i had to do it all over again, yes, i would go with the Onkyo 805 again. As a receiver and now primarily as a pre-pro it has served me well!

[eljay]

I was a Yamaha guy until a few months ago, when I bought a Marantz SR6003. I went with the Marantz because of its excellent reviews, solid amplifier section, full audio decoding capabilities, USB port, good looks and competitive price tag. I haven't regretted my decision one bit.

[4x12]

Specs, looks and price.

I always loved the sleek look of the Elite receivers. The specs, I found where always above other units I was looking into but it had a huge price tag! So when I was looking for a new unit, my choices where limited (not in a bad way) to Yamaha, Marantz, Denon and Emotiva. Emotiva didnt cut it ONLY because the UMC-1 was always being pushed back and no actual date was given, so I didnt want to wait another 3 + months. So it really was between Yamaha's 6290, Marantz 6003 and the Denon 2301 (i think it was).

Thats until some forum members suggested I look online for the Elite receiver. You need to know that the SC-07 was really out of my price range... In Montreal, the BEST price I found was $1750 for a demo and $1875 new. And thats before our freakin 15% tax!! So being curious, the search started and I was shocked at the prices some places had them at... when I finally bit the bullet I got the unit I really wanted for a price, I feel, couldn't be beat. $975 + 50 for a 3 year warranty.

The major buying points for me :

• 140w per channel

• 7.1

• Looks

• MCACC features + possible tweaks

• All the positive reviews

• 4 HDMI IN's & 2 OUT's

and now I'm the proud owner of an Elite SC-07

[Jtodd]

Im running the denon 3805 7.1 however it does not have hdmi but i love this reciever so much i just cannot part with it so im going to have to get a bd player other than my ps3 that decodes the hd audio to my reciever so i am able to get dolby true hd.My denon is very crisp and clean sounding and wouldnt trade it for anything except maybe another denon!

[ZIPPO]

Originally Posted by eljay

I bought a Marantz SR6003. I went with the Marantz because of its excellent reviews, solid amplifier section, full audio decoding capabilities, USB port, good looks and competitive price tag. I haven't regretted my decision one bit.

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

What drew me to my current receiver? (Marantz sr6003)
Consistently glowing reviews from every source in the media. The sources indicated that the sr6003 had electronic workmanship and features that you would typically only see in very expensive units or high-end pre/pros, and that it actually produced its rated output, as opposed to most competitors only achieving 40%-60% of claimed output.

Marantz SR6003.
Same reasons. 25% discount at 6ave.com sealed the deal.

[Johnny Vinyl]

I have a Yamaha HTR-6190B (same as the RX-V1800) and I bought it for several reasons:

1. 4 HDMI inputs
2. 1 Phono input (although I don`t use it anymore, as I have a Phono pre-amp)
3. Power - 130w per channel
4. Handles all of the HD codecs, but no THX...(didn`t really care).
5. Price - MSRP was $1499...Paid $1099 plus 2 year FREE extended warranty.

I`ve been happy with it so far and for the moment I have no intention of adding a separate Power Amp, although I might in a year or two.

I also considered a Denon (can`t remember the model), but the dealer wouldn`t budge on price. So I said thanks and walked out.

John

[mpdhrd]

Excellent responses so far! Obviously it's logical that people are looking for the best performance that fits their budget, but I love hearing how people seemed to get drawn to the one that fit their style and the one that had the particular sound they were looking for. And it seems people try to find the best deal for their model rather than "thats the one i had to have i didnt care what it cost." Great comments!

So what is it about other models that you didnt like? What was it about other brands/models that didnt make the cut for you? For me besides the price of Denon, I dont like their styling... I dont like the styling of Yamaha... I like how Pioneer Elite looks (a silver model would be gorgeous) and they sound fantastic but I got a better deal on the Onkyo. I never considered Sony. At the time I didnt really know about Marantz/Rotel/Cambridge/McIntosh/etc... I wonder if I would have still gotten an Onkyo?

[Beta Man]

a pretty large handful of auditioning sessions.

[ozzman]

My first real reciever was a Yamaha.
I lost it in a Divores like 12 years ago and forgot about it.

Ive been through,Techniques,Kenwood,RCA,2 Sonys, Marantz and Denon.I found Denon a close second to Yamaha.

When i was going shopping for a new reciever.I still had the Denon and i took home a Marantz 7001.I found the Marantz sound like my $400 Denon so i took it back.

I remembered how much i loved that Yamaha i had 12 years ago so i grabbed myself the Yamaha 3800 and Never looked back.

Iam very happy with this reciever. Movies and music sound amazing with my Mirage-Paradigm setup

[421211]

I had a harmon kardon receiver for years and then it went ka-put. I wanted another HK but work, circuit city, stopped carrying them. So I had to chose between either an onkyo or denon. It was back and forth until one day, the denon one I was looking at dropped $300. I like it when money makes my decison for me.

[ozzman]

I have to say,for myself the one thing i don't mind spending money on is a reciever.Its the brain to all my audio.
I never feel guilty or lose any sleep.

Spending $900 on my CD player was a different story LOL

[-DLS-]

I got the same receiver as John - the Yamaha HTR6190B. Main reason for buying it was the Boxing day price of $699cdn. At that price($800 off) and at that time I don't think there was any other receiver that even came close. I actually bought it without even hearing it. Read good things about it and liked all the specs and features. I don't regret it at all. The only other receiver I've ever owned was an Onkyo 705 and it was a HUGE improvement over the Onkyo.

I never really gave any other receivers a chance so I am actually picking up a Marantz SR8002 this week to try out. I was thinking about picking up a 2nd Emotiva amp(XPA-5) for my setup but I don't have enough room and I don't want all that on one 15 amp circuit so the 8002 might help me out with space and power. It also has two HDMI outs and I've been thinking about getting a small projection screen setup in the future so that'll be useful. If I like it better I might end up selling the 6190 or hopefully my wife will let me keep it to start on a new setup upstairs.

To me what I want from a receiver is first - a good price.. that offers the new codecs, good build quality, good sound quality, enough HDMI ins(at least 3 for me) and outs(2), pre-outs of course.. and looks come in last.

[Blu-Raider]

My third Denon. Auditioned a few...thought 'why switch'?

[rded]

Simply Because its an Arcam!!!!

[rded]

Originally Posted by ozzman

Spending $900 on my CD player was a different story LOL

Ozz,

What king of CDP do you have?