Receiver Recommendation (5.1 or 7.1)

[jnwhite22]

Looking to get a new HT system (looking at the engergy take 5 system) and need to get a good receiver to complement these speakers...please help a noob out

Also looking at getting an open boxed/display blu-ray player so i am going to guess it will be able to decode new HD audio forms. Thanks again for your recommendations.

[blarneyrubble]

Budget?

[jnwhite22]

Cheap cheap cheap ...under 350 and only connecting blu Ray and HD cable box

[blarneyrubble]

Onkyo 606 or Denon 1610 if you want the receiver to do the decoding. These can be found for for around $350. If you want to save some buck the Denon 1609 is also great but it does not decode the HD audio so you would need the Blu-ray player to do that.

http://www.google.com/products/catal...m=4#ps-sellers

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_033AV16...09.html?tp=179

http://www.6ave.com/shop/product.asp...sku=DENAVR1610

Check your local Sears for a Blu-ray player. I just bought a Sony bdp-s550 today for $130.

[Kryptonic]

Denon AVR590 or Onkyo 507. Both are around $300-$350 and decode all of the HD codecs. I have the Denon and it's a dream.

[callas01]

This new Sony DN1000 is right in your price range, I use the same one from last year and it works great with my Energys speakers. Easy to use and set up, decodes all the audio, plenty of HDMI hook ups.

[jnwhite22]

Thanks for all the info but Marshall law is limiting the budget hardcore. 450 total for reciever, speakers, and blu-Ray. Also will not be able to upgrade or add for awhile. Is the Sony hts360 and Sony 360 for 400 and good?

[RBBrittain]

Originally Posted by jnwhite22

Thanks for all the info but Marshall law is limiting the budget hardcore. 450 total for reciever, speakers, and blu-Ray. Also will not be able to upgrade or add for awhile. Is the Sony hts360 and Sony 360 for 400 and good?

I have a "fat" PS3 and a HT-SS2300 (the HT-SS360's predecessor); it's perfect for my apartment. If you can find the 360/360 combo for $450 (or $430 plus <$20 for a couple of HDMI cables from Monoprice), you'll have HD audio (and BD-Live) within your budget.

The biggest constraint is that you won't be able to use the HTIB's low-ohm speakers if you replace the receiver with a standard AVR; but since you don't plan on upgrading for awhile, that might not be a problem for you. Also remember to configure the BDP-S360 to decode TrueHD & DTS-HD MA to LPCM, as the HT-SS360 won't decode those; but LPCM 5.1 is still HD audio. (Edit: That's the only way "fat" PS3s can do HD audio.)

I'm not sure if the BDP-S360 is as good a BD player overall as the PS3, but it should still do what you want; it visually matches the HT-SS360 as well.

[RBBrittain]

Originally Posted by blarneyrubble

If you want to save some buck the Denon 1609 is also great but it does not decode the HD audio so you would need the Blu-ray player to do that.

The 1609 has "passthrough" HDMI ports, so it will *NOT* handle HD audio unless the BD player has 6- or 8-channel analog outputs. (Further edit: Or unless you get the Atlona or Ambery boxes described in the "Audio and the PS3" thread.)

If the receiver doesn't have TrueHD or DTS-HD MA decoders (used only with HDMI audio), be sure and check the setup guide to see if additional audio connections are required with the HDMI inputs. If so, then that receiver *cannot* receive HD audio, except via multichannel analog (if at all).