best receiver under ~300

[aramis109]

For $299, you can't beat an Onkyo 605 refurbished unit. Still has a year warranty on it. Either eCost or Accessories4less are great places to find good deals on the 605 at that pricepoint.

I've had mine for a few weeks now and love it. If you're going to jump into a new receiver at that pricepoint, do yourself a favor and get something that handles the audio codecs and doesn't just do passthrough. You'll be kicking yourself later if you do.

The PS3 can decode the HD lossless formats, but can only pass them out via HDMI, so passthrough is going to be a no-no. On the Onkyo front you'll have to get a 604 or higher in order to hear them.

I can definitively say that there is a BIG difference in lossless audio vs. lossy via optical, even on a "budget" home theater like mine. Of course the mix is always crucial- a bad lossless track is still not going to blow your doors off- but the immersiveness and range of sound that lossless gives you is one of my favorite parts of blu-ray.