# Amp choice



## Ruleslawyer (Jul 8, 2011)

So my home theatre has been making do with a a rag-tag collection of a 10 year old onkyo 500 series (525?) receiver and 4 port hmdi switch to make it work with the newest gear. I have an older DLP set (with hdmi), xbox 360, blu-ray player, and a dish vip622 dvr hooked up through it(HDMI). For speakers have have Paradigm speakers- floor standing l/r with a largish bookshelf CC, and smaller rears plus a powered sub (300w IIRC)

Goals-
Get rid of the external hdmi switch
be able to pass 5.1 audio on hdmi to the receiver
A bit of extra headroom on volume typical settings are -10db for tv and -5 db for movies. 
decode bluray audio
future proof hdmi 1.4 is going to be a must
room to add an IB setup 

Things that would be nice-
Auto EQ and time align
both rf and ir control (flexibility for remotes)
onscreen gui

I'd like to not spend a ton of money on this. The 525 has been adequate, but is outdated. Hoping not to have to get another one for another 10 years.
Thanks!


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## Dale Rasco (Apr 11, 2009)

Did you have a budget in mind?


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## Ruleslawyer (Jul 8, 2011)

Ideally no more than $500, but if there is something really really awesome and worthwhile over that I'd consider it.


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## Superior Audio (Feb 27, 2008)

The units getting the highest praise (including from me) are the Denons. I used to be a huge Onkyo fan boy but since tech starting changing so rapidly, Onkyo tries to cram everything in at the expence of quality. So I tried Denon and haven't looked back. They have models in just about every price range with great reliability reported from users.


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## Theresa (Aug 23, 2010)

For amplifiers I say Emotiva, but it seems you are looking for a receiver, I know little about receivers these days.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
If needing to stay around 500 Dollars and interested in Denon, check out Dakmart. Accessories4less has Marantz and Onkyo AVR's for excellent prices as well. Especially at the 500 Dollar pricepoint, going with a Refurbished Model will provide you with a much more expensive AVR than otherwise possible.

If not wanting to go B-Stock, Newegg has fantastic prices and are tough to beat for A-Stock AVR's. In addition, they are an Authorized Dealer for every Brand they sell which is huge in terms of Warranty.
Cheers,
JJ


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## jinjuku (Mar 23, 2007)

Newegg has the Yamaha RX-V867 for $479. They had it on sale for $429 and may do so again.


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## GranteedEV (Aug 8, 2010)

Jungle Jack said:


> Accessories4less has Marantz and Onkyo AVR's for excellent prices as well.


This is my recommendation :innocent: - at least the older x002/3/4 models. The x005 models look eerily like rebadged denons in terms of amp sections.


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

GranteedEV said:


> This is my recommendation :innocent: - at least the older x002/3/4 models. The x005 models look eerily like rebadged denons in terms of amp sections.


The Merger between Denon and Marantz sure has not seemed to be a positive thing. Prior to the Merger, Denon was making AVR's like the 5805 that was a true assault on what was state of the art. Now, they leave a 43xx AVR that has the Amplifier Stage of the old Denon 33xx Series as the newest Flagship and certainly not even the 3808. They did announce an Upgrade for the 5308 and SSP based off it so that it is 3D Ready and has HDMI 1.4, but Denon has not redesigned the 5308CI and 4810CI in many years and still remain unchanged.

Marantz has gotten far less expensive as well with the AV/SR7005 as the current Flagship. At least McIntosh has not gotten de-contented since being under the same Ownership.
Cheers,
JJ


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